How does the consulting practice at the mid-tier accounting firms like Grant Thornton and BDO compare to the Big 4 in terms of type of projects, size of teams / staffing, travel, types of clients, hours and compensation? Anyone work at both mid-tier and Big 4 can share some experiences?

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Worked for both. Things seem more similar than different. I think GT is doing a better job of building a B4 style consulting organization than BDO or RSM. But maybe BDO and RSM have other goals.

- GT has better WLB.
- GT compensation can vary: lower than B4 if you join from school but on par or higher if you're an experienced hire. Bonuses and raises are lower, so comp gap grows over time or comp advantage shrinks.
- Clients are more likely to be smaller or privately held, but most revenue is from F100.
- Office makes a much bigger difference in your experience. 80% of GT's strategy practice is concentrated in 4 offices despite GT having offices across the USA. Chicago office travels a lot, Seattle doesn't. At B4, travel was more evenly spread across offices.
- GT has less interesting work on average. 20% of work is interesting vs 25-30% at B4. Silver lining is that GT has no or many fewer projects from hell. That may make up for the gap in interesting work.
- Industry balance has more gaps. I have not seen much work in oil&gas or hospitality. Healthcare is small but growing.
- Team size and project duration are super variable across the board, but team composition is different. GT is diamond shaped instead of pyramid, so you may work with a ton of managers.
- Partners, principals and MDs are more relatable. They are much more likely to be in the office or at happy hour than be the person who craps on your deck and leaves like at B4.
- GT has less brand recognition, which impacts exit options.
- GT has less pedigreed staff. Fewer people have ivy league degrees vs B4.
- GT internal capabilities are not as advanced as B4. Knowledge management is terribly siloed. Timekeeping system looks older than the new hires.

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Any sense on how often the Philadelphia office travels?

PwC to GT here. Comp is higher and the work more interesting with better WLB. You’re going to get mixed reviews here based on the practice you are in.

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I work in the strategy group at GT - happy to answer any questions. Outside of comp, the rest of your questions depend on office/region

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GT, I'm interviewing in BDOs strategy group and would love to hear GTs perspective if you're willing to connect!

It's not worth it! There can be great projects here and there if a great partner has a great client relationship. On average however, overall quality of the usual engagements is much worse. The largest projects are usually just staff augmentation instead of true core strategy work. The relatively smaller clients these firms serve can't afford to pay ongoing consulting retainers.

If you interview, ask about sample projects and also ask about the duration of those projects. You'll probably find a bit difference between their aspirations and reality.

Also, base comp may be similar but bonuses are much lower at these firms. They will tell you that covid lowered bonuses this year (which is true) but bonuses have been horrible (and layoffs high) over the past several years. Make sure to interview with lower level staff who can validate that for you.

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Comp is significantly lower. Moved from midtier> Pwc. After the move, More travel, hours actually went down, went from being on a number of smaller projects to just one large project.

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