Audit Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship. I really appreciated the responsibility I was given during my time there and with this came a great deal of trust. I had previously completed an audit module at University and it was great to see how this was applied in a real life setting!

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues, one of my main concerns during my internship was that I was more of a hindrance than a help but everyone I worked with seemed to really value the work that I had undertaken during my placement.

I feel that I was given a lot of support. On our first day in the office I was allocated a buddy who was more than happy to help with any questions or queries I had, although I only saw him on the few occasions when I was in the office as we were not on any of the same jobs. Although my buddy wasn’t around when I was out on client sites all of the staff I was working with were more than happy to help and answer any questions I had. This went for staff members at all levels, even the senior managers and partners who are often extremely busy were very approachable and happy to assist.

This varied quite a bit from day to day. Some days it felt like I would never be able to complete all of the tasks I had been given and other days I was asking for extra tasks. On some occasions there seemed to be a bit of a struggle to know what to give me next although it wasn’t long before something was found for me to complete. It was quite nice to have little gaps as well as these were an opportunity to catch up on admin things like completing my timesheet, claiming back expenses or completing online learning. Overall, I would say that it was a good balance. I was kept busy for the duration of my internship but didn’t feel stressed or overworked and I always managed to complete the tasks I was given.

I was given a great deal of responsibility. I was initially quite surprised at just how much freedom I was given considering it was a new environment and I had never been asked to complete such tasks before. I felt very much like I had been thrown in at the deep end and a little out of my comfort zone, although I soon began to appreciate why they had chosen to do it this way and feel that through doing it myself I learnt a great deal and developed an understanding of why many of the tasks are done in the way that they are. During my placement I was expected to communicate directly with the client and obtain any information I needed from them. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know many of the members of staff at the various clients I was assigned to. Building relationships is an essential part of the job and I felt this to be a really valuable experience.

I think they will be extremely useful as I am taking another auditing module during my final year at university and I think it will be good to have this experience to draw on. I also think it will be useful to me as I am hoping to receive an offer to join the firm’s Graduate Scheme next year.

There was a really good atmosphere within the office, everyone was really friendly. If you had a question or needed help with anything there was always someone to ask and everyone was very willing to assist in any way that they could.

I would say on the whole the internship was well organised.

I feel the company invested quite a lot in me during the short time I spent with them. They had various things organised for us during the placement such as our induction, a CSR day and even a morning spent at restructuring where we got an introduction to personal insolvency and all of the steps involved. This gave us a real insight.

The future employment prospects are extremely appealing. I am currently waiting to hear back if I will be offered a place on the Graduate Scheme starting next September and I wouldn’t hesitate to take this opportunity.

I would say that there was a good social scene with networking drinks held after our induction day, a dinner for intern students although I was unable to attend this myself, and leaving drinks the day that we finished. The only down side was that most of these events were held in Glasgow and it could be problematic to get there when held after work, depending on where you had been working that day.

I was staying at home for the duration of my placement so this wasn’t something that I really had to worry about but Edinburgh can be expensive, certainly more so than other areas, for both living and socialising. Although again having lived close to Edinburgh for all my life this didn’t come as a massive shock and was something that I was already used to.

Edinburgh has an excellent nightlife and even more so during August when the Festival is on. During this time there are a wide variety of things to see and do with many free events taking place.

There were many opportunities. As well as the social events I mentioned previously, a CSR day was organised for us where we presented a session on CVs and interviews to a group of refugees. The audit team organised baking challenges on a Friday with a new theme being chosen every week and we were given the option to take part in this.