alliantgroup, LP Reviews

Current Employee – been working at alliantgroup, LP full-time for more than a year

Pros – strong open door policy- mgmt. encourages you to bring up issues and things ag can improve
tons of growth opportunities to move into leadership roles
great market, great mission
fun, relaxed environment

Cons – lots of work to be done (however this is heavily rewarded!)

Advice to Senior Management – continue to ask your people for feedback. mgmt. has done a great job soliciting feedback and tells everyone to bring up any issues they may have.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at alliantgroup, LP full-time

Pros – Read the reviews and you'll pick these up: free dinner during tax season, $5 credit at cafeteria daily for lunch, interesting clients (sometimes) and provides good experience in speaking with high profile individuals (CEOs, CFOs, Presidents, etc.). Also gives you a crash course in management once you are promoted (usually from Project Associate to Associate between 6 months and a year).

Cons – To begin, the cons far outweigh the pros. I will breakdown each con separately.

Working Hours
Basically the reason most people leave. The hours are ludicrous year round. You will be working 70-80 hour weeks within your first month or so. During tax season, you will have minimal contact with your significant others and will be working closer to 80-90+ and most weekends. They say you don't need to "show your face late" but that's a lie. People that stay later are treated better, albeit slightly.

Billable Hours
The billable hours are a joke. You will be forced to bill 10 hours per day (minimum) and frequently participate in "billing contests" where you are pitted against other PAs, Associates and teams. Some individuals bill well over 200 hours in one week during these contests. You can do the math on that one. They put newly minted undergraduates in a position where their bonus is directly proportionate to hitting billables (not all hours worked are billable, mind you) or winning a contest, which unfortunately leads to questionable (and arguably unethical) billable hours.

Management
Most managers have never been in a management role before working at alliantgroup. The managers rarely speak their minds about problems in the trenches. The upper management has a narcissistic attitude with regards to the company, always pointing fingers to the employees when, in fact, the problem is the organization itself. Your complaints will regularly fall on deaf ears.

Training
To their credit, management has implemented a more structured training program. However, the breadth of information needed to succeed and the hours you must work are in direct conflict. Therefore, management forces you to attend trainings, daily for the first 4-6 months, starting around 6pm and often lasting until 8pm or later. Most people have work they need to finish and that means you'll end up staying after training to complete it. Or work from home...either way you're working late.

Public Ridicule/Lauding
This could be combined with Management above, as that's where it stems from, but I think it deserves its own area. You will experience a rollercoaster of alliantgroup emotions. At one moment you are on top of the world and the next you are called out in the middle of a 300 person get together for not playing well with others. They say visibility is a good thing (which it is in a way if you ever want to get promoted) but it also means you regularly get ripped openly in front of your peers. Oh, and the congratulatory email blasts will make you gag.

I could go on and on about the reasons not to work for alliantgroup but I do not want to move into "rant-zone." Take my advice and steer clear.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop caring more about how you look to others and start making common sense decisions that positively affect the organization. Throwing parties during tax season to make people forget how many ludicrous deadlines they have is not a good managerial decision. Bringing in more business than your employees can handle and forcing them to work like slaves is not a good managerial decision. Most professional firms are ethically obligated to turn work away that they cannot handle but I guarantee you have never done that. Stop focusing on money and start focusing on the people in implementation who actually do the work.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at alliantgroup, LP full-time for more than a year

Pros – There is free food during tax season.

Cons – The upper management dishes out public ridicule, racial jokes and sexual harassment. How can Glass door even carry this company as a recommended place to work in Houston?

Advice to Senior Management – Your reputation is catching up with you. After laying off hundreds of talented, young dedicated workers, don't think the word isn't getting back to Universities and potential new hires about your style. They are being advised by many who have gone on to other companies to avoid your company. In fact, experience from alliantgroup is now a liability for a resume.iWith new opportunities opening up in Oil and Gas in Houston, you will soon be faced with a shortage of workers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at alliantgroup, LP full-time for more than a year

Pros – $5 lunch credit to the cafeteria
Free pop from the vending machine
Dinner catered in so that you have to/must work late
Monthly birthday cake parties
Training new people, because it's a turnstile, most every new employee catches on 6 month into the job.

Cons – The expectation to work ridiculous hours per week. There is no work life balance!

"Work hard play hard", for who, not me and my group! Management plays hard, playing on their Xbox while we are working late hours!

