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[Moliere]

About a year ago I quit my job at an accounting firm to take another job in industry. This is nothing unusual in this field as most people start out in public practice and then jump to the corporate world. The draw of the corpoprate life is a more stable work environment, better pay, better hours, etc.

The main team I worked with at the firm had some issues which caused a lot of turnover. Most of these issues relate to the lack of managerial skills by the partners and those directly below them. In fact, over the course of about two years, the entire audit team has turned over except, of course, for upper management. They just recently lost two more managers (which is the position right below upper management) so I guess nothing has changed since I left.

Yesterday I got an email from one of the upper management people I used to work with. Basically the email is asking me to give some honest feedback on my experience working on that team. Honestly I'm not sure what to do. Should I respond to the email or should I just ignore it? If I respond do I take the political corret route and keep it civil or should I just unleash hell fire and be honest?

The main issue I'm having with this is that while employed with this company, I communicated several times the issues everyone was having and nothing was ever done. These issues were communiated to HR, diretly to upper management, and even to those above upper management.

Thoughts?

[landpoke]

Will being brutally honest have the potential to harm you or your career in any way? If not fire away. They wouldn't have asked if they didn't want an honest answer and you're not helping them by sugar coating it.
On the other hand, if you think they won't listen then don't waste your time.

[jay santos]

About a year ago I quit my job at an accounting firm to take another job in industry. This is nothing unusual in this field as most people start out in public practice and then jump to the corporate world. The draw of the corpoprate life is a more stable work environment, better pay, better hours, etc.

The main team I worked with at the firm had some issues which caused a lot of turnover. Most of these issues relate to the lack of managerial skills by the partners and those directly below them. In fact, over the course of about two years, the entire audit team has turned over except, of course, for upper management. They just recently lost two more managers (which is the position right below upper management) so I guess nothing has changed since I left.

Yesterday I got an email from one of the upper management people I used to work with. Basically the email is asking me to give some honest feedback on my experience working on that team. Honestly I'm not sure what to do. Should I respond to the email or should I just ignore it? If I respond do I take the political corret route and keep it civil or should I just unleash hell fire and be honest?

The main issue I'm having with this is that while employed with this company, I communicated several times the issues everyone was having and nothing was ever done. These issues were communiated to HR, diretly to upper management, and even to those above upper management.

Thoughts?

Look out for yourself not the former company. The right answer unfortunately is to say nice things and blow smoke up their ass to preserve good feelings.

[UteStar]

I would put together a nice review of the team that you just worked for...I would compement the things that they did well and I would mention the things that left you frustrated. I would keep it very friendly and direct. Something like: "There were several times when I raised X Issue but after I submitted it to HR and Management, no action was taken nor was I informed of it after I submitted it."

I think you can offer real constructive criticism without sounding bitter, angry or vindictive. It would probably be appreciated as well.

[Indy Coug]

When I left my first actuarial employer (located in SLC), I had an exit interview where I was asked for feedback and gave it to them. I basically pointed out they had invested three years of time and money getting myself and several other actuaries to the point where we were knowledgeable enough to be productive contributors to the company and now their pay level was so abysmally low that they were going to lose all of us (I got a 58% raise for the same position with an Indiana insurance company) and would soon have to start all over again and what a poor return they were getting on their "investment".

Shortly after I left, they gave a significant salary bump to the guys that were still there.

[Moliere]

I would put together a nice review of the team that you just worked for...I would compement the things that they did well and I would mention the things that left you frustrated. I would keep it very friendly and direct. Something like: "There were several times when I raised X Issue but after I submitted it to HR and Management, no action was taken nor was I informed of it after I submitted it."

I think you can offer real constructive criticism without sounding bitter, angry or vindictive. It would probably be appreciated as well.

The problem I'm having is that I've already done this, at least 5 times. I offered constructive criticism and kept it very civil, mainly because I was employed at the time and wanted to keep my job but try and improve the environment. Now that I am no longer there I'm wondering if I can be more straight forward and just offer unadultered criticism.

The more I think about this the more frustrated I get. I feel like someone keeps asking me for help but they never apply any of the help that is given. I think the real issue is that feedback is given but it is not communicated to the partners because people are afraid to tell them they suck at managing people.

Anyway, thanks for the response as it's helped me better understand the issue.

[Moliere]

When I left my first actuarial employer (located in SLC), I had an exit interview where I was asked for feedback and gave it to them. I basically pointed out they had invested three years of time and money getting myself and several other actuaries to the point where we were knowledgeable enough to be productive contributors to the company and now their pay level was so abysmally low that they were going to lose all of us (I got a 58% raise for the same position with an Indiana insurance company) and would soon have to start all over again and what a poor return they were getting on their "investment".

Shortly after I left, they gave a significant salary bump to the guys that were still there.

Sounds a bit familiar. I kept my exit interview brief as I had already talked to the HR director before so she knew my reasons for leaving. I did get a 33% bump in pay and went from 80 hour work weeks to 40 hour weeks, plus I have more flexibility.

IMO the public accounting model is broken. It hasn't adapted to the post-SOX 404 environment. There are many partners in public accounting that don't understand that when the reporting timeframe moves from 90 days to 60 days you can't do all the same old audit testing you used to do. I know auditors that work 'round the clock, 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's scary to think those are the people audited the financial statements of the largest corporations in the world and they are doing it while half awake, and they are only half awake thanks to the gallon of coffee they drank over the past 24 hours.

[byu71]

About a year ago I quit my job at an accounting firm to take another job in industry. This is nothing unusual in this field as most people start out in public practice and then jump to the corporate world. The draw of the corpoprate life is a more stable work environment, better pay, better hours, etc.

The main team I worked with at the firm had some issues which caused a lot of turnover. Most of these issues relate to the lack of managerial skills by the partners and those directly below them. In fact, over the course of about two years, the entire audit team has turned over except, of course, for upper management. They just recently lost two more managers (which is the position right below upper management) so I guess nothing has changed since I left.

Yesterday I got an email from one of the upper management people I used to work with. Basically the email is asking me to give some honest feedback on my experience working on that team. Honestly I'm not sure what to do. Should I respond to the email or should I just ignore it? If I respond do I take the political corret route and keep it civil or should I just unleash hell fire and be honest?

The main issue I'm having with this is that while employed with this company, I communicated several times the issues everyone was having and nothing was ever done. These issues were communiated to HR, diretly to upper management, and even to those above upper management.

Thoughts?

Is there ever a chance the former group could end up auditing the company you work for. Of course, contrary to what my audit professor told me at BYU, the company has the upper hand when dealing with outside auditors, public accounting ones.

I see no benefit to you except being able to vent and let them know "I told you so". I am not saying it isn't worth it for you to do, but that is the only benefit I see.

[Babs]

Sadly, nothing good can come from you telling the truth. Either ignore the email or reply with something as short, polite, and meaningless as possible.

[mUUser]

The problem I'm having is that I've already done this, at least 5 times. I offered constructive criticism and kept it very civil, mainly because I was employed at the time and wanted to keep my job but try and improve the environment. Now that I am no longer there I'm wondering if I can be more straight forward and just offer unadultered criticism.

The more I think about this the more frustrated I get. I feel like someone keeps asking me for help but they never apply any of the help that is given. I think the real issue is that feedback is given but it is not communicated to the partners because people are afraid to tell them they suck at managing people.

Anyway, thanks for the response as it's helped me better understand the issue.

Whether 5 times or 5,000 times, always act like a mature adult and keep it professional. The business world can become very small, very quickly. You'll never regret it.