Response to Vitrinna. I think the comment only reflects her ignorance about the subject. It is true that the firms need to cut costs and E&Y is not an exception. But I think what most participants are voicing here is that E&Y is not what it portrays. They just came to realize that "People First" and "Quality in Everything we Do" culture is skin deep. Unfortunately, most of the good performers that are being let go truly believed in it and just came to realize that it is all marketing. I know from experience E&Y is good at creating an "image" that doesn't exist. We are the SUPER CUTS of the tax service industry and QUALITY DEPENDS ON BUDGET. E&Y treats people as disposable items, no matter how good they are, and they constantly force you to sacrifice quality and ethics. So what, there is always a recent graduate lined up, or a subcontractor in India to subsitute those that have left their lives believing in the prospect of a career. I don't know how many year of Big Four experience you have, but I can tell you that the problem is not cost, but their rates. How can a senior with 2 years of experience charged at USD360 per hour compete with a senior from India charged at USD35 per hour? Of course there are ways to manage this crisis without cutting out good professionals, but it is not the most efficient one for the big pockets. I cannot speak for all the offices but in the Southeast ethics have gone so low that we even engage in unfair competition. Yes, we take clients from other firms and convince public companies to outsource their tax departments bidding at a riducoulously low price just to gain market and portray a "number one" image. The truth is that projected profits are zero or even below zero and that we know the engagement will end up being subsidized by another project. How can a small to medium company compete if they cannot afford to cross-subsidize projects? Nobody cares, nobody is watching. Not surpises here, talent is over rated and that is why America is where it is now.
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