Assurance Audit Energy Review

Really enjoyed my placement year due to the day to day challenges and variety of the job, the variety of clients that I was allowed to work on from large to small and from different industries, the responsibility I was giving as a first year and the different teams and colleagues that I worked with over the year.

My colleagues treated me as a first year graduate which allowed me to feel extremely valued and be given a lot of responsibility. Even the chain of management from bottom to top seems narrow, it actually felt extremely flat allowing me to feel comfortable talking to all levels within the firm from partners to school leavers.

Part of the job in your first three years is constant on the job training and supervision throughout in order for you to understand the client and type of work you are doing. Therefore, there was constant support from colleagues only a year ahead to colleagues who had been in the firm 10 years due to them understanding the position you were in and usually having done a similar job to you so them providing their experiences and tips for you to use.

Being in audit means that you are extremely busy at parts of the year and then other parts parts can be extremely quiet. However, you are usually aware of this months in advance so can prepare your social and work life in order to prepare for these scenarios. This also means in the quieter times you can focus on your training, or doing secondments in other areas of the firm in order to develop yourself.

I was overwhelmed by the amount of responsibility you get as a placement student. They treat you as a first graduate meaning you do the same jobs and have the same requirements as them. I was able to talk one on one with senior members of the finance team in large multinational companies, I had to sign off all of my work of which some was reviewed by partners, therefore responsibility is high.

Due to my degree being in Accounting and Finance then a job in Assurance has helped me massively understand the practical side of some of the studies I am learning. This has allowed me final year to put theories into better perspective and given me understanding on the real case scenario for examples to use in my studies.

The office has a great atmosphere and allows you to meet colleagues from top to bottom due to the way it is set out. This gives it a professional vibe but a social and fun one too. There was many socials throughout the year to bring the office and teams together in order to network and bond to make an efficient working relationship. This made the day to day job better as you respected and understood your colleagues.

The placement is very well with induction weeks at the start to meet the other placement students in order to get a generic understanding of the firm and the job role. You then get specific training for your job role and industry, for me this was auditing and in the energy sector. This training becomes more advanced as the year goes on. There is plenty of socials in order to network with the other placement students and find out about each other experiences.

The company wants you to come back as a graduate, therefore they invest very heavily in you. They give you constant on the job training, give you high responsibility, start you up with the ICAEW and you do your first two exams for your ACA. There was always further optional training for any areas that you wanted to improve on where you had the time to do these events.

The company is constantly growing and therefore promotions and to move up the ladder are very possible, this is shown by the young workforce and colleagues under 30 in high senior positions already. This is very appealing to myself to see the clear ladder to get to these positions and learn of the staff of the ways to get there. From my placement year I was giving a graduate job showing the prospects you can get with them

Socializing and networking events every other week, allowing you to bond with the placement students.

It was London and therefore it was expensive to live, however, your salary will allow you to cover it and have a good social scene. The socializing was great as it was London so there is any activity or event for anybodies interests, this allowed me to trial out new activities and sports that I have continued on such as touch rugby.

Nightlife in London is great with a lot of variety but very expensive.

As you are in London the activities to be involved with are endless, this is from what the firm provides to you, to the local community to just generally looking out for opportunities advertised whether it be in sport, societies, learning a new language or skill.