Your opportunity to grow in Business Advisory is very strong. If you don't meet the standards of our practice, then you will be let go pretty fast. If you meet the standards and exceed them, then you will move up within the firm. The tough part is that if you are not placed on a project where you can take ownership of the work and excel, then you will not be promoted. So it pretty much depends on your luck with projects. If you are lucky enough to get on a high-profile client, then you better work very hard so that you can get promoted with the work that you do for that client.

I work for the Business Advisory practice at EY. The company growth is:

Advisor (2 years)
Senior Advisor (3 years)
Manager (3-5 years)
Senior Manager (3-5 years)
Partner (greatly varies)

There is a lot of training opportunities and promotion opportunities at EY. They certainly emphasize growth and learning, and to be promoted, you must show your willingness to learn and your desire to grow.

I feel that the opportunity for advancement is not there. A lot of the mangement always gives the possibility of promotion as an incentive to work long hours and work on high profile projects. I am a Director and feel that my growth has peeked.

Growth in EY is very structured:

0-2 years: analyst
2-5 years: senior
5-8 years: manager
8-12 years: senior manager
Partner completely depends on your situation

For the most part, I don't see many people making it past their 5th year. Accounting is not exactly the most thrilling type of work, so many people leave to pursue other industries and careers.

Getting to Partner will take you about 10-15 years. It takes much more than hard work to get there though. You will need to work your way around the corporate political structure and make yourself Partner. The company will not just simply give you the position.

The experienced hire program is not that great. The firm is not open minded to new ideas and does not value outside industry experience knowledge. Instead of trying to incorporate what you know, the company will try to make you accept everything that is EY.