Assurance Associate Review

In general I found that there was rarely a day when I would dread going to work! Auditing itself can be a tedious task on occasions, but as a 'first year' at PwC, I was rarely working at the same client for more than a couple of weeks, so it wasn't a typical '9-5' same-four-office-walls job. In particular, the variety of clients, team members and locations made the job enjoyable and not mundane or too routine.

In terms of PwC on the whole, I did sometimes feel a bit like another 'resource' rather than an employee - auditors are allocated to jobs but sometimes you may be put on a job last minute or moved from one to another. This allocation took away the feeling of being valued as a capable individual employee. Having said that, once you join a team at the audit client, you are valued by your colleagues (even if you have never met them before!) as you have specific tasks to complete on your own. Therefore, your work is vital for the audit to be completed by the deadline.

PwC is excellent when it comes to support and guidance - on work and personal matters. You get feedback from the person in charge of each audit you are on which points out your key strengths and weaknesses. Also, you are assigned a Counselling Manager who reviews all of your feedback at the end of the year and helps you set key objectives for the next year. They are there as a point of contact throughout the placement. You also have a buddy assigned to you from the '2nd year' PwC Associates. You generally become good friends with the graduates who join with you and the year group above, so your relationship with your buddy can be quite informal. In terms of career opportunities, you can speak to managers, directors or even partners who are always willing to take time out to chat to you. The hierarchical boundaries do exist but my experience is that they are quite faint - I was never talked down to by a senior member of staff!

It really depended on the job I was working on and the tasks I was delegated. As a placement student, I was never really so rushed off my feet that I had to work stupidly long hours - although as you progress in the firm I think this may be the tendency! Even if I was pretty busy, I found that I was still able to finish work on time to pursue leisure activities. Generally PwC appreciate that Oct - Feb is 'busy season' and you are expected to ensure you meet the deadlines, but the spring / summer months tend to be more relaxed and sometimes you may even have days when you find yourself to barely anything to do!

There was a limited amount of responsibility I could be allocated as a placement student. PwC is a professional firm and although I took the first set of professional stage ACA exams, it would still take me another couple of years to become a fully qualified Chartered Accountant. I was given the responsibility to audit certain areas of the balance sheet (generally Cash, Fixed Assets, Prepayments for example) but the ultimate responsibility of the audit lies with the Partner!

There were numerous compulsory training courses such as ethics training, independence, money laundering etc which are all necessary for PwC to complete quality services for clients. I joined with 12 graduates (at the Milton Keynes office) and was treated on a par with them. So I undertook the first year of the ACA qualification, which was invaluable in terms of aiding my final year accounting studies and puts me a good way to attaining the Chartered Accountancy status when I graduate.

Again, this varied! Each day's level of banter depended on who was in the office and what time of year it was. During the busy season, the office tended to be very quiet and everyone was very busy so there wasn't really any banter! But Milton Keynes is the smallest PwC office, so I imagine this may not be the same at other PwC offices. Although, everyone tends to wear suits / smart office dress at all offices (altho it is generally more relaxed then when you are working out at client's). To me, it almost felt like an extension of uni in that I developed strong friendships with my yeargroup as we were all of similar ages - in fact we even went on a group holiday together to Greece in the summer! Plus, we often had group emails between us as well keeping us entertained when the office was particularly quiet! The social scene at PwC (i.e. xmas and summer events, end of month drinks and loads of other social activities throughout the year) balanced the professional, hardworking busy working periods.

I think since my placement, PwC have standardised the scheme more - as personally I found that being the only placement student at PwC in the midlands region, the resourcing team weren't always quite sure whether I was a graduate equivalent or a gap student! But other than these admin issues, I would have to say that it was an excellent placement and if I had to do it again, I'd definitely opt to work at PwC!

Considering I was only a placement student, PwC paid for me to become a member of the ICAEW and paid for my exams etc knowing that I might not even graduate - and if I do, I might not even decide to go back to PwC! Considering the ACA costs about £30,000 per student in total over 2.5 years, I think they invested quite a lot in me! As well as financially, PwC invested a lot of time into my training. PwC prides itself on its professionalism and expertise etc so it is in their interest to invest as much time/money/effort etc in all their employees anyway. So really, I expected that much of my placement would be a process of continual learning and development, which it was.

I have just signed my contract to return to PwC. In two years time, I will have completed my ACA qualification and be able to take advantage of the many career and secondment opportunities PwC have to offer. I will also be able to take advantage of the Choices benefits package which includes a company car, dental / health care, extra holidays, travel insurance to name a few. The salary I will be starting on as a graduate (NB this is at Milton Keynes - other offices are likely to vary in starting salaries) is over £25k, whereas if I hadn't taken the placement year there I would be on a graduate salary of a little over 20k. The placement at PwC has therefore enabled me to start my career as a graduate that little bit further along the line than my peers. So the prospects for me at PwC are very appealing!

Yeah - I mentioned this in a previous question. Although I was the only placement student at Milton Keynes PwC, I was actually part of the graduate group recruited that year, so as mentioned, we became a group of friends rather than a group of colleagues and often went out (drinking) together and even went on holiday together!

I lived at 'home' so the cost of living was excellent for me! However, Milton Keynes can be a little expensive - especially if you buy your lunch there everyday!

Generally OK but unfortunately Milton Keynes is slightly underdeveloped when it comes to nightlife! Although there have been rumours of a few new clubs opening there soon, but until then, its Oceana all the way!

Yes there were quite a few...eg Sporting Activities (basketball, netball, cricket, footy and random one off events like dodgeball) Yearly events - Christmas ball, summer event (e.g Newmarket Races), End of Busy Season event (e.g. bowling, meals etc), Pool tournament, Graduate events (e.g. tobogganing, ice skating etc) General ad hoc events - loads of evening meals, endless lunches and monthly drinks for all (free bar), and if you wanted to do anything else, you can join the social committee and sort something out!e.g. I set up the basketball sessions. Someone else set up the dodgeball to raise money for charity. Numerouse social community projects exist as well! The opportunities really are endless!