Terrible work culture - Audit Intern BDO Employee Review

1.0
11 Feb 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Most of the associates are quite willing to teach interns, although there are still a few who expect you to know everything.

Cons

Most of the seniors and above are really toxic because of the terrible company culture. Partners expect their employees to work even when on study leave, sick leave, and even on weekends. As much as this may be "common" in this industry, this should never be the norm. There are also no benefits of any sort (not talking form intern pov) - no pantry, no welfare, even company cohesion are on Saturdays to burn your weekend even more. The pay is terrible, and there is a 1.5 year bond (I mean who wouldn't want to leave this place). Partners and managers also bully employees that they don't like, arrowing them to do extra work and always calling them out for small things during meetings and ETDs, even in front of the intern. Last but not least, the assignment of jobs are a mess in this company. There were associates who were assigned to a job for 3 days, then assigned to another job for 1 week, then back to the first job for another 2 weeks. This essentially doubles the work for the employee since partners still expect them to continue working on their engagement, even though they are currently assigned to another engagement. Job engagements can also change at the last minute, so the posting you see for the following week is not accurate until you are actually in the job already. I experienced this even as an intern, where I managed to work on 12 different companies over the course of 10 weeks of internship. One day I was told I will be helping out for Company A, the next day I receive a text saying I need to go down to Company B. Oh and also, as a short-term intern, you'll not get access to the company's intranet system. Which means client files will be sent to you through your school email. This is a violation of confidentiality by the way, since some of the documents received are actually P&C. But not that the associates or seniors can do anything about it, since there's no other way for you to get the documents. And on the first day of the job, IT support told me to use my own mobile hotspot because he doesn't want to help me log in to the company WiFi. This didn't happen in the end, because I insisted against it. Overall, terrible company, terrible culture, terrible pay - no reason to work here unless you're desperate.

Explore other reviews about BDO

5.0
2 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Strong team culture and they offered great flexibility throughout the internship.

Cons

High workload during busy season (although that is expected)

1.0
22 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Compensation is OK. There are some really nice people in the organization to work with, but you have to find them.

Cons

If you are not part of the SWC "club" (company name prior to them joining BDO), good luck. Poor leadership!!! Practice lead talks to everyone like they are talking to a CEO, not relatable in most cases. No clear employee development plans. You are held accountable for things completely outside of your individual control. They stress incorporating AI into work strategy, but have no plan on what that looks like or how to do it and want everyone to formulate it because leadership has no roadmap. One has no control over where you want to take your career, yet you are expected to know everything, about everything. As a result, you become an expert of nothing! Work assigned rarely leverages skills, almost as if they throw darts to see who works on what.

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