Vault’s Verdict

Plante Moran is ideally looking for positive team players who are eager to learn, grow, and contribute to the culture of the firm. For students, Plante Moran runs a rewarding internship program. Interns get exceptional training, hands-on real-world experience, and access to caring and helpful senior staff. For its full-time staff, the firm offers extensive growth opportunities, including access to excellent mentoring, ample resources, and a culture that’s dedicated to the development of its people.

Although tax season is busy and can make it difficult to maintain work/life balance, Plante Moran offers a lot of flexibility regarding where and when you work, making it easy to achieve balance. A culture of kindness and caring also goes a long way toward achieving balance. As for compensation and benefits, a majority of insiders say they’re competitive, with some saying that pay could be a bit higher, and others saying that some benefits, such as the 401(k), could be improved. Meanwhile, wellness benefits include counseling sessions, gym discounts, healthy snacks and drinks in the office, and more.

Plante Moran has a very inclusive culture, and its staff is diverse. The firms SRGs (Staff Resource Groups) for Pride, veterans, African Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, satellite workers, neurodiverse people, women in leadership, Hispanic individuals, and allies are very active and effective. In addition, the firm is focused on giving back to its local communities—each office and SRG annually supports a local charity through donations and volunteer opportunities. As for Plante Moran’s business outlook, it is extremely bright. The firm is well positioned in the market, its business is growing, its leadership team is strong, and staff morale is high.

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS

Hiring Process

“Our interview process is looking for individuals who work well in a team-based environment and are looking to be a contributor to a community, as opposed to someone who wants to be their own silo of work.”

“Behavioral-based interviewing that gets to know the candidates. We value cultural fit and trust our ability to teach a candidate if they lack specific accounting knowledge.”

“Plante Moran seeks out those who are willing to support others, be a valuable member of the team. They want individuals who want to grow, expand their knowledge, become active members of the community culture within the firm, and will proudly represent the firm and its ‘one firm’ mentality.”

“Most recruiting is done initially at different fairs on college campuses. The idea isn’t for the candidate to know everything coming in but to have a positive outlook, be willing to learn, and not be afraid to put in hours when needed.”

Interview Questions

“All the interview questions used by Plante Moran are behavioral-based interview questions like ‘Describe a situation where you had a conflict with someone you were working with and explain you resolved it.’”

“It would just be your typical interview questions to try and figure out your values and what you have done to prove those values through past experiences.”

“Talk to me about a challenge you've faced where you were able to stick with it and find a solution. Tell us about yourself and your experiences.”

“What are you looking for/interested in? Tell me about your long-term goals.”

Internship Experience

“The people were the best part. Everyone took their time to get to know me and would set up meetings with me to just chat. Multiple partners went out of their way to check in on me and introduce themselves.”

“Offers a real-world experience, especially during busy season. You are often given tasks that entry-level staff are given and get to truly see what your day-to-day life would be.”

“The people and the care for staff was the best part of the internship. I knew that the people cared about me, they cared that I was progressing in my experience, and they wanted me to succeed. Since my internship was during the summer, there was some extra downtime since there wasn’t enough work to finish out the summer.”

“The best aspects of my internship were the capability to dive right into the world of auditing and exceptional training, which offered many opportunities to learn and ensured interns felt comfortable in asking questions.”

Career Development

“There’s an emphasis on exploring different practice areas or client types in order to get a feel for what we like to do and what we’re good at so we can develop those specific areas and become experts in those fields. There’s a strong mentorship/advisory program as well, and it genuinely feels as though people at all levels care about our career advancement.”

“Plante Moran is very career development oriented. You have two to three career development related meetings per year with your mentor team. The firm is very dedicated to everyone’s personal career development and finding ways to fulfill your needs, even if it means moving to another team within the firm.”

“They provide you with all the necessary resources and time needed to aid you in developing into your career. There’s always an opportunity to advance your career at Plante Moran. It is a real time and energy commitment if you truly want to advance within your career.”

“Plante Moran has a culture of teaching and mentorship, which is wonderful because it means that strong staff development is a goal that everyone is evaluated on. However, like all organizations, not everyone is as skilled at mentoring/staff development as they could be, and not everyone’s mentoring style works for the people they are mentoring/developing. In that case, it’s important for staff to remember to speak up and advocate for themselves. Plante Moran makes this easy to do, which is nice, and there isn’t usually any pushback or other negative vibes if you need/want to switch who is on your advisory team.”

Quality of Life

“We stress the importance of being a ‘whole person’ and that the ‘whole person comes to work.’ For us, that means meeting team members where they are and helping them find ways to fit in both the things they need to do (childcare, elder care, personal health) and the things they love to do (sports clubs, vacation/travel, gardening, etc.). For some, that means working longer hours some days in order to leave early on other days, or some people leave early and get back online later, or others start their day a couple hours earlier than normal so they can wrap up at 5 p.m. With the right communication and planning, we can make it work.”

“As I feel anyone would say, busy season is busy. It can be difficult to maintain work/life balance to ensure deadlines are met. However, Plante Moran does an amazing job of providing flexibility to enable staff to balance their life and sets expectations well in advance for what is necessary to complete, and deadlines are well known amongst the staff within the firm. There are very few surprises from within the firm relating to busy season. Although the longer days are grueling, Plante Moran does a wonderful job of supplying the tools to staff to manage their time.”

