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Fired PwC accountant’s parting shot rant is internet hit
Tim Stewart and Peter Dominiczak10 Sep 2009
A sacked City accountant has become an internet sensation after sending a departing email ranting against his colleagues, bosses and the office decor.
Gareth Jenkins was fired by PricewaterhouseCoopers after failing to pass the Institute of Chartered Accountants' exams, known as ACA.
Before he left, the trainee chartered accountant, fired off a vitriolic parting shot to colleagues at the company that was quickly forwarded on and has now gone global.
In his email, he ridiculed his co-workers, the firm's training programme, office decor and use of corporate jargon.
Mr Jenkins opened his email farewell with: “This is an emotional email for me to have to send. The tears are flowing.
“Today is my last day at PwC. I haven't sent this to everyone because what would be the point? Why do people send their leaving emails to everyone? We didn't care about you then and we certainly don't care about you now.
“I still presume hardly any of you knew me, which is good because I'm rubbish at audit, so I wouldn't have helped your stellar careers.”
It is believed that Mr Jenkins joined the Big Four auditor three years ago as a university graduate.
He would have been earning up to £30,000 as a trainee chartered accountant on a three-year training contract.
On his final day at work, he explained: “I'm leaving because I failed the exams and now I have to leave. I hope to pursue a career as a mudlark down Limehouse way or possibly as one of the more well-dressed tramps.”
He told how he learned how to “fake” understanding of elements of the ACA course, known as Steps', saying: “It is not a total loss, however.
“I shall take away some special Skills from PwC, courtesy of our Bespoke Training and Blue Sky whatever. I have learnt how to fake Steps exceedingly well.
Mr Jenkins then turned his fire on the decor at his City office, saying: “I've also learned how not to decorate an office - green and orange block colour walls with business buzz phrases on. Find your space', always add value' etc. Where do these terrible phrases come from? Is there a team of people lurking about in Embankment Place whose only duty is to pump out corporate drivel?”
Mr Jenkins was equally scathing about events attended by PwC chiefs.
He said: “I look forward immensely to never having to attend an event in which Our Beloved Leaders stand up and tell us we've massively exceeded budget, so in reward we get no bonuses and instead we get the treat of listening to Coldplay while quotes from the greatest leaders of our times are played across a screen.”
The email spread like wildfire after it was forwarded to City workers inside and outside the firm by a senior associate in PwC's banking and capital markets department.
It has since gone as far afield as Singapore with readers describing the contents as “hilarious”.
A PwC spokeswoman said: “It is an email from a candidate who has failed his exams and has had to leave the firm.
"At the end of the three years, we look at their performance over the three years very carefully and if they have not met the required standard, they would be asked to leave.”
She declined to comment on Mr Jenkins' criticisms of the firm, saying: “Everybody is entitled to their opinion.”
Reader views (51)
I live with someone who is currently sitting these exams. He is the brightest, most intelligent man I have ever come to meet. He worked hard at University and now is working hard for these. I too have a degree and even reading one line of his revision (which he does for hours every night by the way) makes me realise you have to be pretty gifted to pass the exams. Please stop saying that anybody can do them or likening them to a GCSE. Go and do them yourselves if you think you can.
- Laura, Unknown, 30/09/2009 13:47
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Personally I found his comments unremarkable and not very worthy of becoming a viral sensation. That said, I was far more impressed by the extraordinary self-satisfaction demonstrated by the likes of Matt, LonDon and Escobar aloplop.
