MaloneBailey Reviews

3.4

52% would recommend to a friend

(73 total reviews)

George Qin, CPA, and Steven Vertucci, CPA

63% approve of CEO

50% positive business outlook

MaloneBailey has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 73 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The MaloneBailey employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Finance industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

73 reviews
1.0
21 June 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It’s a decent place for your first year to get your foot in the door but not a company suitable for a real career.

Cons

-MB only audits small companies, many of which have no revenue at all. Once you’ve worked here it may be difficult to obtain a position in a fully-functioning auditing firm if you have no revenue experience. -Training is mostly classroom-based and the hands-on experience varies wildly based on the senior you are assigned to. -A significant percentage of the staff speaks Mandarin in and around the office. They are only supposed to speak it for non-work purposes but that’s not the case. You could end up in an office section in which you are the only one not speaking Mandarin. Of course this is an advantage if you do speak it. -The flexible schedule is not a reality. They will often assign one person to do prep for a specific client, so you’ll have to be there regardless of whether MB told you you can leave as early as 330 or get in as late as 930. In addition you will often need to be there at the same time as your supervisors, hence no real flexibility. They could solve this problem with more cross-training to catch up with other firms. -Turnover is abnormally high at this firm, much higher than the industry average. When you are hired with a bunch of other people they will tell you it’s because of how much they’re growing. It’s really because so many people leave throughout the year, even right before busy season. -The alcohol they stock in the kitchen might be considered a pro by some, but mostly it’s because people drink during busy season. -There is chronic infighting among the management team and the office culture allows for outbursts and fights in the hallways, which is embarrassing for everyone involved. -Training time is billed to the relevant client, which gives seniors a disincentive to train (because they are given a set of budgeted hours for each project). -The company has had issues with the quality of their audits (google for more information). -The company stiffed an employee for a referral bonus, telling her that since she emailed her friend’s resume to HR instead of handing in a physical copy, she wasn’t eligible for the referral after they hired her friend. Bad move for a company with low retention rates.

avatar
MaloneBailey Response
6y
We appreciate you taking the time to leave us your feedback, and are disappointed that your time with MaloneBailey was not the best experience. We take feedback seriously, and would like to address a few of your concerns. Public accounting can be a challenging environment with many rewards. We are continuously listening to our employees and working to ensure everyone enjoys where they work, from benefits to work-life balance and everything in between. Feedback and opinions matter with MaloneBailey, and this concept has in part landed us a spot as one of Houston’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For the past five years in a row. MaloneBailey has an open door policy and we strive to provide our staff with the opportunity to communicate with everyone within the firm. We also have our NextGen Council, which is a great way for all staff to voice their concerns and offer suggestions on how we can make the firm a better place. According to the 20th Annual NYSSCPA – Rosenberg Practice Management Survey, the accounting profession has the highest turnover rate in the country. The study also stated that CPA firm turnover can range from 13% (national firms with revenue greater than $20 million) to 25% (local CPA firms). MaloneBailey has a turnover rate well within the national average range. We specialize in small and medium company audits, but we have larger clients as well. Our partners make every effort to allow everyone to work on a variety of different sized clients and, as a result, many of our staff broaden their accounting and auditing knowledge with each and every busy season. Because of this, we have had many former employees go on to pursue successful careers in larger firms and industry. Given our specialization, we are able to offer flexible schedules and remote audit work. We are a public accounting firm, and therefore still have a busy season where hours can get up to 65 hours per week. However, our busy season hours are not spent traveling to and from client sites, in and out of hotels rooms, etc. They are spent in our Houston office where you get to go home to your family and own bed every night. You also get the opportunity to know your work family and spend time at creative and fun events as well as enjoy the end of busy season with a big celebration. Lastly, we receive a number of referrals from our current employees and when within policy, they enjoy a nice bonus when their friends join the firm. MaloneBailey also pays overtime worked, so anything worked over the usual 40 hours per week is reimbursed back to our staff or as paid time off (PTO). In the non-busy times, our staff enjoy the benefit of flexing their hours. Some of our staff come in earlier in the morning and leave earlier in the day to beat traffic (e.g. arriving at 8am and leaving at 4pm). Others arrive to the office a little later and leave a little later (e.g. arriving at 9:30am and leaving at 5:30pm). The key to this process working effectively is communicating with your teams. With such a variety of clients, not only related to size, but location and industry, we are very open about being a diverse office and think it is one of the great things about our firm! Our employees speak a variety of different languages and most employees take this as an opportunity to learn about a new culture other than their own. Houston is the nation’s most diverse city, and our firm prides ourselves on being just as diverse. Training is a mixture of classroom and hands-on with a personal trainer. Based on feedback from new Associates, we have found that the best way to learn something is by doing, and there is no one better to show our new staff than our current staff. All trainers go through training on what is expected of them and how they should train. Consistency is our focus, but of course there is room for each trainer to modify and personalize their trainings. We do reinforce training through work on actual clients with a mindful approach to time management and the impact on not only cost, but more importantly, audit quality. Quality is at the heart of what our firm does and how we perform our work. We have a dedicated, full-time quality control partner to make sure this is always the case. In addition, our QC partner spent time working at the PCAOB where he inspected accounting firms, therefore his knowledge in this area is extremely valuable. If you would like to share more about your experience, please contact me by emailing rfournier@malonebailey.com so that we can set up a time to talk. Thank you again for the feedback. It helps us make MaloneBailey a better place. Best of luck in your future endeavors. All the best, Raven Fournier Lead Recruiter
1.0
16 June 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Convenient location, learning experience in varied areas

Cons

The culture at the firm is not good. There is no such thing as you can have your own life. They expect you to be ready to work 24/7. One thing almost every senior, manager, and partner like to do is to send you emails on Friday afternoon and/or over the weekend and tell you to complete some assignments over the weekend. There are some tensions between staff, experienced, seniors, and management because some of them push the staff too much while they always leave at 5pm or earlier, and they are being arrogant and giving the staff hard times. The overall atmosphere is not good, so that explains why the turnover rate is much higher than average. The firm does evaluation twice a year, and always fire a few, so in terms of job security, do not go to MB. The budget is so tight that they will ask you to be more efficient, which basically means either you need to know everything and work straight for at least 8 hours per day with no breaks or eat your time.

avatar
MaloneBailey Response
9y
Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. We are very sorry that your experience at MaloneBailey was not a positive one. We are taking your feedback and addressing all the places we missed in delivering a great experience to you. We value and consider all feedback and we’ll continue to find ways to improve, but I wanted to address a couple of your specific concerns. We try our best to provide a work life balance to our staff. As you know, this can be a bit tricky in public accounting. We believe the 9/80 schedules during non-busy seasons, the flexible hours throughout the year and the overtime compensation are quite beneficial and we would most certainly be open to suggestions on how to make this work life balance better for our staff. We understand that public accounting can be very demanding and is not an environment for everyone. For our Seniors and Managers, we have designed a mentorship and coaching program to address the demands of these roles which we believe will have a positive effect on Staff from a training and coaching perspective. We do not excuse unprofessional behavior and invite all staff to address challenges. We offer an open door policy to help staff initiate attention to their concerns. Evaluations are very important as we understand that learning from both strengths and weaknesses will help to build your career. We continue to identify opportunities to provide real time feedback and coaching as well. We strive to give staff multiple learning opportunities and ways to grow in their career. If you would like to share more about your experience, please contact me by emailing dwhitley@malonebailey.com so that we can set up a time to talk. Thank you again for the feedback. It helps us make MaloneBailey a better place. Best of luck in your future endeavors. All the best, Debi Whitley HR Manager
1.0
19 June 2025

