When it comes time to think about leaving public accounting, which happens for 99% of public accountants except for those brave and oddly-programmed individuals who are cut out for the partner track, one of the foremost considerations in any exasperated public accountant’s mind is: how can I do this without burning bridges?
From the time you choose your major you are told that a) Big 4 is THE only path, and b) you better not fuck that up or you’ll be damned to live in accounting purgatory for the rest of your days, grinding out tax returns in a dingy H&R Block that smells like wet dog and disappointment. No one wants that. And so you follow the path laid out before you, and dutifully keep your head down when things get rough lest you blow this and find yourself shunned for eternity in the sub-basement of accounting Hell.
Well, throw those fears straight out the window because if a guy who is suing the firm can still get hit up by recruiters, so can you.
Last week we shared with you a recent PwC recruiting drive that seeks to win back former PwCers — specifically audit associates — using the ever-so-seductive Group Text WYD method. Alright so they didn’t text everyone who left the firm with WYD, but they did come off as desperate which is close enough.
It gets better. When she saw last week’s article, friend of GC Francine McKenna informed us that SEC whistleblower and former PwCer Mauro Botta got hit up by a recruiter even.
There was testimony in Botta v. PwC trial last week that even Mauro Botta, an SEC whistleblower, got a LinkedIn message from a PwC recruiter after he left. He followed up and found it he did, after all, have a black mark on his permanent record for committing the unspeakable. pic.twitter.com/yPxPAC7Yth
— Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) February 28, 2021
Just in case, she included the actual testimony in a follow-up tweet.
Feb. 24 direct testimony
Q. Mauro, who is Vic Sahri?
A. A recruiter from PwC.
Q. Mauro, what is Vic talking to you about in these communications?
A. About an opportunity at PwC that he indicated that he felt I was a great match for.— Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) March 1, 2021
Now, you may recall that Botta’s beef with PwC centers around his claim that he was fired from the firm for reporting auditor misconduct to the SEC (you can read more about the Feb. 24 testimony in Bramwell’s update here). Which makes it even funnier that they wanted him back, especially in the context of our wild accusation that they’re desperate for auditors. This … this is kinda what desperation looks like, just sayin.
Pretty sure “snitching to the SEC” is up there with “taking a dump on your senior’s desk” and “banging the partner’s wife and then teabagging him when he calls you into his office to confront you about it and then taking a dump on his desk” as far as things that will probably get you black-listed from the firm for life. But maybe not, as evidenced by the sordid tale above.
So don’t sweat burning bridges too much, unless you have a strange fixation with taking dumps on your colleagues’ desks in which case, well, might not be able to help you there.
Related articles:
Talent-Strapped PwC Is That Desperate Ex Texting You With ‘WYD’ After You’ve Moved On
Big 4 Lawsuits: Mauro Botta vs. PwC and VBS Mutual Bank Liquidators vs. KPMG
Ummm, this is pretty stupid. It says in the article itself that he is blacklisted. That was the point of bringing it up in the lawsuit from your tipster friend Francine. And you guys know how this works, a recruiter was told to reach out to former PwC employees, so they did a cursory search on LinkedIn and reached out to the one person they probably shouldn’t have. But I doubt the recruiter is aware of all pending lawsuits or what’s going on with this one person in particular to not reach out.
I’m sure it was a recruiter (young person – 22 years old) who didn’t know.
But that just goes to show you how unprofessional and disconnected the experienced hire process can be. PwC should not have junior recruiters out trolling LinkedIn for senior managers without thorough vetting and controls in place. Gives false hope to folks that they might have a shot. Waste of everyone’s time but also legal risk for firm who puts candidates in pipeline they have not intention of hiring.
Francine, that’s not how it works. One brings in a Candidate and then vets the Candidate, which would include a background check if an offer were to be made. So this Candidate was caught earlier in the process.
Also Francine, you should know that that Big 4 hires a huge number of employees on an annual basis (thousands, and 2021 is going to be a very big year for hiring). So this one was caught, but there are many who get caught in the process (e.g., lying on their credentials, social media posts, etc.).
And with this situation, no harm – no foul. Surprised that this obviously unsophisticated person would even bring it up.