A friend of mine has asked me to apply to E&Y, in the F&PM group.From what I've read on here, it doesn't seem like they are doing very well. He admits that it is run by a partner that left IBM and brought all his old buddies with him to head up the senior positions.Is it really that bad in F&PM? Where else would you recommend that I would apply?I have been working for a Fortune 1000 company for the past seven years in a finance change role.

I work in F&PM, and I've read a lot of what's on here. You need to decide for yourself how much is genuine discontent from people who work within the group and how much is noise from outsiders who are working on rumour and innuendo.I really like working in F&PM. It has its ups and downs, just like any consultancy, and I would be lying if I said that I only had great projects with great teams and great clients. But overall, I really like the colleagues I work with, I like the leadership team and think that the majority of them are pretty good to work for, and life at EY is pretty easy -- the hours aren't too long, the working environment is good, etc.You're lucky in that you have a friend who works at EY -- why don't you ask your friend for his/her honest opinion, warts-and-all, of EY, and make your decision based on that. Or, if you'd prefer, take a chance to meet some of the people that you would be working with and make your judgement based on that.

always be wary of people asking you to join - they may be after a recruitment bonus.

I also work in F&PM, and have a very different view from EY Guy.The work atmosphere is good, hours aren't long, but you get very little chance to develop your skill set outside your specific functional area. This stems from the IBM leadership style of Sandwell and co.The quality of work is also poor, with few jobs really getting into the meat of process change and finance transformation. The usual mantra is that EY don't do big systems jobs, but then again neither do KPMG, PwC, or PA, and they all have lengthy and deep assignments assisting finance departments. For some reason, we seem incapable of winning this sort of work.My advice is that BAS is probably not a great place to start out a consulting career with, but could be of use to you later in your development.

from ACN and EY F&PM. How do the two compare?

As an outsider looking in, I'm not sure I'd want to work for either.BAS has a very similar culture to ACN, as BAS finance team is run by ex-IBMers, but the type of project is very different: ACN run large SI / Outsourcing jobs, with some sort of finance re-design alongside, while BAS, due to its size, runs smaller scale short assignments, primarily focussed on firefighting a particular issue rather than getting under the bonnet and fixing the real issue.Sorry I can't be more positive, but there are reasons why both of these firms suffer from low morale, and high staff turnover.Take your time, and apply to a higher calibre consulting organisation.

Is F&PM really that bad?A recruitment consultant is trying to get me to apply there, but I'm not so sure, given what I've read here...

join the capgem finance transformation practice, the grass is so much greener there. haha....i know quite some people from acn F&PM: many of them do not do any finance related work at all. they are managing test phases, design phases, but for sure they are not doing any CFO consulting. i would stay away from ex-ibm managers, there is a reason why this comp is loosing the competition at the moment.

From what I hear, CapGemini isn't doing much better than EY in the finance tranformation area

The reason why none of these finance transformation groups at any consultancy you care to name isn't doing too well is because they don't have the skills or insight to do what they say on the tin.

Is E&Y really that bad?I've heard that they're still hiring while making lots of people redundant on the quiet. Pay rises are also supposed to be very low

A good friend of mine works for BAS. Having heard all these rumours I had a chat with him. His view (although clearly it doesnt apply to everyone) is that it is a firm in relative stages of infancy and still trying to carve out a niche. But predominantly a good place to be. Apparently BAS has just had a huge investment (hundreds of millions) from the EY global firm, and they do have huge growth plans for BAS, led out of the UK. I guess this dispells the rumours that BAS is going under, and will trigger another surge in recruitment. Apparently alot of the people being pushed out now were the result of a hasty initial recruitment and have not lived up to what their CVs suggested...read into that what you will. He also mentioned that EY is a 'nice' place to be. Not cut-throat, people are very supportive etc etc. Unlike the SI form he came from.My view (and I work for another big firm) is that they still have some way to go, probably still have some more culling to do, but aren't actually bad. I'm fairly neutral. They are not a competitor to my firm in any case - and I can only go from what a Senior Manager who has been there for a year has told me.

First I've heard about any big investments, and I've been here two years !! Can't see it happening, tbh.The rapid growth of the past 2 or 3 years has meant that a lot of very unsuitable people were hired, and much of the dead wood is still being cleared out. However, there have been very few changes in the leadership team, with the ex-IBM faction seeming to be untouchable.We still have some very hard times ahead...

thanks chris. back to cv screening for the rest of the day?

To clarify - it is well known within EY that there is significant investment in Global BAS. Insider where have you been ? This togther with the current 'sold out' status is likely to drive further recruiting effort. Removal of dead wood / natural attrition is occurring at all levels including the partner / leadership team (for the record even an ex IBM partner has left!) . The attrition rate stands at just under 20% which is aligned with current industry averages. As with most organisations there are some happy and some unhappy people...

To clarify - it is well known within EY that there is significant investment in Global BAS. Insider where have you been ? This togther with the current 'sold out' status is likely to drive further recruiting effort. Removal of dead wood / natural attrition is occurring at all levels including the partner / leadership team (for the record even an ex IBM partner has left!) . The attrition rate stands at just under 20% which is aligned with current industry averages. As with most organisations there are some happy and some unhappy people...

Which ex-IBM partner was sacked then??