Hello everyone,first let me say that I found this forum amazingly useful so I wanted to thank everyone for their contributions.I am graduating in summer and have two offers: PwC Management Consulting and EY Business Advisory in Performance Improvement, both London. I had no previous internship experience as I did a year abroad, but I did work throughout uni.PwC seems to be going for the big expansion, although as it's mentioned here, it's unclear how. What I do know, though, is that they are apparently hiring between 100 and 150 grads this year, which is 3 times more than last year. Their recruitment process was pretty standard.EY, I must say, has really great ways of impressing us kids. Their material is great, their people are always on top of their friendliness, etc (I know that shouldn’t influence my judgment a lot). They claim to only hire between 6 and 8 grads every 6 months for this position, so it’s obviously smaller than PwC. They do a lot of public sector as I understand - and that is something I am considering for later in my career - but for start I want a wide variety of clients from both public and private sector to get as much feel of it as possible, and to be able to make an informed decision of what I want to specialize in. A partner once told me that if I want to be really good at public sector, it's better to start of consulting private sector (he mentioned banks). That way, I see what efficiency really is - and then move on to public. That's why I wouldn't want to be stuck in public right from start.Anyways, there's been a lot of EY (and Big4 in general) bashing around forums, and I know that I should take everything with a pinch of salt - as forums are obviously anonymous and anyone can write anything - but just wanted to ask you guys what you think between these two options.Thanks.

Firstly, congratulations on securing your two offers graduate, and with the two most interesting and stable of the Big 4 currently.Frankly at this stage in your career you cannot go wrong with either. As you will discover later on having a Big 4 firm on your CV is a quality stamp which will serve you very well. The work will be largely similar in either firm, and similar opportunities for advancement and training, similar money as they tend to model their remuneration closely on each other. What should swing it for you is which one is probably as simple as your experience with them through the selection process - people, working environment etc. If you got a better sense of one over the other, felt more 'at home' at one over the other then go that way. If you had to choose on brand - absolutely had to - PwC would win. But just by a nose.

I don’t work for either of them – but would go with PwC. They have a much better reputation in terms of client list and staff development.

Fair points Swiss Tony but entering as a grad there really is nothing to choose between them on that count - most people will only stay a couple of years at most in their first company anyway.

Mars, a bit off topic here but why do you say EY and PWC are the most stable of the big 4? I would think Deloitte is right up there...Just interested in your rationale.

I wouldn't have said EY's advisory business was stable. Didn't their huge growth plans of recent years come to nothing resulting in a big round of redundancies last year, mainly affecting F&PM?

Can only speak for the UK&I side of things (so everything bar Financial Services) but categorically no redundancies in F&PM and in fact only a total of 10 or so across the whole of Advisory in EY. 80% of the stuff written about EY on here is rubbish and the other 20% is no doubt equally applicable to the rest of the Big4.As Mars says, the original poster can't go really go wrong and I'm sure will make the decision that is best for them.

Utter balderdash! Plenty of people were managed out over the past two years, including the lead patner in F&PM that arrived from IBM and did diddly squat to build the business other than give his IBM chums senior jobs. Ben still needs to manage most of these jokers out from F&PM. Very few will shed any tears to see them go.

f&pm man - bet a lot of people there include you in their list of jokers they hope Ben will manage out.

Great point "F&PM man" with the minor flaw that redundancy and managing out aren't the same thing. In any case, suspect you're not actually on the team or you'd get the lead Partner's name right.

worth noting that EY London consists of both FS (FSO) and Non-FS (UK&I). Whilst there is talk of issues on the non-FS side on this forum, I can say that the FS side of the business is strong. We have worked on many of the strategic issues that FTSE 100 FS clients have experienced in the past few years. Although staff churn has picked up in past couple of month as the consulting market comes back to life, staff churn is reasonably low.On a side note, enjoyment and staff progression (and pay) in any consulting companyis subject to your own ability as a consulting. We are all responsible for selling and delivering quality work. I often wonder (on reading this forum) if many of the comments are from EY joiners that struggled to find their feet – surely a company staffed with hacks would be a great opportunity to make a difference and create that director/partner case.

What planet are you on z? I got the lead partner's name wrong? Which lead partner in F&PM? BC's name or RS's name? Have to say that the former is doing a much better job than the latter !

Ummm, 8th floor, More London Place, Planet Earth. The initials you're looking for are RL and have been for 12 months.

Try the first link in this you tw1t, if you don't know who RS is:http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=F%26PM+lead+partner+UKAnymore questions, please ask someone who gives a hoot

Hi graduate, I know people working in both firms. Both are good and both have thier ups and downs, but PwC would get it on balance. The culture is much more open and friendly, and it doesn't suffer from the bickering like you can see in this thread (and a dozen others)

Really good debate here in my opinion - back to what this forum is all about. Great stuff to see and hopefully some opinions coming across which OP will find useful.

I have a few clients who use E&Y in financial services and I would support the views of "ey'er" on 18/2.+ve - they have a few clients where they are now part of the furniture - they don't need to "bid" for the work.+ve - consultants seem very nice - haven't come across any complete asses as yet. -ve - they do seem to have a staff turnover problem at mid-consultant level-ve - quite a few of the folks I've worked beside don't come across as true FS experts.Don't know PWC too well so can't compare

Aren't we getting off track though? OP is a raw grad looking for a first role, 2 years experience and s/he will be looking to move on. The issues which we would consider paramount for a mid - senior level hire don't apply here.

Graduate,I worked at PwC for 2 years before stupidly moving on for money.Of all the consultancies I have worked for (And there are 4, Yes I know, I'm worse than John Terry) I have to say that PwC had by far the best culture, training, offices, workmates, training and social life of the consultanies I have worked for.I can't recommend it highly enough.I do have friends that work at E&Y and while I think they would say the culture there was at one time the same as PwC, The impression I get now is generally a feeling of "E&Y has changed".Dunno if that helps.

To be honest Mars, I think a new grad should not just view this as a first step. Many people intend to move into a role for a couple of years and are with the same company many years later. I also intended to join my first consultancy for one or two years as a young grad, and am still here 6 years later.

I would concur with the majority of posters above that PwC wins on pretty much every score.

Hi, just wanted to ask if you have any idea about the pay scales for PwC and BCG? I am about to negotiate a package and need to know the benchmarks.Thank you.

Hi graduate,Firstly congrats on receiving both offers on what has been a tough job market this year.I came through EY's PI scheme so I should start by saying i'm probably a bit biased, but I interned at PwC before joining so I have some experience of both at graduate level...Both companies have a great reputation, particularly for developing grads, so you'd be splitting hairs in this area. Similarly they both work primarily with FTSE 30 clients and the public sector and the idea is that you rotate around both and various consulting areas (i've worked on 5 private sector and 1 gov since joining). EY private sector work is ramping up now with the start of recovery and as public sector budgets tighten, and plans to double in size over the next four years primarily on the strength of this (from what i've heard PwC has a similar private/public % split)..I think to come to the best decision you should reflect on your own experiences of the people you met through the process, and if possible contact recruitment and ask if you can speak to another grad who's actually worked there to help you make the decision about the best fit for you..'culture' afterall is a personal preference...Regardless of what any of the (largely anonymous) posters say on here though, either one will stand you in great stead.Hope that helps.

Thanks for all your input and advice. In the end, I accepted the offer from PwC's, and I'm really looking forward to starting with them.I just feel their Consulting practice is stronger than EY's. Maybe I'm wrong - but that's the feeling I got when talking to different people in the industry.