Vault’s Verdict

Cohn Reznick is ideally looking for self-motivated, curious, enthusiastic, eager-to-learn team players with strong communication, time management, and technical skills. The firm’s internship program provides students with access to hands-on real-world client experience, structured training sessions, and senior staff members who are willing to teach and help. In fact, former interns rave about the firm’s supportive and approachable team environment that encourages questions and learning. For its full-time staff, Cohn Reznick offers excellent growth opportunities, including access to knowledgeable mentors, exposure to a wide range of projects, and support with obtaining your CPA license.

While the busy seasons can mean very long hours and few breaks, the firm goes to lengths to ensure that employees have a healthy work-life balance outside of peak periods. Hybrid work arrangements, flexible schedules, and generous PTO all help to improve quality of life. Meanwhile, most insiders say that CohnReznick offers competitive salaries, comprehensive health benefits, and plenty of perks.

Inclusion efforts also get very good reviews. Insiders say the firm has several effective employee resource groups, all employees have equal access to opportunities and promotions, and the firm’s culture is open and welcoming to all. With respect to CohnReznick’s business outlook, insiders have mixed things to say. On the one hand, insiders note that leadership could be more transparent about changes to certain policies and procedures in the wake of the firm’s recent private equity investment. On the other hand, insiders are generally bullish about the firm’s future, noting that CohnReznick is growing and its recent private equity investment and acquisitions have expanded its market presence and boosted its outlook.

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS

Quality of Life

• “CohnReznick provides a generally positive quality of life, thanks to its supportive culture, collaborative teams, and flexibility through hybrid work options. Outside of busy season, the firm emphasizes work-life balance and offers resources to help employees manage their schedules effectively. However, like most public accounting firms, the busy season can be demanding, with longer hours and tighter deadlines that make personal time harder to maintain. Overall, the firm creates an environment where employees feel valued and supported, while acknowledging that peak periods require extra effort and resilience.”
• “I work in the tax department and it is understood that more work hours are needed; however, the time off given during off peak season is more than adequate to allow for personal and family time.”
• “There is a lot of flexibility, which is great. This makes it much easier to manage life issues as well as work with less stress. I don’t like the fact that you have to get your project manager to always approve when you can take off. It’s hard to make plans in advance as we don’t always know when work is coming in. We appreciate the two extra weeks off, but those are holiday weeks and it’s very expensive to travel during those times. We can’t take time during peak months, which eliminates about six months of the year already. Then, on off months, we have to ask to take off, and if client work is in, that becomes a further issue. I have seen many staff and managers lose time at year-end because they were always too busy. That is not a good work-life balance.”
• “Focus on work-life balance is a firm priority. However, with the PE investment, this is becoming more difficult. Firm’s culture and positive work environment is what sets CR apart from other firms. Flexibility is still a plus and valued at CR by its employees.”

Compensation

• “CohnReznick offers a strong overall compensation package, including competitive salaries, comprehensive health benefits, generous paid time off, and perks like hybrid work flexibility and professional development support. The firm also provides retirement plans with employer contributions and wellness resources, which enhance overall employee satisfaction. On the downside, some employees feel salary progression can be slower than expected and may not always match increased responsibilities, and transparency around promotion and pay criteria could be improved. Overall, the benefits and perks are a clear strength, even though compensation growth could be more consistent.”
• “I think it is really great that the firm gives you CPA exam study materials for free as long with helping you with CPA exam fees. It is also beneficial that the firm gives new hires a stipend to help with home office expenses.”
• “WFH is available for many people despite not being a standard policy. Also, until 2026, health insurance seemed to be very good. The firm then established an ICHRA reimbursement scheme for certain employees, which was promised to go into effect before 2026 (but did not). In addition, salary does not keep pace with inflation, and there is no annual bonus or overtime pay during busy season. CohnReznick has the unusual vacation policy of giving a full week off for Thanksgiving but having only Christmas Day and New Year’s Day as full days off. The full week off during July 4th is definitely great. At the end of the day, I have stayed at CR as long as I have because overall I have been content.”
• “Firm pays competitive salaries and provides good benefits and perks. In the past year it became stricter in giving raises, so many did not get one.”

Career Development

• “The firm has a lot of career development opportunities. You’re able to take on tasks of the level above, which helps you transition to a new role more smoothly. The firm also encourages you to get your CPA and supports you in the CPA journey, which helps open more opportunities to further grow your career.”
• “Career development is not just available but also strongly encouraged. Employees are able to nominate themselves for promotions and these are taken seriously, and those with initiative are able to grow in their careers faster than anywhere else I have seen.”
• “The firm offers several strong career development opportunities, including access to knowledgeable mentors and exposure to a wide range of projects. These elements create a solid foundation for building skills and advancing professionally.”
• “I have found many people who informally mentor me and are willing to give me advice, vouch for me at promotion time, and take time to help me learn. The formal mentorship program can be the luck of the draw and it can be hard to meet people.”

Inclusion Efforts

• “The firm has multiple groups employees are able to participate in such as CR Women, CR Black, CR Green, etc., and I feel like all professionals have the same access to interesting/high-quality work and promotion opportunities. The firm has many initiatives to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. I believe the firm holds these values very high.”
• “From everything that I’ve seen, the firm is very inclusive of people of all forms. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I’ve never felt treated in any way that is different than my peers. CohnReznick even goes the extra mile and has ERGs that promote LGBTQ+ acceptance along with ERGs that center around diversity (different races).”
• “There are very few women under partner level in my group of 80+ people. I find I am often the only woman on a call of 10 to 15 people, which is poor in my opinion of terms of both who we hire as employees and who we work with as clients. I would like to see more women representation in the under-partner level”
• “I think we do an outstanding job keeping the male/female ratio even, which is uncommon particularly in TAS. But I think we can do a better job hiring a more diverse group with respect to people of color in order to better serve our clients.”