“Plante Moran has a culture of kindness and caring, and that is really exemplified by everyone who works here. When it comes time to use vacation time, all I have to do is put it on my calendar and make sure I have communicated to the team that I’m working with that I’ll be out of the office. We have a lot of resources to draw on, which makes it easy to take time away if needed. While we do have a ‘principally in-person’ philosophy for work location, if I need to work from home for a day or two (sick kids, large delivery, service call, etc.), I can do so without issue. Plante Moran does a great job of both saying they promote work/life balance and actually promoting work/life balance, which I really appreciate as a parent who works outside of the home.”

“We have tons of company and team events to make us feel more like we know each other, which can help us cross-work when serving our clients. Most firms have an FTO policy that gets abused by the employer, but PM truly encourages you to use all of your time and make sure that you have a proper work/life balance. In addition to that, they’re flexible—not everyone works the same time, and it makes everyone happy that we’re able to find a time that works best for us.”

Salary and Benefits

“My compensation is in line with industry standards for my location. The health care and other benefits are also in line with firms of the same size. Plante Moran has historically offered onsite daycare on Saturdays during busy season, but that became logistically challenging as the firm has grown, so now they offer reimbursement for childcare expenses we incur on Saturdays during busy season, which is a huge help. There are also lots of free meals provided during the busiest times of the year, and there are always free snacks and beverages available to us.”

“Competitive compensation, and benefits are the best I have seen for a public accounting firm. Unlimited FTO, paid parental leave, Balance Fund, pension, 401(k), flex spending accounts, health/dental/vision insurance, legal benefit, family forming benefit. Several perks including free drinks/snacks in the office, occasional breakfast/lunch/dinner provided, staff discounts through Perks at Work program.”

“Plante offers competitive pay within the industry, but for all the hours we put in, we do not get paid what I feel like we deserve. During busy season, we work anywhere from 50 to 65 hours/week, with a lot of us having to bring work home with us. I think pay in the industry as a whole needs to increase due to this. For benefits, our 401(k) matching is lower than I would like; I believe the firm could increase this amount for its staff.”

“Benefits are very good and affordable. While compensation is not bad, based on hours worked and some offers received from outside firms, it does seem we may be slightly behind the industry.”

Wellness Efforts

“Lots of support for mental and physical wellness. Groups exist for mental wellbeing, and benefits exist in this space. Physical wellbeing is supported via additional cash bonuses for having a physical done yearly. Large reimbursement program is available and can be used for anything, including fitness equipment or memberships.”

“Plante Moran offers counseling sessions, discounts to the gym located within the same building as the office, and healthy snacks and drinks within the office. It is also reasonable if a staff needs to take a personal hour for personal calls, counseling, etc.”

“The firm has a lot of resources that are available to staff, from counseling to a yearly fund that staff can use for expenses that help them achieve better work/life balance, such as recreation or meal planning.”

“Plante Moran offers a variety of Employee Assistance Programs, including legal assistance, a variety of different types of counseling, family forming benefits, etc. It is a great resource, and I really appreciate having access to it. Another feature of Plante Moran’s wellness efforts is the Staff Resource Groups that the firm supports. The SRGs are created as staff request them and, as a result, have a lot of staff involvement and provide great benefits to the members who participate in them.”

Community Engagement

“Plante Moran has Staff Resource Groups, similar to clubs you'd find in high school or college, in which anyone part of the specified community or an ally can join to be a part of discussions, meetings, happy hours, safe spaces, ask questions, and find a general overall sense of belonging with others.”

“Very focused on diversity initiatives in ways that it doesn’t feel like it is being forced on you. Plante Moran has several Staff Resource Groups (SRGs) as an outlet for staff to meet others within a certain demographic and relate to each other. There are SRGs for Pride, Veterans, African Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, Satellite workers, neuro-diverse, women in leadership, and Hispanic. Also, we are very focused on giving back to the local community. Each office and SRG supports a local charity for the year through donations and volunteer opportunities. Staff also receive eight hours of paid time off to participate in volunteer opportunities annually.”

“Our Chicago office just implemented a composting program, which I am thrilled with. The firm also respects people and their identities. We have wonderful assistance for people with disabilities. We have staff resource groups for LGBTQ+, Veterans, neurodivergent people, and race/ethnic groups as well. These programs are not limited to people who identify with them but are open to the entire firm so that those who want to learn more can see firsthand.”

“As a trans person, I feel safe and encouraged to be myself at work. There are many initiatives to promote belonging and equity at work, and during a time where many other companies are rolling back their diversity efforts, it's really encouraging to see Plante dedicate the time and resources to promoting a welcoming and philanthropic environment. There are tons of opportunities to be involved with philanthropy through the firm, and even efforts like recycling and composting have great emphasis in the office.”

Business Outlook

“I feel like we’re doing a great job of positioning ourselves in the market and are constantly looking for new opportunities where we can provide value to our clients.”

“Plante Moran is growing and thriving. The culture is one that’s caring and very unique in the public accounting profession. The firm truly cares about their staff and clients. Our business outlook looks very promising.”

“We are well diversified in our service offerings. No matter what happens, we should be okay. Our culture is best in class. No worries about morale. But we’ve had a little trouble raising our billing rates by the same percentage as the increases in our costs, especially wages. Keeping talent has been costly.”

“There will likely be no shortage of work in public accounting in the next 12 months, and Plante Moran has a good reputation for both future staff and clients, so I don’t anticipate there will be any slowdown in work available for us.”

UPPERS
“Amazing culture and people—everyone is so friendly, welcoming, and willing to teach”
“Flexible work arrangements and ability to work remotely”
“Growth opportunities”

DOWNERS
“Long hours sometimes”
“Challenges of client deadlines”
“Pay could be higher”