- David, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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IN THE TECH SAVVY AGE NEWS CAN GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. AS I SEARCHED PWC ON GOOGLE. IT POPS UP AS IT'S FRIDAY MORNING HERE & THURSDAY NIGHT IN UK.NO I FEEL PITY FOR THE GUY. I MYSELF IS AN SENIOR AUDITOR AT BIG 4. SOME OF HIS POINTS ARE CORRECT THAT BIG 4 FIRMS ARE NOT THAT MUCH DIFFERENT FROM OTHER CORPORATIONS... MIND ME SAYING FROM MY EXPERIENCE PPL DON'T LEAVE FIRMS, PPL LEAVE RUDE BOSSES.LET'S FACE IT ACA IS DIFFICULT FROM ANY COUNTRY... IF HE FAILED THE EXAMS FOR THE FIRST TIME WHY DON'T GIVE HIM A CHANCE ( 2 ATTEMPT FOR ACA EXAMS)...THIS IS HARSH ON HIM.THERE ARE BIG 4 FIRMS IN GLOBE WHERE PPL GIVEN CERTAIN ATTEMPTS TO PASS THEIR CA IN RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES.AS I AM FROM AUDIT MYSELF... SOME OF THE THINGS HE SAID IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE... HATS OFF TO Y GARETH FROM OTHER PART OF THE GLOBE... I SALUTE UR COURAGE & GET OUT OF CORPORATE RAT RACE....
Kind Regards,
Umair
- Umair, AUSTRALIA, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Clearly a product of today's "you cannot lose - everyone wins a prize at school" culture. This spoilt little brat/prat* (*delete as applicable) has gone through a very protected education and at the first sign of failure, he throws his toys out of the pram. Grow up sunshine - There are rarely any prizes for coming second in the real world!
- Victor, Hampshire, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Poor man must have been very dim, not to be able to pass accountancy exams. Despite the accountancy trade trying to pass itself off as a profession, everyone knows that it's only a very basic trade, previously called book-keeping. An accountancy qualification is worth little more than a term of a GCSE course.
- A Genuine Profession, West London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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The question is if he has passed his exams would he have written such a nasty letter?After 3 years and he still could not pass his exams.Sounds like a waste of space to me.He has no one to blame but himself.Its better to light a candle than curse the darkness.He should have left without making a bad situation worse
- Philemon Mapfumo, Middlesex, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Mr Gareth, I pity you for what you did. I believe you lack experience in the corporate world that why you had the guts to write such a nasty email to PwC. I dont expect PwC as an employer, trainer and respected accountancy practice to bend its rules so that failures are allowed to continue 'faking it'. To become an accountant you have to sit exams and pass them. To become a good auditor and be like other PwC employees, you must pass those ACCA exams and stop 'faking it'. No two ways around it. PwC is where it is today because of the values and culture they have created for themselves over a long time;- leadership, intergrity and teamwork. Have fun as you look for your next job!!
- Joe Kabz, Meru Kenya, 30/09/2009 12:47
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“Everybody is entitled to their opinion.” But, Spokeswoman, certainly you meant "Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion"
- G, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Two observations: firstly accountants do take themselves far too seriously but for the wrong reasons: audit is vital but they're too busy trading up to management. Secondly organisations have been taken over by corporate cant. Very possibly the product of second-rate minds but we must live with it for the present! During my Big 4 days I just grinned and bore it whenever HR and corp branding stopped by and I wasn't the only one!
- Helen, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Everyone who joins PwC as a trainee knows there's the risk of being fired if he/she failed exams. A bad fail normally lead to firing immediately. A good fail may earn you a second chance. Accountancy exams are not that difficult (time constraint, definitely)...
- M, London, UK, 30/09/2009 12:47
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To - A Genuine Profession, West London (What a binman is it??)
I really would like to know what your "Profession" is, passing comment like that I presume your a binman or something braindead like that.
Poor man must have been very dim, not to be able to pass accountancy exams. Despite the accountancy trade trying to pass itself off as a profession, everyone knows that it's only a very basic trade, previously called book-keeping. An accountancy qualification is worth little more than a term of a GCSE course.
- A Genuine Profession, West London
- An Other, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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I feel sorry for all the other Gareth Jenkins out there who are currently trying to find a job.
- Notgarethjenkins, London, UK, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Aren't you missing the bigger story here? If an email 'sent to colleagues' can get beyond that, what else is being emailed out? If you were going to do business with PwC, would you now think twice? Confidentiality clearly isn't their forte.
- Airhellair, howareyou, 30/09/2009 12:47
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I loved the bit about co-operate drivel on the walls. That is perfectly true....The so called corperate speak is real rubbish.....I love the phrase re-branding....sounds like a cowboy sricking a branding iron up ones rectum...maybe some of these bosses need that treatment to speak and say exactly what they mean.....Rubbish talk begets rubbish nonsense...
