Keiter CPAs

Vault’s Verdict

Keiter is ideally looking for hardworking, driven, personable team players who plan to get their CPA license. According to firm insiders, Keiter has a welcoming, inclusive, vibrant culture, and the firm actively promotes work-life balance through generous PTO, remote and hybrid work options, and investments in home office setups. Social events such as catered lunches, food trucks, and team-building activities help offset the long hours of busy season. Also offsetting the peak periods and tax deadlines are the lighter workloads in the summers.

As for compensation and benefits, employees appreciate the clear communication around pay, solid health benefits, HSA contributions, and cellphone and fitness reimbursements. In fact, insiders say the firm is very generous when it comes to perks.

Career development is another strong suit. Clear role hierarchies and relatively quick promotion opportunities reward strong performance. New team members are paired with a performance coach, and the firm supports CPA exam preparation with study time and resources. Ongoing CPE, conference travel for seniors, and exposure to evolving technology create meaningful growth opportunities, especially for those who take initiative.

Overall, employees say Keiter’s business outlook is bright. The firm is competitive, independent, and well-positioned for continued success, despite challenges to employee morale during especially busy periods.

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS

Quality of Life

• “The firm provides many opportunities for work-life balance with a good amount of PTO and flexibility related to where you decide to work. There are also many fun events scheduled throughout the year, whether this be catered lunches, food trucks, or team building exercises, to help offset busy season or provide needed breaks. All of these things promote inclusivity, teamwork, and community at the firm.”
• “Firm is communicative, flexible, and actively designs firm processes/structure to facilitate work-life balance as best they can with all employees. Busy season hours, although manageable, are still a negative impact to work-life balance.”
• “We have a great team here. Our culture is welcoming, vibrant, and exclusively unique to Keiter. The hours are long, but they exist in a wider scope of peaks and valleys (summers and holidays), which drew me to the firm versus other options. We work hard and are treated well for it.”
• “Keiter offers remote—fully and hybrid—working to allow what works best for each employee. Not only is there a flexible work arrangement, but we are also provided with monitors and an at home set-up to be able to work just as efficiently as we would if we were in the office.”

Compensation

• “Keiter offers solid benefits and reasonable perks, with compensation that is communicated in a transparent manner and fair within public accounting and reflects growth and responsibility over time.”
• “The firm’s provided benefits and perks are outstanding. They are always clearly communicated and easy to sign up for, and I feel like I am getting a lot out of working here.”
• “The firm has been generous to me with my salary, benefits, and perks. The HSA is quite helpful for me in being able to carry over balances each year.”
• “Lots of benefits—cellphone reimbursement, fitness reimbursement, health insurance. The 401(k) plan has a long vesting process (six years to 100 percent) and match is only 3 percent.”

Career Development

• “There is a clear hierarchy of roles and responsibilities set up once you start out as a new hire, and promotion opportunities come up relatively quickly if you are meeting expectations in your role.”
• “Career development is an important aspect of the firm’s culture. Performance coaches are assigned to all hires to help them grow and give them someone to ask questions to. CPE is consistently offered, and the firm provides study time and resources related to the CPA exam. Seniors have the opportunity to travel to different conferences and expand their network. So many opportunities are available if you are willing to take them.”
• “I think Keiter does a great job providing development opportunities and emphasizes that it’s up to you to be willing to develop while also helping you if you’re uncertain.”
• Best: challenging work, lots of opportunity, continued focus on implementing technology. Need improvement: sometimes they implement new technology before existing technology tools are being fully utilized and need to continue to work on delivering feedback formally and on the job.”

Community Engagement

• “Our DE&I committee is heavily involved. I do feel that all professionals have equal access and treatment. Keiter also does regular profiles on these historically underserved individuals available on our blog.”
• “Inclusivity has never been an issue for me at the firm, and I have never felt undervalued or overlooked because of my race, gender, or any other characteristic. I feel like the focus is more on work ethic, personal drive, and progression.”
• “I feel like all professionals have equal access to promotion opportunities.”
• “I cannot speak too much on this since I do not belong to those groups, but in my opinion, everyone in this firm is treated well and has access to all the benefits.”

Business Outlook

• “I believe Keiter will remain successful for years to come and even grow in this success. We are very competitive. Our rates are not low, and clients are happy to pay for the immeasurable value we offer. The efforts made to maintain employee morale are extensive.”
• “The best aspect would be the constant availability of work. The worst aspect is employee morale during heightened working hours.”
• “There are some concerns about potential retiring partners leaving a gap with insufficient experienced managers/senior managers.”
• “Firm is strong on the idea of staying independent. However, private equity buyout is always possible.”

Intern Experience

• “Keiter did a fantastic job organizing the internship in a way that helped the interns have fun, complete work at their own pace while still in school and learn from both managers and partners. Keiter could do better on trainings to prepare their interns before tax season, but managers and partners were patient in their practice to teach us along the way.”
• “The summer internship allowed the interns to try work in both the tax and audit positions here at Keiter. We did a rotation of both and in the process got to learn the culture at Keiter and what makes it great. The spring internship has allowed the interns to get a better understanding of either tax or audit and a chance to see a busy season.”
• “I loved having the flexibility to work in different areas of accounting. I wasn't just working in tax; I also completed work on an SOC audit and learned about how automation is utilized as the company.”
• “There were many great things about interning at Keiter. First was the support interns were given. Each intern was given a ‘buddy’ which was their designated person for questions. My buddy helped me learn complex valuation methods, and we always got the chance to grab lunch on several occasions. Pay was great, work was fun and engaging, and there were lots of activities. Some things I wish were different was the amount of work I was given. There was not much of it as an intern. A lot of the work is too complex for an intern, so it makes sense. To make up for it, I was given some training materials.”

Hiring Process

• “Hiring culture is competitive but healthy. Ideal candidate demonstrates great team skills and ability to work in groups.”
• “The ideal Keiter candidate is someone who is committed. We look for students who plan to get their CPA license, did well in school, are hardworking, possess a drive for achievement, and are personable.”
• “Very easy process. Recruiting people are very nice and pleasure to work with. Open to negotiations and helping with alternative start dates, work hours, etc.”
• “Our internship program is competitive which helps our selection process.”

Interview Questions

• “What are important skills of an auditor and how do you possess them?”
• “Talk about a time where you made a mistake and you learned from it.”
• “CPA license intention questions, schooling questions, what you are looking for in a firm.”
• Tell me about yourself.”

UPPERS

• “The people and culture”
• “Work-life balance, flexible work hours”
• “Meaningful client relationships”

DOWNERS

• “Hours during busy season”
• “Tax deadlines have morphed into the full year”
• “Significant stress”