Vault’s Verdict

CohnReznick is looking for talented, hardworking candidates who are eager to learn and grow, and can work well in teams and independently. For students, the firm runs an engaging internship program, which offers interns valuable hands-on experience, access to colleagues who are extremely helpful and supportive, the opportunity to work with different teams across the firm, and the time to participate in fun activities with their fellow interns. For its full-time staff, the firm offers extensive career development opportunities, including a performance coaching program, a lot of hands-on training, the flexibility to grow and develop at your own pace, and a promotion structure based on readiness as opposed to tenure.

Although the hours can be long and the deadlines stressful during busy season, hours are more relaxed the rest of the year, and the firm encourages staff to use their PTO outside of the busy periods. In addition, colleagues are very respectful when you have time off, allowing you to disconnect. The flexible schedules, ability to work remotely, and two shutdown weeks (when the firm closes its offices around July 4th and Thanksgiving) also greatly help to improve work/life balance. Meanwhile, salaries and bonuses are said to be average, with some insiders noting that they could be better. Benefits and perks are competitive, while wellness offerings are generous. The firm offers virtual healthcare options such as physical therapy and mental health care counseling for employees and their families, fitness challenges throughout the year, free access to the Headspace app, Grub hub gift cards to cover meal costs during busy season, and more.

DEI is a focus at CohnReznick, which aims to be very inclusive and welcoming of all people from all backgrounds. The firm promotes DEI through formal programs as well as employee resource groups. While CohnReznick’s staff is rather diverse in general, there is a lack of diversity at the more senior levels. As for the firm’s overall business outlook, the firm is growing rapidly through geographic and service line expansions. On the other hand, some insiders believe the firm has too much business and not enough employees. Still, the consensus among insiders is the firm is poised to continue to thrive and employee morale is very strong.

Hiring Process

“The interviews were pleasant and enjoyable. I felt like a free-flowing conversation. The ideal candidate is someone willing to learn and to grow in the industry. They want someone committed and passionate about their practice. The callback process is very fast. I heard back the same day as my interviews.”

“The interview and callback process was pretty quick. They scheduled it so I could have all my interviews in one day rather than having to keep coming back. The ideal candidate is ready to learn and eager to take on new challenges. You must also be a team player as well as be able to work independently.”

“The firm's interview and callback process are very good. They try to engage with you and connect with you as well. The callback process does not take long to get an answer so you can decide in time what you want to do with your decision. The ideal candidate is very talented, hardworking, and eager to learn, since every day you are learning something new.”

“I did an hour back-to-back interview with two people and they mostly asked behavioral questions. I got a call back the next morning that I was offered a full-time tax associate position. The ideal candidate has integrity, and is humble, friendly, and someone who responds great to behavioral questions.”

Interview Questions

“Why did you pick your university? Give me an example of an issue you faced and how you resolve it. Why audit or tax?”

“Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult person. How did you maintain a positive relationship? Tell me about a time when you identified a process that could be improved. Tell me about a time when you had to work closely with others. How did you build and maintain relationships to accomplish the task at hand?”

“What is your experience in (technical area)? Describe a time when you got stuck trying to solve a problem. How did you resolve it? What do you enjoy doing outside of your professional life?”

“Why do you want to work at CohnReznick? What did you not like about your last employer that you hope to encounter differently here? How do you describe the way in which you bring value to your employer's organization? Who are the stakeholders in your life and career that have a vested interest in your ability to be successful and be fulfilled at CohnReznick?”

Internship Experience

“The internship was well run and gave me the opportunity to learn about the firm, industry, and culture of the office. I was able to gain experience in audit as well as participate in fun activities with my fellow interns.”

“The best part of my internship was being immediately included with fellow team members and given the opportunity for hands on work from day one.”

“I gained lots of experience. Everyone was extremely helpful and willing to help and teach me everything I needed to know to help me improve. Additionally, I was able to work with different teams throughout the firm and gain an understanding of how each worked and where I wanted to focus upon starting.”