- Themanoftruth, United Kingdom, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Like the accountancy profession or not the exams are difficult, especially in the short space of time accountants have to do them. 'Everyone knows' a lot more than you do genuine profession person.
- Bruno, london, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Fail his exams he did...
However... he makes a valid point...
That Management Consultants are nothing more than vacuous... money grabbing... parasities...
Why do you think that the NHS... Local Councils and other Public Bodies are inefficient and bloated by Management...
It is because it is the likes of PWC who some may say use corporate jargon to baffle the above organisations for personal financial gain by telling them that they have a problem that they can fix... at great expense... a problem that never existed in the first place...
Hence we have "Change Management"... "Restructuring"...
And many people believe that the election of a David Cameron Conservative Government will strip out management from the likes of the NHS..?
The Management Consultants... some time ago "Fell out of Love with the Labour Party... and have now reverted back to being the natural "Allies" of the Conservative Party...
- Angry Voter, Northamptonshire, 30/09/2009 12:47
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He speaks his mind loud and clear...underdogs and failures like him can turn around situations and becomes successes of the world. Atleast he is not one of the many corporate clones who follow orders and dare to speak their mind less that lovely paycheck, you live each day for, is snatched away.
Get out of the corporate rat race and be your own BOSS.
- Susan, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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This type of blaze of glory only makes sense if you want to be a Lama Farmer in Peru as your next career... even then I wouldn't recommend being too close to Cusco... it is full of UK accountants finding themselves....
- Jason S., Bristol, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Wasted in Accountancy, he should go into Advertising.
- Thalia, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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What's the difference between an auditor and an airport baggage trolley?
An airport baggage trolley has a mind of its own.
- Gwilym Rhys-Jones, marbella spain, 30/09/2009 12:47
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A bit childish really. He might find it difficult to find a job, since his name is now known and a new employer might take references from PWC or do a check on the internet. He would have been better to shut his mouth and move on without causing trouble.
- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Bean counters eh; self-aggrandising, dull as dishwater and not worth their self-important weight in sand! Wonder how many pass the exam still faking it?
- Wa, Oxfordshire, 30/09/2009 12:47
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If Mr. Jenkins had been fired for a reason other than not meeting the basic requirements of his job (i.e. pass the basic training), I could be sympathetic.
The City is a small place. You cannot afford to burn bridges or make enemies, so it is best to keep things cordial. The boss you ridicule today may end up as your boss somewhere else tomorrow. Of course, you might end up as their boss, but such eventualities are rare!
In a workplace environment where Human Remains, sorry, HR, now Google applicants' names, notoriety on the Web may not be very desirable!
- Edward Thompson, Bedfordshire, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Well done! He made his point. Believe me many of them are parasites.
- Jon, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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I enjoyed a similar experience to Mr. Jenkins at Deloitte and completely agree with the level of corporate b******* that goes on.
whilst some of the training was good we had so much of our time wasted...a four hour lecture on body language (as if I didnt know how to behave...although there was a distinct lack of upbringing so I suppose there was a need to bring the hoi into line)
and mindless team bonding exercises...although I appreciate working in a friendly team the extraordinary efforts which middle management gimps go to on forced fun exercises baffles me. if i want to go for drinks with someone I am quite capable of arranging it myself and have no desire to mingle with every shmuck in the office all brown nosing eachother...frankly I have my own friends (having had a life prior to working adulthood) and better things to be doing in the evenings and since I am normal can make business contacts and networks naturally, rather than through this facade of jolly entertainment...the whole thing is a waste of time.
Auditing truly is a profession for sad individuals and I am thrilled to be out of it. well done mr jenkins. as for escobar, get off your cynical high horse...you are no doubt one of these corporate losers who has to trick poor colleagues into having drinks with you under the illusion of office unity...what a pathetic and sad existence, get a life
- Michael, london, 30/09/2009 12:47
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I bet his colleagues will really miss him.
- St, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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I'd like to shake his hand - excellent stuff!
