Audit Vacation Intern Review

My placement was fairly enjoyable as it was varied and allowed me to experience exactly what it would be like if I was to work for KPMG after graduating. We were given the same responsibility as the graduates which made me feel like I was actually contributing something valuable. They also allowed us to try out different areas of the business (1 day in Tax and 1 day in Restructuring) which I found really interesting.

All of my colleagues were really supportive and made me feel welcome. I didn’t feel like an intern as they treated me the same as everyone else there. If I was stuck with what I was meant to be doing my colleagues were always happy to help and to answer any questions.

The managers on each job would spend time explaining the tasks that I needed to complete and were always happy to answer questions without making me feel like I was bothering them. There was regular contact via email with our personal development manager which was also great, especially as we were only there for 4 weeks.

It depended on the day. On the week where I was on an away job, it was so busy which was great as the day flew by and I felt like I learnt a lot. On other days though it could be quite quiet, especially if I was in the office and not assigned to a particular client. Where possible they did try to make sure we were all assigned to clients however there were the odd few days where I just had to ask around the office for jobs to do which was quite boring.

All the interns had the exact same responsibility as the first year grads. Obviously without specific accountancy training we couldn’t do very much completely by ourselves, but they did give us more responsibility that I was expecting. Managers didn’t constantly check up on you to check you were doing the right thing, but they were always happy to answer questions, and of course review the work at the end.

Not so much in my degree, but the skills I learnt on my placement will definitely come in useful in whatever career I go into. I learnt some specific accounting skills which will be useful if I do decide to go into accountancy, but you also learn lots of transferable skills, like time-management and working to deadlines, which will be useful in whatever I do.

The atmosphere wasn’t the most lively, but I guess that’s to do with the nature of the work and the professionalism that is needed in front of clients. However everyone seemed to be friends and were willing to support each other, make each other drinks etc. On away jobs though the atmosphere was great on the evenings after work, so it’s not all work and no play!

When we arrived for induction, all our laptops were ready to go and everyone had already been assigned to their clients for the 4 weeks. They’d also organised us days to shadow in other departments which was great. The only negative was that on the day before I was due to have my ‘Partner Shadowing Day’ (where we basically shadowed one of the Partners for the day) I was emailed to say that because I hadn’t emailed the Partner’s PA to confirm my day with him that his schedule had now changed and I would no longer be able to shadow him. This was disappointing as I don’t believe that we were told we had to email the PA’s to confirm the date. However they did manage to get me to shadow him to just 1 meetings so at least that was something.

There wasn’t too much in the way of scheduled training but as we were only there for 4 weeks it would have been a waste to do too much anyway. We were given online training to complete, an induction day and also on the job training where needed though. Towards the end we also had a development review to discuss how we’d got on and to help prepare us for our final interviews.

I was lucky enough to be offered a job with the company when I graduate so that’s a massive strain off final year. I was also allowed to change to another office for my grad scheme (instead of where I did my placement) which was very accommodating of them and has made things much easier.

We went out for a few lunches towards the start of the internship to get to know each other and other colleagues. We also had drinks out on our last day (all paid for by the company) and would go out for meals on evenings on away jobs. We tended to mix a lot with the teams we were with whilst on clients jobs rather than with each other as interns.

I lived at home in Birmingham so I can't really comment. But Nottingham is fairly average for cost of living I believe.

Didn't experience the Nottingham nightlife whilst on placement, but I know there's plenty of places to go there. Whilst on away jobs though there was a great atmosphere on evenings and we always went for meals out and socialised. (All expenses paid for by KPMG of course which was a bonus!)

There were emails sent around about joining the Football team (and Netball team I think) and it was often discussed in the office about who was going to what. They had a league where they played against other offices. However I don't think any of the interns actually went to any training sessions or matches as wasn't much point for the limited time we were there.