“I was dropped into a fast-paced environment where I was able to adapt and learn quickly with real-world experiences by doing hands-on client work. I felt this was really beneficial, as the accounting practices became a reality and not just something in my textbook. While the fast-paced environment can be viewed as a challenge for some, I feel I was really able to learn greatly because of it.”

Career Development

“The best aspect of CohnReznick's overall career development is the coach and coachee mentorship offered by the firm. In my experience, this has helped me with managing stresses on the job, planning for my future career, and holding myself accountable through regular check-ins to discuss progress throughout the year and adjusting as necessary to fit my work schedule. The most challenging aspect of the firm's overall career development opportunities is that there are not sufficient in-person, one-on-one meetings anymore. It is difficult for inexperienced associates to learn or ask questions sometimes in a virtual environment.”

“The best aspect about the firm is the chance to make connections with people you'd never had the chance of meeting, like the calls from the CEO and the Teams meetings on diversity and wellness, which teach more than just accounting but social skills. There are multiple chances to listen to people who got to where I aspire to be, and hearing them give talks and answer questions about not only their professional lives but also some personal things make my goals more realistic. The CEO sitting in on a Zoom call, taking time out of his day, to talk to interns and associates, motivates me to work harder and dream bigger like him.”

“There are plenty of career development opportunities. Professionals can always express an interest in an industry or discipline, and the firm generally will help professionals get exposed to their area of interest. There are great opportunities to mentor or be mentored. The firm also has a wide variety of learning and development resources. I personally was offered the opportunity to expand into an area, and that opportunity ultimately gave rise to my primary area of expertise. Similarly, I have seen many other people successfully take on new roles or expand into different areas throughout my time at this firm.”

“Mentoring is really taken seriously and helpful, and there is a lot of hands-on training. They also really allow employees to choose their own pace at which they want to grow and develop. People are promoted when they are ready regardless of the amount of time they have spent in their current position. If you are a fast learner and hard worker, you will be rewarded for it. However, people cannot be promoted to manager until they have passed the CPA exam, which has slowed down the progress of some deserving candidates.”

Quality of Life

“There is a true team dynamic in CohnReznick. Everyone wants each team member to feel happy in the workplace and be able to enjoy life outside of the office. The team will always communicate to help one and other achieve professional goals, while still taking personal time when needed.”

“The firm's overall quality of life is extremely fair and pleasant. The leading partner of our team believes in work/life balance and flexible work options. It does not matter where we are; as long as we work together to finish the work, then all is great.”

“During busy season, we work long hours. The firm is always encouraging us to take our PTO during the rest of the year. Immediately after our big deadline passes, our hours start to lessen and our free time increases.”

“Tax season hours are not fun, but it’s part of being in public accounting. Vacation is very easy to use, and everyone is very respectful of when I have time off. For me, the balance is that the winter is busier, but the summer is much less busy, so it evens out.”

Salary and Benefits

“You get a copious time off, have the ability to work from home (which was in place pre-Covid), and the firm offers a bonus of $10,000 if you pass the CPA exams within the first year of starting (if you leave the firm within two years of getting the bonus, you have to pay back the bonus in full before one year, and in half before two years). Salaries can always be better and bonuses could be higher, but this will always be an issue, as everyone wants more and thinks they're underpaid.”

“The firm offers decent salaries. However, given the fact that we need to do extra schooling (often getting a master’s degree), have mandatory busy season hours for a third of the year, and are practically required to complete the CPA exam process, the salary should be much higher.”

