Pros
Note: I worked in the due diligence/business intelligence division of Risk Advisory. - The team is full of friendly, smart, hard-working people. - The work is intellectually engaging, rarely gets boring or tedious. - Not sure how the culture at London headquarters is, but the satellite office I worked in was far removed from any pernicious office politics and passive aggressive and hostile behaviours. Everyone was generally friendly to one another. There wasn't much teamwork as everyone does his/her own reports.
Cons
The company's main issue is that it expects a lot from its employees without giving them proper training and feedback. The work is not easy and new hires without prior experience in the due diligence industry may be slow to get up to speed and fulfill the management's expectations. As a result, several people did not pass their 6-month probation shortly before and during my time working there. The interns, too, come and go without undergoing proper training and receiving much guidance. On the other hand, those who thrive work long hours (late in the evening and in weekends). The pay is okay but there many other jobs with better work-life balance. Perhaps this is just the nature of the due diligence industry. The key to do well here is to be very proactive and engage your seniors/managers regularly to know how you are doing. Then spend time reflecting on their feedback and implement it in your work. Otherwise you may think that things are going alright until they tell you in the 11th hour that you are not up to standard. The hiring process was a bit reactive and haphazard. For example, there was a time when the management was expecting several projects in X country, and thus there was an instant impetus to hire someone who speaks the language there. But then when business slowed down, that person's abilities might become a little redundant (and this probably gave the company another reason not to pass his/her probation, which was long enough for the business to ebb and flow and gave the management enough time to assess if this employee was needed in the long-term).