You start off working 50 hours per week. Gradually, that gets accelerated to minimum 12 hour days with 6 day work weeks. You might even be given a guilt trip to work Sundays.

You will be expected to communicate all the time while you are on vacation or even during religious holidays!

Your pay will be below average. Good luck with any pay raises or reviews.

Bonuses are discretionary and if you are fortunate to get one, it might be paid to you in pennies.

Ever saw Animal House? This place is a close second. Jeans and a polo shirt is the dress code.

Completely classless company considering the industry. Their reputation speaks volumes about them. Just search the company and lawsuits, there are many!

Have this job on your resume will not help your career.

Advice to Senior Management – Upper management needs to stop driving their high end cars, step away from their big screen TVs in their offices, stop the games and ridicule! Get in the office the same business hours you expect from your employees!!!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at alliantgroup, LP full-time for more than a year

Pros – Free lunches during tax season
Alcohol

Cons – Turnover is very high. If you're not part of the "in" crowd or enjoying the "company" of management you won't be moving up the corporate ladder. Salary sucks for the amount of hours you work. No real room for career advancement. Senior management makes a ton of money but doesn't pay out to those actually doing the work

Advice to Senior Management – Bump pay for everyone and quit lining your own pockets. Maybe get some actual hierarchy in the company and have quarterly reviews with employees so they can figure out how they are actually doing throughout the year.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at alliantgroup, LP full-time for more than a year

Pros – Depending on the group you are placed in, this job would not be any worse than working at a Big 4 firm. If you play the game correctly, you can be promoted very quickly. You will learn a lot and the work is interesting. If you graduated with a liberal arts degree, this may be one of the better jobs available. If you like to travel, this is also a plus. I was out of the office 40% of the time.

Cons – Best case scenario, you work 100+ hours during tax season and 80 rest of the year. The downside is alliantgroup is not looked at in a favorable light by most accounting firms. Part of this is due to lack of recognition (due to size) and part of this is alliantgroup has been involved in numerous lawsuits and disputes with reputable accounting firms. alliantgroup tries to emulate the Big 4 accounting firm practice of bringing in a ton of people and weeding them out. Unfortunately there are not companies lined up to hire those people afterwords like with the Big 4 firms. Once you leave this company (I promise you will dream of this day as soon as you hit 6 months) don't expect for other employers to value the experience you received at alliantgroup.

There is also a strict hierarchy here. If you are hired as a project associate, be prepared to be talked to by the directors and associates. Double if you are hired on as Admin position. alliantgroup started a group for client relation experts while I was working there. This group is the worst. They have direct access to the owner of the company and their role is basically to act as informants within the company. They don't understand the tax credits are calculated but are higher on the food chain then associates and project associates. Management is very young and unprofessional. Be prepared for a lot of gossip and backstabbing. Part of this is also not management’s fault, since they are also project managers for a large number of projects and have not had a life outside of work for years.

If you cannot find any other job elsewhere is the only reason I would consider taking a position at this company.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire people to actually manage. Get rid of the client relation experts.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at alliantgroup, LP

Pros – If you prefer fair compensation in terms of sweets, $5 lunch credits, and occasional pizza dinners, then this place is for you.

Cons – If you prefer fair compensation, then this place is certainly not for you. This is a high volume, high stress, and low incentive environment.

Advice to Senior Management – Management very intelligently uses entry-level people for cheap in-sourcing. Honestly, pressing young, inexperienced (but relatively intelligent) people to the max on the (relatively) cheap is a good business model, given the constant value the project associates and managers can be used for billing despite the high turnover.

Current Employee – been working at alliantgroup, LP full-time

Pros – often free food, co workers can be nice, incentives to meet deadlines

Cons – high stress level, unprofessional working environment,

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at alliantgroup, LP full-time for less than a year

Pros – Lots of room for advancement
you're rewarded when you work hard and meet expectation
great company mission, and culture
will always listen to your ideas, and trying to find ways to be "better, faster, stronger"

Cons – starting to hire more quality people, so there is turnover
the company is so unlike any other, so it's difficult to hire the right people
too much food, i'm gaining weight!

Advice to Senior Management – Keep on allowing your employees to advance, and creating raving fans!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at alliantgroup, LP full-time for more than a year

Pros – You can make plenty of money and everyone seems to like it for it for the first 6 months

Cons – Work - Life balance is terrible. Plan on working a 100 hours a week.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend