Vault’s Verdict

Cherry Bekaert is ideally looking for positive, ambitious, team-oriented, detail-oriented candidates with strong critical-thinking and communication skills. For students, Cherry Bekaert runs a valuable internship program. Interns get hands-on work experience and insight into what full-time roles with the firm look like. For its full-time professionals, the firm offers numerous growth opportunities. Cherry Bekaert prioritizes professional development and cares about the advancement of its people. In addition, since the firm is rapidly growing, many opportunities exist to learn on the job and get significant responsibility (above your level). However, that growth also means there have been constant changes in the training department, and insiders say the trainings can be inconsistent as a result.

The firm is committed to promoting a healthy work/life balance for its staff, offering hybrid and remote work arrangements, among other work/life initiatives. However, the concentration of work and deadlines during the busy season typically means long hours and high stress. As for compensation, salaries and bonuses are said to be competitive, but insiders say the retirement and health insurance benefits could be better. On the other hand, wellness benefits are extensive; they include counseling services, group challenges, mindfulness progress, and more.

The firm cultivates an inclusive culture and has a diverse workforce, especially with respect to women (Cherry Bekaert has a female CEO). The firm also encourages employees to volunteer in their communities and is strong when it comes to philanthropy. As for its business outlook, Cherry Bekaert has been growing very rapidly. This has resulted in some growing pains, and some employees worry that the firm’s culture is being negatively impacted and say they’re being overworked. However, many insiders also commend the firm’s ambitious growth and say the firm is strategically well positioned.

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS

Hiring Process

“Interviews are generally scheduled with candidates within a week after a recruiting event. Initial interviews are held virtually. Follow-up interviews may be virtual or in-person depending on location. An ideal candidate is an individual who is interested in pursuing their CPA license or another certification/credential depending on the focus area. We also consider culture fit when evaluating ideal candidates.”

“The firm does a series of interviews over the course of an hour with three or so different managers or partners. Then, if they want to provide an offer, they will send it via email. Upon acceptance, a partner or manager will reach out to congratulate the new hire, answer any questions, and provide next steps. I believe the ideal candidate is one who is seeking or has obtained their CPA, who has a proven track record of competence in their field, and who has a positive and uplifting attitude. “

“Ideal candidates: Have strong knowledge and experience with accounting concepts, critical thinking, ambitious, strong communication skills (written and verbal), team-oriented, organized and detail-oriented, creative thinker (thinks outside the box), conceptual thinker (can connect and think about multiple scenarios and ideas and ‘piece together’ to form logical conclusions).”

“The interviewing process is straightforward for candidates that have prepared themselves. There are typically multiple interviews of varying difficulty. The ideal candidate, for an entry-level position, would be an individual who can work longer hours, is working toward CPA licensure or is already licensed, and has an idea about their long-term interests and goals within the company.”

Interview Questions

“1. Tell me about a time when you had to learn a new technology in order to complete a project. 2. Describe for me how you balance your course load at school; what have you learned from your process? 3. Share a time when you had to set a goal. Did you achieve it? If not, what did you learn? 4. When you’re working with a large number of people, it’s tricky to deliver excellent service to them all. How would you go about prioritizing the needs of leaders and/or clients? 5. Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. What steps did you take to resolve it? 6. Describe a situation where you had to solve a problem. What did you do? What was the result?”

“Describe a situation where you have had to use your skills to adapt? Tell me how you see yourself fitting into a fast-paced environment? Organization is critical to success; how do you manage multiple projects at once? Do you thrive in a team environment?”

“What is a recent project you worked on with a team? Was the project successful?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. They are pretty standard questions. The interview never feels intimidating; it is more of a conversation.”

Internship Experience

“The best aspects of my internship experience were being on site providing assurance services to the clients and being able to interact face-to-face with the client. It was a very personal interaction and showed that my work was valued and had a meaningful impact. My colleagues were very welcoming and helpful. Since my internship was during the summer, at some points there was not a lot of work to do.”

