Summer Intern Review

I enjoyed the internship greatly. The audit staff who I worked with were friendly and welcoming. The work was interesting when you considered it in the context of the business. The last few weeks were particularly interesting because I worked on a subsidiary for a client before then moving on to the head office so was able to track transactions through the subsidiary into the overall account which was really interesting!

I felt like they appreciated the work that I was doing and understood that my understanding of audit was very limited. As a result of this they went out of their way to make sure that I understood what I was doing and the purpose of it.

The supervisor that I was given was someone who I had met previously at an open event which initially sparked my interest in EY. We had a good relationship where I was able to ask questions whenever I had a question about the overall process. I was also able to shadow the audit partner and also had a one on one meeting with him where I was able to ask questions about the tendering process, which has changed significantly in recent times as a result of a change in how long a company and auditor can have a relationship.

Work was initially quite slow for the first couple of days but this was as a result of the work on the client just starting and me being unable to complete the work necessary. The executive on the job realised this and quickly organised it so I would be on jobs where there was work which I could complete. Throughout the day the amount of work I had varied depending on the client and which client staff were in but there were very few points across the internship where I found myself sitting with nothing to do.

The work that I completed contributed to the final audit so in that sense I feel as though I was given a large amount of responsibility despite my lack of training. Most of the work that I was completing was to do with cash which is the easiest thing to check through however I later go to work with derivatives and stock amongst other processes.

The most important thing that I learnt within the program was to do with time management and making presentations. Both have had their uses already. Time management has already had it's uses in terms of deadlines whilst the group presentation has proved useful as we have a module which is designated entirely to group projects. Having worked in one previously, I already have experience for organising work loads so that we do not have too much to do at the end as well as presenting.

It was generally a positive atmosphere. Whilst there was little time spent in the office when on an away job in London we organised a meal out for all of the separate teams from our office. At client sites there was a good atmosphere but this often depended on the client themselves. Some were more helpful but some were slightly more difficult due to the lack of organisation within the finance team.

Getting the internship was fairly difficult in terms of organisation. I had to chase up the person organising my assessment centre as I hadn't heard anything for an extended period of time. I also was not told about the trip down to Manchester for induction until a three days before the Sunday when I was expected to be down. There was further disappointment as the end of internship party that was meant to occur did not and the only reason given to us was "logistical issues". Having had this celebration talked up so much for it then to not occur was highly disappointing. We were able to have one with people from our office, however it meant that I did not see most of the people who I met across the induction in Manchester in the foreseeable future.

There was very little training done throughout the internship however simply by completing the internship I feel as though I gained a lot of knowledge which I wouldn't have been able to through reading or any degree course, as one of my fellow interns found having actually completed an accountancy degree!

I have accepted a job with EY and am looking forward to completing the graduate scheme with them commencing in 2016. The expectation within the firm is that if you get on the internship and don't "mess up" then you will be offered a job at the end. It was a fantastic opportunity to gain a qualification that is fully paid for whilst also earning money at the same time.

Like I previously mentioned we did go out when we were down in London and as interns we went for a quick drink at the end of the induction week. There was also a group of people who went to play netball at a local sports centre which was good fun, despite the mishap on behalf of the sports centre!

I'm a student here and also from my office so I had very little extra cost compared to what I would have experienced otherwise. The trip down to London had the evening meal covered up to £35 which was more than sufficient and breakfast was also paid for by the client.

The nightlife is generally very good in the area. Being from here I've experienced it plenty so I tended not to go out that much as most of my friends were still at uni, away on holiday or working on internships.

There were some opportunities that you were able to get involved in outside of work however, compared with London, there was very little. I understand that London is a far larger office however there was a large disparity in terms of the size of the opportunities. For example some of the London office got to participate in a sports competition with the other Big 4 clients, an opportunity that was not afforded to those of us who worked in the other UK offices.