How PwC Calgary gets through busy season

As you’ve probably heard, January through March at PwC is a busy time of year. As many of PwC’s clients have year ends of December 31 the few months after tend to be filled with longer hours than normal.  To help get through these few months, the social committee in Calgary ensures that there are lots of social events to reward everyone for their hard work.  Busy season is not an easy time of year for PwC employees, but these initiatives help to make these few months a bit more manageable!

Enhanced working practices at PwC

One of the major developments at PwC in the past couple of years has been the implementation of Enhanced Working Practices (EWP) to help make PwC the distinctive firm in client services as well as develop experiences for all employees. EWP has become more than just terminology and has evolved to become a way of life at PwC. This blog will focus on how PwC uses EWP and how this has helped to develop employee and client satisfaction. First of all, it is important to explain what the EWPs are and how they are used day to day in a work environment. There are five main components to EWP:

PwC Calgary and Teams

Recently an announcement was made by the Calgary City Leader that our office would be transitioning to a “teams” structure. If you know a lot about PwC already, you are probably aware that working in teams is one of the key drivers of success at our firm. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising to learn that the firm was incorporating teams into another aspect of the audit and assurance group (AAG). This new structure is quite a bit different from what was done in the past, so I will give you some background information on how teams will help PwC Calgary.

Setting goals at PwC

One of the most important parts in developing your professional career is setting goals to ensure you progress forward each and every year. PwC places high importance on goals and each employee is responsible for setting goals annually. This post is going to give you a brief overview of the goal setting process and how they are monitored throughout the year.

PwC takes on Corporate Calgary

From September 9^th to the 24^th, Corporate Calgary gets ready for two weeks of intense games and competition against other members of the business community. If you haven’t heard of Corporate Challenge, this is an Olympic-style event for Calgary’s business community. The event has been ongoing for over 15 years and involves over 175 companies. Of course, PwC gets in on the action and forms teams for almost all of the Corporate Challenge events. This year I got a chance to take part in my first Corporate Challenge and can’t wait to share my experiences with you!

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?!

As you go through recruiting you are probably starting to think about how your days at University are coming to an end and soon you will be starting your career, hopefully at PwC. For me, this was somewhat intimidating and I found myself always wondering how my knowledge in University would apply to my job and how I would learn enough about my role at the firm to perform my job well. After my first year at the firm, I think it is safe to say that I learned more than in my four years of University!  Throughout this blog I will share the programs I have gone through at PwC to further my professional development.

All about recruiting!

As September is now upon us, so is the recruiting season for accounting jobs. You have probably already noticed that recruiting for jobs at a public accounting firm is a bit more involved that simply filling out a form, attaching your resume and clicking “submit”. I’m going to try and help break down the key components of recruiting to help you best manage your time and ensure that you don’t miss anything during this next month.

CASB or MPAcc?

As you enter the recruiting season, you are probably finding yourself starting to think about life after University. If you are pursuing a CA designation in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan or Manitoba you might be wondering whether the CA School of Business (CASB) or Masters of Professional Accounting program (MPAcc) is right for you. In this post I will discuss each program to help give you a better idea of your options.

Four ways PwC rewards its employees

As I began my journey towards obtaining my Chartered Accountant designation I anticipated hard work and long hours in order to progress in my professional career.  I was thrilled to learn about the reward programs that PwC has implemented to recognize staff members’ hard work and to help promote work/life balance.  The four reward programs that I describe below contribute to making PwC an employer of choice.

Social Events at PwC Calgary

Now that I have been at the firm for a year, I have had the chance to experience most of the events which occur annually. As you may have heard, life at PwC is not just about work, but it is about meeting great people and enjoying your time at the firm. One of the main things PwC does to ensure you enjoy your time at the firm, is put on different social events throughout the year. I could write pages about the various events that take place for the Audit and Assurance Group (AAG) in Calgary, but for now I will just tell you about my 5 favourite from the past year.