Vault’s Verdict

Armanino is ideally looking for hardworking, positive, personable team players who are eager to learn and willing to put in the effort to learn. The firm runs a valuable internship program for students, offering hands-on experience, mentoring from senior staff and partners, and exposure to various service lines and industry specializations. For its full-time staff, Armanino provides many growth and development opportunities, including guidance from managers, accelerated promotions, and internal mobility options.

Busy season hours can be tough, and it can be hard to take PTO during that time, but work/life balance is easy to achieve outside busy season. Armanino offers unlimited PTO, hybrid and remote work options, fun social events, and a culture that focuses on work/life balance. Benefits get good reviews and are said to be generous, but salaries and bonuses could be better. Insiders say that salaries are typically lower than peer firms offer, and they aren’t happy that there are no year-end bonuses.

DEI is a focus of the firm, with insiders saying that the firm’s diversity efforts regarding women and LGBTQ+ individuals are stronger than those regarding POC, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. As for the firm’s business outlook, Armanino has been growing fast and thus experiencing growing pains. Some insiders say the firm is too focused on inorganic growth and the bottom line at the expense of salaries and work/life balance. But others say the issues that have arisen due to the firm’s fast-paced growth should be resolved in the next 12 to 18 months.

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS

Hiring Process

“I believe this firm is looking for individuals who are hardworking and will put in the effort to learn. People who are team players and willing to help out others are also traits they want to see in new hires. The interview process was very smooth. They were prompt and clearly explained next steps in the hiring process after interviews. The interviewers also made me feel like they wanted to be there doing interviews.”

“Interview process was four rounds of conversations with managers, recruiters, and partners. I believe they are looking for people with accounting degrees and any public accounting experience.”

“Our interview and callback process is very relaxed and more of a conversation. The ideal candidate we are seeking is someone with positive energy, hardworking, and easy to get along with.”

The firm wants people who are eager to learn and genuinely interested in their clients but are still authentic. They want easygoing people who are willing to put in the work when the time calls for it. The interview process included two back-to-back, 30-minute, one-on-one interviews, and they felt like normal conversations, not standard interview Q&As.”

Interview Questions

“What did you study in school? What do you enjoy most about accounting? Why do you want to work in accounting? Why do you want to join Armanino? Name a time you overcame a difficult situation? Describe the best and worst parts of working as a team in your experience? What would your best friend say about you? That last one I remember most and was pleasantly surprised by it."

“Tell me about a time when you had to work with a large group of people to achieve an objective together. Tell me about a time when you changed someone’s mind without having direct authority over them. Tell me about a time when you anticipated or identified a problem early and took measures to prevent it? Tell me about a time when you had to think ‘outside of the box’ to solve a problem? How did you approach this unique problem? What was the outcome?”

“How do you organize and prioritize your day? What are your career goals over the next three years? Are you primarily looking for an in-person or remote position?”

“Describe your work ethic. What's the most challenging part of public accounting? How do you work in a team setting?”

Internship Experience

“In my internship, I got to work on a number of different engagement teams and experience a variety of clients and industries. I was assigned actual workpapers, which helped me to understand what a job in public accounting entailed. The best aspect of my internship experience was getting to meet a lot of people (from staff 1 to partner) at the firm, and I was able to learn a lot from these interactions.”

“Best aspects: great intern training, mentoring from seniors and partners, diverse types of projects to learn and work on. Worst aspects: none.”

“I enjoyed the experience of learning how to prepare various kinds of tax returns. I wish there were more returns for me to do. I only completed four.”

“I was exposed to multiple service lines and industry specializations within them. However, I didn’t get as much work as I would have liked.”

Career Development

“Armanino pushes us to create goals in line with our levels and our expectations for promotion. For example, as a senior associate, my goals will include typical functions for a supervising senior role. This will help keep me on task and assist in driving me towards the supervising senior role. I wish Armanino would communicate the typical ‘years in role.’ I have no idea if being a senior associate for two years is reasonable or if I am ‘falling behind.’”

“Managers seem to care about your personal and professional development. They provide guidance and tools to achieve them. They take my concerns to heart. However, promotions are barely more than title changes—very little benefits in terms of compensation. Raises are hardly even COLAs [cost-of-living adjustments].”

“Best aspect: Accelerated manager path. Armanino is the first firm of our size to offer ​​​​​​​this type of opportunity to new Associates, creating a pathway from associate to manager in four years. Worst: Subject matter specialists in niche fields have a less structured pathway to promotion, and it requires a lot more planning and preparation to move upward along the career ladder.”

“Opportunities and career development are provided to those who seek them out. While everyone grows, no one is forced to move up the ‘chain’—people can develop at their own pace. Good programs for developing leaders and setting expectations. A firm of this size requires each person to push their own growth by needing to be vocal with the leaders/managers above. At a smaller firm you have more exposure (but higher expectations).”

Quality of Life

“I’m paid well and generally really like the people I work with in my office. I also really like the associates on my team and am grateful for their efforts and commitment. I also feel that firm leadership is very clear about allowing time and space when family issues come up. However, there is never any down time. As soon as a difficult and busy deadline season ends, there are excess admin tasks to tend to, sometimes with surprise and immediate deadlines. Software platforms are always changing. I wear a hundred different hats in my role and never feel organized. I spend hours of weekend time just cleaning up email and my calendar/schedule. It is really challenging to have boundaries with work and also get everything done.”

“Aside from during busy season, it is very easy to get PTO approved. We have a lot of happy hours and great work/life balance compared to other firms, which takes the edge off of working some longer hours during busy season. We have great firm culture because we get closer through the events organized by the firm, and it feels less like "just coworkers" and more like ‘coworker friends.’”

“The culture of the firm is entrepreneurial and very empowering. If someone has a passion or idea, they can pursue it. There are many opportunities created by sustained growth, which allows people to define their career path and choose the pace they go at. Armanino is a work hard, play hard culture. Very committed people who like to work as a team and drive results. Kind of like joining an ‘all-star’ team where the expectations are high of everyone, and every team member has a chance to elevate their game and shine.”

“Quality of life is heavily dictated by level and group. There is an expectation to work 60- or 70-hour weeks if necessary to get through busy season. On the flip side, taking PTO is easy and expected during slow times. There is a huge focus on providing good work/life balance to the staff, but not very much for managers. Manager hours were higher in many cases than staff hours as a result.”

Salary and Benefits

“Medical and dental offerings are pretty good. Food and snacks in the office. Decent hybrid work structure. Compensation and benefits are absolutely on the lower end for public accounting, especially for the responsibilities they impose. Raises barely even pass as COLAs. Not having a 401(k) match is highly discouraging for saving. I really miss the wellness subsidy/reimbursements. ‘Unlimited’ PTO is very misleading, because normally people can’t take more than two to three weeks. No Summer Fridays.”

“The best is benefit is remote working, as I live far from any office. Also good are the free food/meals that are given to us on a monthly basis. The worse benefit is there are no end of year bonuses (we get merit increases but no bonuses). And no 401(k) matching.”

“Armanino is progressive and offers benefits that not all companies do. While healthcare benefits could be better, maternity/paternity leave is much better than most. Additionally, while hours can be difficult at times, the flexibility to complete work outside of normal business hours when needed is a huge plus.”

“Very competitive compensation package compared to other CPA firms. It would be nice if they paid 100 percent for parking.”

Wellness Efforts

“The firm provides award points for beating challenges that support one’s overall wellness, telehealth services for mental and behavioral health, and 10 sick days per year.”

“The firm uses the Virgin Pulse app to drive team competition across the firm. The firm also offers free counseling, discounts at gyms and other exercise programs, and the Virgin Pulse app offers nutrition education. The majority of people I have met at the firm build exercise and nutrition into their routine, which drives a culture of people who prioritize health.”

“The firm has a wellness program that has consistent outreach, suggestions for better life/work balance, better eating habits (which the firm supports through healthy snacks and drinks), exercise tips, etc.”

“The Virgin Pulse program is nice. I think more active engagement in ongoing wellness programs in person as opposed to all through the app would be nice.”

Diversity, Philanthropy, and Green Initiatives

“The firm utilizes recycling bins and encourages everyone to use them. They are also consistently recognized for having female leadership roles, they support LGBTQ+ individuals and even hold culture activities supporting them, and they are open about people being welcome as they are—people with tattoos, different cultures, different genders, etc.”

“The firm doesn’t seem focused on race/diversity practices, individuals with disabilities, or military veterans. Nothing was done for Hispanic heritage month or other races heritage months, but there were several events for LGBTQ+.”

“I do believe the firm promotes and supports the advancement of women, and our partner promotions have been heavily weighted toward women in the last few years. It is still a little disconcerting that all of the business line leaders and most of the industry group leaders are men.”

“I think my firm places a major emphasis on ESG initiatives both at the firm-level as well as for individual employees. I also think the firm is doing a good job with diversity efforts for women and POC, but I haven't heard/seen many diversity efforts directed at the LGBTQ+ community. In my department, there is a considerable number of women in leadership positions, so I think the firm does place a strong emphasis on promoting and retaining talented women.”

Business Outlook

“I do think Armanino cares about the quality of service it brings to its customers and is trying to grow quickly. But the firm seems more interested in growth than taking better care of their employees (raises, base pay, work/life balance).”

“Employee morale is low with constant reductions to benefits like volunteer reimbursement, busy season meals, 401(k) matching, life insurance etc. Raises can be low from year to year, and turnover is high. The firm is struggling to properly staff engagements and is starting to offshore and automate as much work as possible. The firm is focused on inorganic growth through acquisitions in target regions. The firm is focused on retaining quality clients and purging low margin engagements.”

“It seems like the firm’s primary focus is on hitting financial goals. Managers/departments need to focus on better communication to departments when it comes to filing annual reports, tax deadlines, year-end activities.”

“The firm is hyper-focused on growth, which means that we are have growing pains operationally, but our enterprise value continues to increase at a fast pace. Our current weaknesses are in recruiting talent and crippling ourselves with new processes implemented as a result of our fast-paced growth. I expect these issues to be resolved in the next 12 to 18 months.”