- Nowan King, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Is it hilarious because it belittles the management or hilarious because it's a sad little inept man full of vitriol at his own inadequacies?
- Bob, Cheam, 30/09/2009 12:47
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He has shot himself in the foot and no one in London will employ him.
- Kathy, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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If more of us dared say what we REALLY think about our bosses/managers/360-degree appraisal systems/ business 'mission statements' etc. the world would be a... funnier place..but while we have to bow & scrape to our 'superiors', best to keep it zipped
- Laugh-At-Pomposity, Essex, 30/09/2009 12:47
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A DULL STORY, FROM A DULL PERSON, WHO WAS SEEKING TO QUALIFY IN A DULL PROFESSION
- Therealbigman, bedford, 30/09/2009 12:47
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I've read the story twice. Where's the scathing vitriol? "Disgruntled sacked employee criticises firm he was fired from for not performing to expected standards" is the story here.
He was a dunce, he got sacked. This is hilarious? My word, accountants really are dull if this passes for hilarious. I'm going to have to look at my wife in a whole new light now.
- Escobar-Alop-Lop, Camden County, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Is he a victim of an education system that encourages a 'no failure' lifestyle where everybody is a winner?
Clearly he was unhappy at failing, but I do admire a 'I don't care' approach epitomised by City market traders, perhaps his parents were Punks ?
I think that he can look forward to an exciting career as a Mudlark, but clearly he will need to pass his 'Larking' exams first and then join the Guild of London Mudlarks if he wants to work beyond the Thames Barrier. I would suggest an apprenticeship at a regional mudlarking establishment first such as Portsmouth or Camber, but to get his London accent correct he should really start at the bottom at Sheppy.
"Spare a tanner guv for a waif ard on is luck, Gawd bless you guvnr" - been there, done that !
- James, London UK, 30/09/2009 12:47
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In response to Max Parker, no I'm not an accountant, but I am a fee earning professional for whom good client relationships are essential (I'd earn nothing without it), I am direct and entirely hands-on with my work, it's my company and I'm my own HR department, thank you very much.
"Well done Mr Jenkins". Well done for what? Wasting three years of his life, failing to pass exams in the lowest level of accountancy training, all the while taking a place that someone may have appreciated and fulfilled the training contract offered them, not having the guts to move on himself when he realised it wasn't for him, and then behaving like a whiney, spoiled child when he was finally called on it.
Yes, well done Mr Gareth Jenkins. You're a well known dunce now, good luck in finding future employement.
- Escobar-Alop-Lop, Camden County, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Erm, he needed to pass his exams and didn't. Maybe there's extenuating circumstances but at face value it seems as though he failed to grasp the concepts / study effectively, didn't meet the grade and instead of admitting personal responsibility seems to be blaming everyone but himself.
Any accountancy firm requires trainees to pass their exams, it's not as though this would have been kept a secret from him when he was recruited.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall, 30/09/2009 12:47
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And what happened to the associate who forwarded the mail outside PWC?
- Shanky, chicago, usa, 30/09/2009 12:47
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What odds that anyone who posts here attacking Mr Jenkins is either:-
(1) a chartered accountant and/or
(2) one of those fee earners in a professional service firm who found client relationships/the actual job, a little too challenging, and moved into management, chattering to HR, writing happy clappy recruitment copy, and arranging "training events" for junior level staff, and who knows, in truth, that their work life is devoid of useful purpose?
well done Mr Jenkins. If it wasn't right for you, better by far to be out now than stuck in the world of accountancy for years
- Max Parker, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Insurance industry is funnier. When I left I said at my exit interview that my manager had the 'personailty of a three week old dead halibut'. Asked if I'd consider returning one day..I said 'only if I was completely and utterly desperate, but in reality I'd prefer to eat my
own liver first'.
Fortunately I had a superb job to go to and I've never been happier!
- Ethan, UK, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Also, not to nit-pick his email, but if you "massively exceed budget," that means that you have gone over your budgeted spend and cannibalised your margin, and don't have much money left in the pay pot. If he's failed to grasp this basic fact then no wonder he's been failing exams...
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Isn't it sad that a "university" graduate was unfit for this trade?
