Analyst Review

My placement at KPMG was fun, engaging and helped me prepare a lot for full time employment. I learned so much during my time there in areas ranging from IT audit testing to the inner workings of the broader CIO function. My only reservations about my placement are that I was moved from my preferred role in Cyber Security to Financial Services Technology Risk on my first day with no prior warning. This meant that I was put onto an audit engagement for 6 months, which was not something I was particularly interested in. However, the engagement was interesting and gave me a good working knowledge of the banking sector, which was an industry I had little prior knowledge in.

The quality, friendliness and outgoing nature of my colleagues is the main reason I will be returning to KPMG after my graduation. I was made to feel a part of the KPMG family immediately upon my arrival to the company and was treated as a mature graduate, which I know not all placement companies do. People senior to me were always welcoming and willing to impart knowledge. An event that highlights this is a evening that myself and 20 other colleagues were invited to, where 20 recent graduates got to spend an evening with 20 partners in the Mayfair office. The partners are outgoing, knowledgable and willing to impart that knowledge, and these qualities have trickled down to become part of the KPMG culture.

As a result of KPMG being a very large company, there is (naturally) a large amount of bureaucracy. As a result, I initially felt that my supervisors were giving me a little too much support and guidance. However, over time I realised that because we are working for large clients with great reputations, it is important for KPMG to be represented in the same way. I came to understand that a high level of support and guidance is an important part of ensuring that KPMG provides the best service possible to our clients, and so I ended up extremely happy with the level of support and guidance give.

I worked on two engagements in my time at KPMG, both of which were with national or multinational clients. As a result, I was always busy with work. The old adage of 'there is never a dull moment' is certainly true at KPMG, as each day represented a new control or IT risk that I had to come to terms with and test or help the client to solve. The breadth of work was very refreshing and allowed me to remain interested in the work throughout both of my engagements.

As a placement student, you do not expect to be given much responsibility, much less time with the client. However, KPMG's policy of treating placement students like full-time graduates really blows this idea out of the water. From nearly day one I was given my own responsibilities, which in turn meant that I was responsible for meeting with the client to discuss various topics. At first you do feel a little bit like a fish out of water, but in time your confidence with clients grows and you become able to stand on your own two feet. My advice would be to always take a manager with you to meetings if you feel in any way uncomfortable. Nobody will be angry at you for this, in fact they will probably be happy that you, as the least experienced employee, have accepted your knowledge limits.

During my time at KPMG I took part in a lot of training. Mt first week contained three days of training, and I had a further induction training week a month or so later. The skills developed were excellent in places, but in some ways I felt that I had already done a lot of the induction training at university. I understand however that KPMG recruits from all backgrounds and degrees, so many graduates may not have had as much training in Excel or presenting as a management school student such as myself. Nonetheless, the more focussed training (on subjects like controls testing, advanced Excel topics and report writing) were extremely useful. In every training, I was given a small booklet with the key facts from the training, which usefully allowed me to refer back to the training at any time.

The atmosphere at the office was always pleasant. My team sat up on the 11th floor, and there was always a vibrant buzz around the office. The office is laid out so that higher grade employees have permanent desk space, while the lower grade employees are free to hot desk. This can be a good thing, as you are never likely to not be able to find a seat. However, it can sometimes be tougher to find a space to sit with the people you are currently working with. The canteens - of which there are two - are also excellent, serving a good variety of hot and cold dishes. Again, finding seating at lunchtime can be hard, but that does not mean that the atmosphere is in any way affected.

For the most part, my work placement was a very smooth process. The welcome week was very well organised, and I knew exactly where I had to be and when. My first client was also sorted out for me in the first week, meaning that I spent no time 'on the bench' before getting stuck into some work. However, there was one event that was not as I had expected. As previously mentioned, I had been told I was moving into the Cyber Security team, which I was very interested in and excited to start. However, on my first day, I was told that I would not be joining that team, but would instead move into the Financial Services Technology Risk team. That meant that I was put onto audit work for the first 6 months of my time at KPMG, an area that was of less interest to me. However, I appreciate that as a graduate, the company's needs come before my needs, and that if there was additional capacity needs in the FS Tech Risk space, I was obliged to fill that space. I enjoyed my time in the team and have no regrets about the year that materialised from it.

KPMG invested a lot in me. They paid for multiple training sessions on my behalf, and enrolled me onto the CIMA certificate for Business Accounting with the rest of the other graduates. KPMG paid for all of the training and exams associated with this qualification, including a retake when I failed one of the modules. I was treated exactly as a graduate would be treated, even though I was only on a one year business placement. Therefore I can have no complaints about personal training and development.

I was offered a job with KPMG upon the completion of my placement year.

There is no question that living in London is expensive and going out is going to cost you a reasonably significant amount. As I worked in Canary Wharf, I knew that I was in for a more expensive year than some of my fellow placement students. However, KPMG's pay is extremely competitive, with a very reasonable salary bump for those living in London. In addition, KPMG subsidise you lunch by £3 if you work in the office or £4 if you work on a client site, which saves you a LOT of money over the year. SO whilst the year was expensive, I did not feel the financial strain too much.

I can't tell you that much about London that you don't already know. Although the engagements may take you to some more obscure places in the UK, the London nightlife is superb and I believe it to be unparalleled to anywhere else in the UK. Yes it is expensive, hence why it does not achieve a perfect score, but if you are working in London it is likely that you can afford to go out anyway.