Pros
Citrin Cooperman was a great firm that provided great opportunities for me to start and grow my career straight out of college. It was founded by entrepreneurs and its mission statement has always been "Helping entrepreneurs succeed". Citrin Cooperman has always trained its employees to think this way in their everyday work. Their compensation was always at the top of what my peers at other firms were making, and they paid out overtime. The vacation policy was also fantastic, with 2 weeks to start and a third week once you hit your 5 year anniversary. In addition, your first two weeks of overtime were converted to additional vacation, and you had the option of converting as much OT as you liked to vacation. On top of that, after 6 years working for Citrin Cooperman you were granted the opportunity to use a 4 week paid sabbatical. Most of the partners I worked with gave me the opportunity from the beginning to take control of engagements and projects that I worked on to enable me to grow and learn. Management stressed networking and business selling, and thinking like an entrepreneur in addition to regular accounting. Any new business that I brought in got me a 15% commission. The firm works in a variety of industries and is very flexible in allowing employees to pursue engagements in the industries that they have an interest. Citrin Cooperman encourages employees to join committees at an early stage in their career. The partners and senior management have an open door policy and are incredibly approachable and always willing to help where they can. I have stayed in contact with many of my former managers and partners and they have helped me out in my new role at my new company whenever I have asked for advice.
Cons
As with any public accounting role there were long hours, so work life balance was tough during the January to April and September and October months. The firm is not as structured as other accounting firms of similar size and bigger, even though it has been growing exponentially ever since I started. Because of this you need to be able to take control of your career and make sure that you focus on what you want to do. If you do not like what you are doing or feel you aren't being challenged you have to speak up. It can be easy to fall into a rut because they allow you to move at your own pace.
