Avantages
The best reason to work for Deloitte is to gain professional and technical experience. Having Deloitte (or any of the big four) on your resume will open up infinite possibilities for future career moves. Most people leave Deloitte before the manager/senior manager level to work for private companies in internal audit, corporate accounting, or financial reporting. Typically, they end up making way more than they would at Deloitte, but usually those great jobs require public accounting experience. Small firms can also provide that experience, but it's going to be way eaiser to move from a large firm to a smaller firm than vice versa. Plus, the big 4 are nationally (and internationally) recognized, whereas you might not get that with a regional firm. Deloitte (and all the big 4) also provide great technical resources, extensive training, and opportunities to work on large public companies or work abroad if that's what you're in to. The best reason to work at Deloitte is not the money. Yes, your raises will be higher than if you worked in private industry (my raises have ranged from 11-16% - not sure what's going to happen this year with the economic downturn), but you start low and bonuses are limited until (and only if) you reach upper management. There are, of course, other great reasons to work at Deloitte. I typically really enjoy the people I work with. We are all well educated, smart, and motivated. The work is challenging and I'm rarely bored (but yes, I am sometimes bored).
Inconvénients
Downsides of working with Deloitte are typical of the public accounting industry in general and of working for a large, buearucratic company. It is true that in public accounting, you either move up or out. Some people can't handle the hours, and if you let them, they will work you like a dog. Work/life balance is a really cute recruiting (external and internal) marketing tool Deloitte uses, but work/life balance only exists where you make it happen. And it feels like a total joke when you sit in meetings with the entire audit team of your office and have the lead audit partner tell you that we need to work my hours and we are all expected to work 300 to 500 overtime hours. Utilzation, overtime, and how many chargeable hours you book are really big metrics for partners and managers, and they expect certain results, but the ability for staff and seniors to control it is minimal. Also, there is a constant pull between keeping your charegable hours up but not exceeding budget. It's really frustrating. Flextime schedules do exist, but are hard to come by and not as flexible as you might think. Just like any large company, Deloitte has a bunch of stupid policies and procedures that are a pain in the ass. Job evaluations are subjective and hit and miss, but promotions operate on a standard schedule so it really only affects your ranking and raise (but not by that much). Auditing is a stressful job and takes a lot out of you. Some people just handle it better than others.