Consulting career at Accenture?

[soupcxan]

I've been working in industry as a financial analyst for a couple years at a well respected company. Accenture is preparing an offer for me to join their Finance and Performance Management (F&PM) group in the Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) section as a consultant. If anyone here has had experience with the firm, I'd appreciate the insight. Questions:

1) I'm interested in working on Hyperion implementations, but I'm also interested in ERP as well as Shared Services, which is done outside the EPM group (still under F&PM, with Fin Ops, I believe). If I accept and do a couple Hyperion projects, how hard is it to get on an ERP or SS project? I asked them about this during the interviews but their answers varied.

2) For this level of experience, what salary should I expect them to offer? This is in the Atlanta office, and my current salary is in the high $60s. I don't have an MBA, but my undergrad was in finance.

3) How do they compare to Deloitte (in terms of culture and business outlook)?

After Lawrence's thread on Booz Allen, I figure there might be some more useful information out there.

 

[saluki9]

I can't give you much specific help, but I did have a close friend work there. They wore him out in less than 2 years. He said that he did learn a lot there

This guy is a hard chargin consultant but even for him the pace was too much there. Don't expect the huge bucks, but I wouldn't be suprised to see your pay jump to around $80K

 

[brewer12345]

Run. Don't look back.

Sorry, just spent enough time in that particular salt mine to have no interest in it as an employer.

If you work at Accenture as a consultant, you will work long hours, travel all the time (not to fun places), get paid pretty well, learn a fair bit of extremely narrowly focused stuff, and get laid off at the first sign of a downturn. That is the nature of the beast. If you think you will learn stuff that will be valuable, the job might be good, but be aware of the downside and don't expect the job to last too far into the next recession.

 

[Peter]

Brewer nailed it pretty well.

Large consulting firms all work the same way: senior guy sells project based on unrealistic expectations of consulting fees needed vs work to be done, then the grunts have to work long hours to make up the difference.

BTDT, both as a 'grunt' and as a 'senior guy'. Found both roles unpleasant in different ways.

But, you do learn a lot, and typically work with some very bright people. And the pay is pretty good, in absolute dollar terms.

Peter

 

[yamasho]

I got an offer as an undergrad. Pay was average, maybe low for the industry. 50k with a low bonus. This was in MI, however, so maybe that makes a difference.

My friends that work there directly out of college DO NOT like it what-so-ever and these are kids that talked about consulting all throughout college and ranked Accenture #1 or #2 on the list of companies that they would love to work for. They say that they do not do meaningful work and that they get worked to death. They do not feel that they get paid enough. Also, I'm not sure you would make 80,000.

I was terribly excited to receive the offer until I did more research. You should do the same.

 

[kcowan]

This is an accurate portrayal of any project-oriented consulting company, not just Accenture..

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

If you want a recognizable name on your resume, solid work experience, in-depth experience in a particular area, and can afford to work crazy hours, then go for it. Otherwise, consider a different option.

 

[soupcxan]

Thanks all, I think the wisdom here may be on target. I'm curious to see what compensation they offer but the more people I talk to, the more I hear about their reputation for being a sweatshop. The work/life balance might be a little better at some of their peers, but not enough to make a difference. I'm already miserable at my job - no point in switching if it's just more of the same.

 

[soupcxan]

I really need a change from my current job but I don't think this is the right way to go. Now I'm scratching my head about what my next plan should be. I would even take a new job at the same pay level if I thought it would be more interesting, around credit/risk or real estate, but not sure if that is better or if I should just head to an MBA. I don't relish the thought of spending another 7 months in this job before school starts next August.

 

[bow-tie]

Is that enough for you to jump ship?

 

[brewer12345]

If anyone is interested, they offered mid $70's + $10k signing bonus. I really need a change from my current job but I don't think this is the right way to go. Now I'm scratching my head about what my next plan should be.

I think you have to figure out what you want. Then you can decide if a particular job and the associated money are worth leaping for. I turned down a 125k base, 50k bonus job because it was the wrong job with the wrong employer at the wrong time. Not easy to do, but undoubtedly the best chice I couldhave made over the long run.

 

[bow-tie]

...I turned down a 125k base, 50k bonus...

Hooey... that is some serious coin... at least around here.

 

[saluki9]

If anyone is interested, they offered mid $70's + $10k signing bonus. I really need a change from my current job but I don't think this is the right way to go. Now I'm scratching my head about what my next plan should be. I would even take a new job at the same pay level if I thought it would be more interesting, around credit/risk or real estate, but not sure if that is better or if I should just head to an MBA. I don't relish the thought of spending another 7 months in this job before school starts next August.

Do i get some sort of door prize for guessing the comp correctly?

 

[Craig]

soupcxan, you'll find many folks that have top jobs started with gigs like Accenture, Deloitte, etc. I started at $13K for Coopers & Lybrand in 1977 (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), and it had all the negatives listed above. But it helped a lot on the resume, as did all of my other gigs.

However ... for a "job", the serious money these days seems to be with private equity firms ...

 

[cmy1176]

I spent 6 years at Accenture in Atlanta. I've found that people can have varying experiences. I've left the firm, but I can't imagine a better place/industry to start a career. You will learn a lot, work with bright people, and be positioned for good opportunities at a relatively young age. It's rare someone makes a career there, but it's a great place to get your feet wet, right out of college.

 

[Brat]

Sounds a lot like what MDs suffer through during internship and residency. Consider it in that framework.