Statutory Accountant Review

I really did enjoy my placement year at IBM. There is a good community and lots of other placement students at every office. At IBM you really feel looked after by your team and other people in the foundation community.

During my placement I expected to be filling out invoices and paper work and other easy paperwork related tasks. After a few days it was clear that this would not be the case. The team around me supported me with my work load and once I understood the job I was able to do the same in return. You end up feeling just like any other employee of IBM. You are not singled out as being a placement student ever. There is such a large community of graduates, placement and gap years and all are treated equally.

This would be the weakest link of my time at IBM. When you start IBM the idea of having two managers seems like a good idea. One working as your task manager and one as your own personal HR rep. This can get very confusing on who you should be contacting regarding certain issues and problems. I ended up having to just email both and see what happened from there whenever I had a problem. the being said both were lovely people and extremely helpful when I did have any questions or concerns. Seems I was not the only person who struggled to know which person to reach out to on occasion.

Day to day is never the same in the accountancy role at IBM. Although you have set tasks and procedures to follow there is a lot of things you end up getting involved with. During spells of no work you can reach out to your task manager or Early Professionals Manger to help you look for work.

I was given a lot of responsibly early on, dealing with large sums of money and companies. Although this may sound daunting the support and help around me made it extremely stress free as anything I did not understand I could simply just seek help within my team or the wider IBM community.

I could not recommend doing a placement year more. I feel I have learned so much over the last 12 months in terms of accountancy in the industry. Further to this I have also learned what it is actually like to work in an office environment.

I currently work in IBM North Harbour. Having visited other sites North Harbour, although called Headquarters, is the most run down of them all. It seems that North Harbour is always last to receive new printers, vending machines and general tidy ups. This has had an impact of moral around the office and this is very clear. Lots of people based at North Harbour tend to work from home so the office is not very busy unless it is month or quarter end.

The placement at IBM is extremely well organised. I believe this is down to the fact that IBM have been doing this for years. There is a clear structure to the program with lots of support at the start and a handover period from the previous student who was doing the role you are about to start. Reviews every 3 months with your manager and a placement journal to fill in. You end up keeping a diary with everything you have learned over your time at IBM which is very useful to look back on for University work or help with CV.

I attended many courses while at IBM. You can approach your manager if you find a course on the internal database you wish to attend or any external courses you wish to attend. If they are related to your job role your manager will more than likely allow it.

No comment.

Everyone is very friendly around the office. Most placement students end up living together in the local city and go out at the weekends.

I lived at home with my parents while on placement.

This is my home town so I don't think the area is great for nightlife (i've been going to these clubs/pubs for a long time now)