“The flexible schedule and amount of PTO available are really awesome. I also enjoy that the firm closes for two weeks in addition to that PTO and other holidays. But 410(k) match is less than half what a lot of other companies offer. “

“The salary is okay, but given the current situation with shortages of experienced staff, we have a lot more work than what managers in the past had. We do receive a substantial amount of PTO, and I'm happy that we do not have an unlimited PTO plan. Also, I enjoy the flexible/remote work arrangement. Additionally, the firm appears to be fair about reimbursing people for expenses. On the downside, we work a substantial amount of overtime during busy season where we cannot take PTO, and we remain busy with many deadlines during the off season, so it is difficult to use all the PTO, yet we do not get paid out on unused PTO. Additionally, the 401(k) match is subpar, and we used to have a ‘Summer Friday’ policy, but last summer some employees were told that no longer existed and you had to work a full day Friday even if you worked additional hours Monday through Thursday.”

Wellness Efforts

“We have fitness challenges throughout the year. We have online physical therapy and mental health services included as part of the benefits package, as well as Headspace to help relieve stress. We have discounts on products and services through our firm's Total Rewards program.”

“The firm has invested in a lot of initiatives from free access to apps like Headspace to virtual counseling services provided to employees and various exercise/nutrition resources made available for free. The firm actively encourages use of these tools. It would be great if the firm set a cap on expected hours for a person to work and shifted work where needed to make that cap realistic, as the largest driver of burnout within the firm is the amount we are expected to work.”

“They offer mental health care for employees and families, free parking, daily Grub Hub gift cards for lunch/dinner during busy season, endless CPE trainings available to all employees, and regular community service and social events for people to freely participate in as much or as little as they want.”

“They have a gym in the building for free, they have a counseling package and a wellness room, and they try to get somewhat healthy dinners during busy season and also provide fruit. Our People & Culture team also reached out to me personally because I keep getting migraines. They wanted to make sure that I was okay and that they were accommodating me, asking if I need to see someone and if it was a chronic thing.”

Diversity, Philanthropy, and Green Initiatives

“The firm is welcoming of all people from all backgrounds. They have periodic trainings to reinforce a welcome and inclusive work culture. They also promote attendance to programs that teach professionals about different backgrounds. Firm leaders send firmwide messages to remind people of the firm's culture of inclusivity and PYRAMID Values. The firm also promotes CohnReznick CARES, which is a day where CohnReznick celebrates charitable giving and encourages professionals to spend the day giving back to the community with a charitable cause, either by donation or service. CohnReznick CARES success stories are then shared across the firm.”

“The particular practice I work in has 50 percent of the partners qualifying as diverse on gender or ethnic bounds. We promote diversity and inclusion not only through our formal programs and employee support networks (e.g. CR PRIDE) but also through the tone from our CEO which demands that all partners and engagement teams seek to be mindful of inclusivity across all of its many definitions, at every level of what we do—from how we staff engagements to how we plan internal networking events and celebrations.”

“One of the first things I noticed about the firm was the use of pronouns in email signatures. This meant a lot to me. I came from a firm that rejected that idea in order to please the client base, which I disagreed with. I am glad my firm wants to be inclusive by including that in email signatures. I also appreciate the panels and outside experts the firm brings in to teach us about how some activist groups are working to make things fairer for everybody.”

“High levels of diversity throughout, but there’s a lack of women in leadership roles in certain offices.”

Business Outlook

“We’ve been expanding and have a great CEO and COO with strong vision. But it has been a struggle to bring in new staff. The number of accounting graduates are lower than ever. It is a very competitive market.”

“The firm is growing and succeeding in the marketplace, so I am optimistic about the longevity of the firm and the growth opportunities available. Like everyone in the market, we are having staffing shortages and I do not foresee that going away soon, so it would be nice to see the firm focus more on where we are putting our resources and removing high-hour low-pay clients. There have been some firm initiatives for this, but I have not seen as much action as I was hoping. Additionally, we sometimes lose candidates due to our pay offerings, which should be addressed to help us win and retain new talent.”

“Employee morale is very strong. Business is soaring. Current clients are extremely happy. And new clients are being recommended at a very high rate. On the other hand, we have too much business and not enough employees.”

“Management is pretty transparent with team members regarding financial results of the firm. Over the past couple of years, the firm has made great efforts to retain talent by giving market increases to existing employees, as well as offering competitive salaries to potential candidates.”