“The best aspect was getting hands-on work experience in the field I wanted to pursue. It gave me insight into how the day-to-day would look and what kind of work I would be working on. It was sometimes challenging to balance a part-time internship with full-time college classes. Sometimes going back and forth between the two every other day was difficult.”

“I got real hands-on work during a busy season environment, which helped prepare me for all the tax seasons to follow. Sometimes it was difficult to get help due to everyone being extremely busy, but it made me have to figure stuff out for myself.”

“The best part of my internship experience was doing actual work that helped me determine that I wanted to go into tax. The hardest part was feeling like I knew nothing because I always want to do my best work possible. However, there is always a learning curve, so I had to come to terms with that.”

Career Development

“The firm does a great job of surveying employees and trying to help them develop along their main professional areas of interest under its Transform Your Career program. The firm prioritizes professional development and truly cares about the advancement and work/life harmony of its people. That said, we can always hone and improve the quality of trainings.”

“The best aspect of my firm’s career development opportunities is the flexibility with respect to the type of client that I work on. The firm really wants us to be able to work on the clients that we are interested in and support us in moving to different types of work. On the downside, there are limitations on preparation set by managers. Some managers are very flexible and want associates to prepare returns in whatever manner they see fit. Others, however, are very strict and require associates to prepare returns with outdated workpapers or suboptimal software.”

“Great career development opportunities. You get experience across all industries over the first couple years. As an experienced senior, you begin honing-in on industry-specific work to grow expertise. Due to client sizes, there are often acquisitions and other technical areas that need extensive focus.”

“With the volume and size of smaller firm acquisitions, there has been constant change and that has impacted the training of new hires as well as the training of those acquired. Further, the training department has struggled to retain personnel and therefore the training is not consistent year to year or level to level. However, due to the rapid growth, you get an opportunity to learn on the job and handle more responsibility than your position level suggests.”

Quality of Life

“The firm is committed to sustainable work/life harmony for its people, which includes hybrid, remote, and other tailored work arrangements for many employees and lots of events to help our people engage and enjoy time together. While chargeable hours are important, the firm stresses bigger picture goals and opportunities for its people.”

“You get ample benefits and ample time off. I really think they care about balancing the intensity of busy season with ample rest in the off season. I also really love the hybrid work environment, as it gives me more time to work and spend time with my family. The concentration of work during busy season and keeping up with the billable hour goals can be exhausting, especially towards the deadlines. However, this is not unique to my firm but to the practice as a whole.”

“Overall, I thoroughly enjoy my job and the quality of life it provides. It’s never been a struggle to maintain a proper work/life balance and there have been no hiccups with using vacation time. My manager has done an amazing job leading the way on these initiatives. However, I would also say that it does seem so dependent on your manager. Unfortunately, my previous manager had less respect for work/life balance, which made work a little more frustrating at times. Fortunately, my current manager is much better at leading in this respect, and my opinion of the company has greatly improved since she became my project manager.”

“The firm promotes 40-hour workweeks and has a strong PTO policy (nice number of accruals, but work ‘follows me home’ even though I’m remote. Clients have access to me outside of work (being in outsourced accounting, it's very difficult to step away and have full peace and quiet for an extended period of time), and there is always a fire that needs to be put out. I have yet to take a full week vacation where I am uninterrupted. Something will require me to check my email, address a problem, or provide something to a client on the fly. These are the sacrifices typically accepted to maintain a strong relationship with our clients and to ensure work is completed accurately and timely.”

Salary and Benefits

“The best aspect of my firm’s benefits would be the salary/bonuses and Bravo system. Based on what I’ve personally observed, my firm stays competitive in the accounting profession in terms of base compensation and bonuses. Additionally, the Bravo system allows employees to send and receive benefits to other employees for doing a good job. The worst aspect of my firm’s benefits would probably be the retirement. The company only matches 50 percent while most competitive firms match 100 percent up to a certain percentage of the employee’s base salary.”