Don’t fall for it

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I can barely think of any

Cons

1. They removed overtime compensation 2. They will hire saying year-end bonus will compensate for overtime, will make you work 100 hrs/week in busy season and lay you off right before giving bonus (saw 15 of my colleagues getting laid off today for overstaffing) 3. There is immense amount of discrimination 4. There is little to no benefits 5. They will lay you off for taking maternity leave 6. They wouldn’t even keep snacks/coffee cups 7. It’s like a school with principal and everyone caged 8. They lack basic humanity of treating everyone equally 9. There is just favouritism and politics 10. The list would go on and on

avatar
MaloneBailey Response
12mo
MaloneBailey takes all comments seriously and would like to address several defamatory, baseless and inaccurate falsehoods in your review. The review indicates that you are currently employed with the firm; in the interest of professionalism and transparency, we encourage you to speak directly with leadership to discuss your concerns. Management is not aware of any discussions as described by the individual who posted this libelous review. Please come forward to management to discuss your complaints. When posting reviews on platforms such as Glassdoor, it is important to ensure that the information shared is accurate and based on verifiable, factual experiences. This helps maintain the credibility of the platform and supports informed decision-making for both current and prospective employees. We would like to clarify several points mentioned in your review. Transparency and accuracy are important to us, and we believe it’s essential to address any misunderstandings to ensure a fair and informed perspective. Please see our detailed responses below. The claim that 15 colleagues were laid off is incorrect. While the public accounting industry as a whole has experienced workforce reductions due to broader economic and market conditions, this figure does not reflect the situation at MaloneBailey. Like many firms, we continuously evaluate staffing needs based on business demands, but we have not conducted layoffs on the scale suggested. It’s important to distinguish between layoffs and large-scale reductions, and we encourage accurate representation of such matters to avoid spreading misinformation. The assertion of 100-hour work weeks during the busy season is inaccurate. While public accounting is known for increased workloads during busy seasons, the average hours worked at MaloneBailey during these times typically range between 55 and 65 hours. Workload expectations are communicated clearly in advance, and efforts are made to manage assignments in a way that supports both client needs and employee well-being. The firm also provides additional support during these periods, including meals and other resources, to help employees manage their time effectively. The statement regarding a lack of benefits is incorrect. Our benefits program is reviewed and expanded annually to support the evolving needs of our employees. In addition to standard offerings such as health insurance and retirement plans, the firm provides various perks. During busy seasons, employees are offered catered lunches, a variety of snacks and other perks to support them through extended work hours. No employees have been laid off due to taking maternity leave. This claim is categorically false. MaloneBailey fully supports employees who take parental leave, in accordance with both legal requirements and our internal policies. We recognize the importance of family responsibilities and are committed to providing a supportive environment for new parents. Employees are encouraged to take the time they need and are welcomed back to their roles upon completion of their leave. Any suggestion that maternity leave results in termination misrepresents our values and practices, which are grounded in fairness, respect, and compliance with employment laws. Disposable coffee cups were discontinued as part of the firm’s sustainability efforts and in alignment with the building’s environmental standards as a LEED Certified building. To support this initiative, all employees are provided with a high quality RTIC cup upon joining the firm to encourage environmentally responsible practices and helps reduce waste in accordance with our commitment to sustainability. The comparison of the work environment to a school setting is not reflective of our structure. The malicious claim that employees are “caged” is far from the experience we offer where employees have flexibility and choice via our hybrid working schedule and ability to work from home after core business hours. All employees are treated as professionals and are trusted to manage their responsibilities accordingly. Our professionals follow a core hours schedule that allows for flexibility and supports work-life balance. MaloneBailey’s shift away from paid overtime to a performance based bonus is in line with the vast majority of peer CPA firms and was an informed decision based on extensive research and interviews with other CPA firms both locally and nationwide. Additionally, MaloneBailey does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We are committed to treating all employees equally and with respect, regardless of background or personal circumstances. We recognize that everyone is human and strive to foster a workplace culture grounded in fairness, dignity, and understanding. MaloneBailey has been voted as one of Houston’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For since 2011 among many other accolades and awards and we are proud of our high tenure rates and low turnover rates We welcome constructive feedback and are open to dialogue that contributes to a more accurate and productive workplace discussion.
Viewing 1 - 3 of 73 Reviews

Glassdoor has 74 MaloneBailey reviews submitted anonymously by MaloneBailey employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if MaloneBailey is right for you.