- Ram 2009, Reading, UK, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Very unamusing indeed and a dull story. If this was forwarded to me I wouldn't forward it
- Pete, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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I do hope the guy knows you now need a license to be a mudlark.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 30/09/2009 12:47
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not even remotely funny. So he can't count and a career as a stand up looks pretty remote. Maybe McDonalds??
- Mr Opinion, london, 30/09/2009 12:47
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No-one should underestimate how difficult professional accountancy exams are.
The likes of PwC only recruit graduates with 2.1 or above and from the 'best' universities.
The pass rate for chartered students sitting all three final level papers in July was 55%.
These exams will often be the first candidates have ever failed. And remember all these PQ accountants have the prospect of being sacked if they fail to pass first time. Could you handle that pressure?
- Graham Hambly, Pqmagazine.Co.Uk, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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I agree with Gareth. Been there, done that - finished my 3 years and got out. Pretty much the worst time of my life.
Anyone who says articles and the qualifying exams are easy either have not been through it or are incredibly gifted (good for you)
- Andrea, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Nik is completely right Mark Lee. When someone makes a point of the fact that they have 'massively exceeded budget' it means they have brought in a lot more money than expected from their clients, in a given period. It's normally a good sign I'm afraid.
- Will, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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Accountamts really are totally vacuous the fact they get paid large amounts of money for producing worthless peices of paper you can't even rely on in a court of law has to be the best scam of all time.
Just remember it was ignorant accountants who allowed the banks to get out of control. AS breed we are better off with out them.
- Duncan, Kent, 30/09/2009 12:47
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To AN Other who wrote "Poor man must have been very dim, not to be able to pass accountancy exams. Despite the accountancy trade trying to pass itself off as a profession, everyone knows that it's only a very basic trade, previously called book-keeping".
Just to clarify - book keeping is what book-keepers do. This is a different, (albeit related job) to what "management accountants" do.
However, PwC audit staff are "financial accountants" - quite a different breed who take different exams etc.
- An Accountant, London, 30/09/2009 12:47
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A truly disgraceful thing to do. What enrages me even more is the thought that he's undoubtedly laughing it up on some sort of internet forum where they'd consider it a triumph. It makes me sick. Next thing we know he'll be photoshopping himself into photos of Lehman Brothers employees with a stupid grin on his underachieving face.
- Matt, LonDon, 30/09/2009 12:47
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After reading the exhaustive comments something is clear:
(A) Accountants have a pretty weird sense of humour (figuratively speaking!), and
(B) Most people are pretty sick and tired of corporate drivel and the erosion and destruction of companies by HR departments whose only aim is to offend and terrorize everyone in a company.
I fervently believe that more company failures are down to HR excesses that lead to a disillusioned workforce working toward the failure of a company rather than its success. When will companies wake up to the fact that they are sowing the seeds of their own destruction? Maybe Mr Jenkins appears childlike, but wasn't it the small boy in a fairy tale that told the Emperor that he was naked! Thank goodness one person has stuck their head up from the parapets and cried out what everyone else dare not say.
I believe Mr Jenkins may be one of those entrepreneurial souls who will be suited to starting his own business. He's certainly gained an enormous amount of publicity that money just couldn't buy, and he must exploit it, or someone exploit his 15 minutes of fame. And if he does, perhaps that business will be devoid of HR and company speak, and could be the utopia that we would all like to work for. After all why have HR? Solicitors and lawyers can give us all the employment law we need. And psychologists and psychiatrists can drop in for hugging sessions! So HR are really parasitic.
Yours, an escapee from corporate drudgery.
- Escapee, Newark, 30/09/2009 12:47
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One should note that the employee sent the email to his work colleagues and a senior figure from PwC 'forwarded' it around the 'City' and it has now ended up on the WWW! If I were Gareth, althought the email was distasteful and only for his ex-colleagues, it was just that - for his ex-colleagues.
I would seek the PwC individual/individuals who forwarded the email and sue for potential loss of earnings and what other law suits he can get as this will only spoil his chance of future employment.
- Simon Ali, Surry, 30/09/2009 12:47
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