Public Sector Auditor Review

I did thoroughly enjoy my placement and my only issue is that I wish it was longer. It was my first exposure to a large corporate environment. On the first day (after the training day) I was sat in a clients office beginning real audit work and over the internship I visited two regional offices and two client sites.

I felt like the work I did was somewhat important to the overall project, and it was therefore valued. On a personal level, every single colleague I came into contact with during the internship made me feel welcome and valued, and were also happy to help with any issues, whether it was finding the stationary cupboard or going through how to carry out an analytical test that I was unsure of.

I was given enough room to work independently but didn't ever feel out of my depth as I was always assured on what I was doing and given the appropriate training prior to undertaking a task. If I ever felt unsure I could easily ask any team member around me and they would happily help my with any queries.

I often had work which I would finish at home, not that this was asked of me, and as such, most days were quite busy picking up and juggling different tasks at one time. There was however downtime, for example when waiting for clients to get back in touch with information, and at those time I was struggling to find things to do.

I was trained on the job, and so the morning might consist of going through a process which I would then apply for the next day or so. Towards the end of the internship I was raising issues with the client directly and independently, and as such, I felt I was given enough support to not feel out of my depth, yet the ability to work independently.

I study Biology and as such, a accountancy internship will not directly benefit me in my degree, however there are some transferable skills such as interpreting large datasets, and I plan on going into an accounting career, and so, the internship was very valuable for this.

The internship was organised well, and there was a clear outline from day one what was going to be happening, which clients we were visiting, laptops and accounts being set up etc. I felt like I knew where I was going and what I was doing the whole time and as such the internship went very smoothly.

The internship is a direct route into the graduate programme so if anyone is looking into a career with KPMG I would strongly encourage them to look at taking an internship. This way, you get an insight into the company and decide whether it is for you, you can also change your programme (with another interview so see if you are right) after you are in, and finally it is like a month long interview with a chance to prove yourself, rather than it all coming down to the assessment centre and interview day.

There was only 1 other intern at my regional office of Nottingham and a further couple at the Birmingham office with a total of 8 or so based within the Midlands. We got on well when we saw each other however this was quite infrequent as there were so few of us. I got the impression this was a bit different for graduates as there were a lot more of them so the social scene was a bit more lively.

The cost of living in Birmingham and the regional offices is not as high as it would be in London, and as it is the second city there are endless activities and things to do. All things from travel to the cost of food and drink is significantly more affordable and I would encourage more people to look outside of Central London to work.

I worked mainly from the Birmingham office so the night-life was very good, however I didn't attend too many after hours social events as I had to travel to and from the office, however when I did I thoroughly enjoyed my time and felt welcomed.

As I was only there for four weeks I didn't have the most exposure to all of the social activities, however it was not uncommon for at least an email a day to circulate about various social events, such as going out for drinks or food and participating in sports teams and charity events.