Business Outlook

• “CohnReznick has a strong business outlook, driven by strategic growth initiatives, technology investments, and recent acquisitions that expand its market presence. The firm’s focus on innovation and advisory services positions it well against competitors, and employee morale is generally positive, reflecting confidence in leadership and future opportunities. However, as a mid-tier firm, it faces challenges in scaling compared to larger competitors, and rapid growth can create integration and staffing pressures. Overall, CohnReznick’s proactive approach and solid financial foundation make its outlook promising, with continued success depending on effective execution and maintaining cultural consistency.”
• “Professional services as a whole is in for a new era of challenges thanks to AI. We need to be able to demonstrate our mastery of relevant subjects while also having strong personal relationships—and CR is looking well positioned for this. Executive firm leadership seems to be pulled a bit too much to the interests of our new PE firm, so that has been tough on many employees.”
• “I think with PE backing, our firm will continue to grow their top line revenues through acquisitions and this will help stabilize the company as a whole. As we continue to grow, though, we are definitely losing connection with upper-level leadership. Since we’ve been acquired by PE, the only communications we get are to use new technology and also help develop it so they can generate reports or to raise fees on our clients, and this is particularly frustrating as most of my personal clients are nonprofits and can’t handle the fee increases and it’s up to me to explain it all to them.”
• “I think everyone is a little unsettled with the inclusion of private equity. At this moment, nothing has changed as far as operations, so I believe employee morale is very good. We continue to grow each year, and I believe that the firm’s business outlook is positive.”

Intern Experience

• “One of the best parts of my internship at the public accounting firm was the exposure to real-world client work and the opportunity to apply concepts I had learned in school. I appreciated the collaborative environment and willingness of team members to provide guidance whenever I had questions. The structured training sessions and hands-on experience helped me build technical skills in auditing and accounting software, while also improving my communication and time management abilities. Additionally, being part of a professional team gave me insight into the firm’s culture and the importance of teamwork in delivering quality service to clients.”
• “The best aspects of my internship experience were the support and feedback I received from the people I worked with. I got helpful guidance from my performance coach, and I was given opportunities to learn and grow. I got plenty of hands-on experience that helped me immensely when I started my full-time position. My internship experience gave me a headstart in my profession, and it gave me a good view into everyday life at the firm.”
• “During my internship at CohnReznick, I had the opportunity to work on real client engagements, which gave me valuable insight into how theoretical concepts apply in practice. The firm provided good training resources and mentorship, and many colleagues that I worked with have become trusted peers and friends to this day. I gained hands-on experience with audit tools, procedures, and documentation, all within a supportive and approachable team environment that encouraged questions and learning. This experience helped me develop strong technical skills in accounting and auditing, as well as essential soft skills such as communication and time management.”
• “As an intern, I was given meaningful tasks and true entry-level experience. They treated me as a potential employee as opposed to merely a temporary employee. I was also given experience with multiple processes and software.”

Hiring Process

• “CohnReznick offers a well-organized hiring process that begins with a recruiter phone screen and advances to a series of manager- and partner-led interviews—all typically completed within one to two weeks. The interviews are conversational yet deliberately assess both technical accounting or advisory knowledge and behavioral fit. Successful candidates are those who balance strong communication and time-management skills with curiosity, technical capability, and enthusiasm for collaborative, team-driven work.”
• “Overall interviews are casual with higher expectations for full-time staff than interns. The ideal candidate is someone who is willing to learn and ask questions as they progress and can translate things they learn from project to project.”
• “Interview and callback process is standard. Ideal candidate is someone who wants to learn, self-starting, willing to be a team player, and willing to go the extra mile when needed.”
• “We do a lot of on-campus recruiting. There are normally three rounds of interviews. The ideal candidate is self-motivated, loves to learn, is proficient in Excel, and has obtained all 150 credits.”

Interview Questions

• “We typically ask about any previous experience, accounting background, some strengths and weaknesses, and try to understand if candidates will fit in with our culture.”
• “Name the basic financial statements. Tell me about a time you faced a challenging work situation and how you handled it. Tell me about a time you made a mistake and how you responded. Tell me about a time you had to work with a group and how you contributed to the success of your team.”
• “Tell me about a time where you had to deal with a difficult situation. What makes you think you would excel in this position? Tell me about a time where you had to deal with a team member disagreement.”
• “In Excel, can you give me an example of a function/formula or shortcut you have used and explain how/when you use it? Name one of the most common financial statements. Then give two examples of the accounts or line items you may find in that statement. Discuss a time you were able to identify areas for improvement within a project you were a part of. Discuss a time you had to gather additional information (i.e., conduct research) to better understand a subject. What actions did you take and what was the result? Describe a time when you had to reach out to others to solve a problem you could not resolve on your own.”

UPPERS

• “Strong teamwork culture and the people—everyone is so great and incredibly understanding and wants to help you learn.”
• “Flexibility and working remotely.”
• “Growth opportunities.”

DOWNERS

• “Long hours during busy season.”
• “Overload of admin work.”
• “PE buy-in leading to uncertainty among staff.”