“The salary is aligned with other public accounting firms. However, the health insurance is not the best plan and is expensive. Remote employees are offered fewer benefits. There are no employee discounts or childcare provided. They do offer great vacation time, though, and provide the full week of July 4th off.”

“My salary is on the low side for other professionals with my level of experience in my field. In addition, the salary raises and bonuses promised during the interview process were not accurately described. The raises are minimal to keep with standard of living increases, and the bonuses are not given. While the company does offer some great perks such as paying for CPA classes, the medical and dental coverages are poor, and the costs are high.”

“The salary, benefits, and perks are pretty great. Free busy season meals and snacks/drinks are nice for people who work in the office. But the cost of health insurance is high. Also, we used to only have high-deductible plans, but we finally got another option. However, the cost of that is even more.”

Wellness Efforts

“There are a number of programs that people are able to take advantage of: counseling services, group challenges, mindfulness progress, ERG groups.”

“Communications regarding exercise and nutrition programs go out on a regular basis, in multiple formats. Additionally, healthy snacks are always available, and games are in the break room as a tool to help alleviate stress and build connections.”

“Lots of employee resource groups that cover wellness and career topics. There are programs that include several complimentary counseling sessions and similar things. Employees are reminded to take time for themselves. There are some fun activities every quarter. And management is generally very respectful of family time/personal time.”

“They seem pretty invested in giving people time to recharge. They understand that busy season takes its toll and want you to get time off during the down months. They even have roundtable Zoom discussions to promote work/life balance.”

Community Engagement

“CB does a great job of working with our local community. We have a week each year wholly dedicated to volunteering our time with a local not-for-profit organization. I am involved in our Pride Alliance (LGBTQ+ ERG) and the firm is committed to creating an environment that is welcoming and inclusive. We have ERGs dedicated to: women (Women of CB), disabled individuals and allies (Adapt), people of color (Mosaic), the LGBTQIA+ community (Pride Alliance), and Working Parents and Caregivers (so named).”

“The firm is very diversified, including in its leadership, with a woman CEO and several of its other key leaders. It has groups and sessions for spreading awareness about all these issues and provides a comfortable place for people experiencing life stresses from various social issues to share with similar people. The firm maintains a foundation that raises funds and promotes and funds various community efforts in partnership with established charities. The partners and employees are very engaged in all that.”

“I have worked with various people at the manager level and above, and many of them fall into the umbrella of diversity, which has been good to see. I have been able to participate in our philanthropy through Junior Achievement which has been a great experience.”

“Very female inclusive workforce with proven abilities to rise to the ranks and hold any position within the company. There are multiple diversity resource groups and ‘days of understanding’ where people can get info and ask questions. Everyone seems accepted for who they are. Also, they recently started the CB Foundation, which last year did a lot of good things, including rapid hurricane relief donations in the fall.”

Business Outlook

“Relative to its competition, the firm is very well strategically positioned and well led. It’s committed to leveraging more technology to improve efficiencies and expanding its people resources both within and outside the U.S. It has continued to make very strategic acquisitions to fill target needs for growth. Employee morale seems very strong. The main headwinds I see are general market forces, such as cyclical downturn in advisory demand across the general market, but the firm has adjusted for this and has all other services lines firing on all cylinders it seems.”

“The firm is very ambitious, which is good. They want to grow rather than remain stagnant. However, they keep growing too fast without slowing down and letting employees catch up. We are constantly acquiring new firms and adopting new practices without any real plans to fully integrate those things together. We now have way too many clients than we can handle due to the number of staff we have retained after all the acquisitions, and things keep falling through the cracks and burning out those who remain.”

“The firm has changed a lot over the past year. Sometimes it seems like we’re growing for the sake of growth and are more interested in acquiring firms than in retaining the employees and clients we already have. I wish that CB were more transparent about hiring and future goals. I hear whispers of positions being cut to the private equity investment, and leadership doesn't address this, which makes me a little worried about my job security.”

“They are actively pursuing a growth strategy through the backing of private equity, which is pushing the firm to new levels.”