FS Audit Intern Review

The placement was on the whole a great experience. Met a lot of people- coworkers and cointerns, and learnt a lot throughout.

Having spend eight weeks with the same core team, I started developing a great rapport with every single person on the direct teams- that included directors and partners as well as graduate trainees, getting perhaps the very best insight into the actual job!

For the majority of the time, I was assigned work from the managers. When there was nothing to do, it was easy to meet new people and take work from there. If necessary, I asked plenty of questions and the management almost always made the time to fully explain everything.

For the first few weeks it was often hard to get work- I think that was mainly because of the lack of managers I knew in the department. Soon though, managers introduced me to each other and having been put on an audit bid team mid-way through the programme, I was almost always assigned on a task.

I was often given the task of checking final audit numbers before sending documents to a partner for final sign-offs. When put on the bid team I was set many assignments which could very easily affect the final outcome of the bid process.

I think that the skills may not perhaps be directly relevant to my degree subject, though they will put me ahead of others in adjusting to life in financial services. I think that the attention to detail I had to pay, and the mental maths I applied will be helpful throughout life too.

The atmosphere was always quite awesome, especially after having put on the project team. We all got on very well and the level of banter was always sky-high!

The induction attended for the first two days of the placement were very well organised, and there was a good insight into the company provided through that. I think that the organisation of the internship depends heavily on the direct manager and his or her contact base. I was lucky in that the person I worked under knew many people and was able to assign me to something I wanted to do fairly quickly.

The people I worked with never hesitated to explain things to me in depth and didn't make it feel like they were under time pressure. Even the partners were happy to help me out in boosting my general understanding- that was priceless of course.

Awesome- the career progression and the qualification studied for are both great. If joining a mainstream service line in the firm, doing the ACCA or ACA qualification is priceless and the hierarchy within the firm is very well defined.

The placement colleagues were well organised in managing social interaction. Lunch was almost always with the interns if I wasn't with my team colleagues, and nights out were arranged regularly.

Canary Wharf is an expensive area- that's why city workers are paid so much!

Being in London meant that it was easy to get to anywhere in the capital. There's always something good on and so it's a great place to be.

There are societies within the firm, such as Football and Cricket- I was offered games with the cricket team but wasn't available on the days needed, but I'd imagine that would be a good opportunity for those keen on sports. We also had one day of Corporate Social Responsibility for which we went to a common field in London and helped uproot weeds and the like.