Audit Associate Review

I would highly recommend Grant Thornton to anyone who is interested in this field of work. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my placement as it gave me the opportunity to broaden my knowledge in various ways. As with every job there were some challenging moments but I feel I benefitted from these in the long run. I also had the opportunity to make connections with several colleagues and clients.

Throughout the year I felt extremely valued by colleagues as each individual is entrusted with a substantial amount of work. I feel everyone worked well as a a team, providing support to each other. There was less of a divide between the employee hierarchy than in most offices i.e. managers and partners were integrated with graduates and executives.

Ample support was given by colleagues due to Grant Thornton’s system of having a buddy and a people manager assigned to each individual. Further to this, each job was reviewed and guidance was given on how to improve. On every job, where a team would perform an audit, in-charges would provide the most guidance and support on daily tasks (however, this was more difficult at the beginning of my placement where I needed considerably more support). Many colleagues who were not directly responsible for my development also offered advice and direction.

On a daily basis I was very busy which developed my self-management greatly. However, the workload per employee will vary as it is dependent to which job each one is booked to and for how long. I would recommend this placement to those who are driven, flexible and willing to learn as these are required throughout the year.

During my placement I was given a significant amount of responsibly compared to what I expected. The level of responsibility also increased throughout the year. This is attributable to knowing more about audit and how to perform each task. As you are often on a client’s site, I feel you are given even more responsibility to act in a professional manner in which the firm would want you to represent them. However, for those who feel they had too much responsibility, support was often provided.

Although my degree does not have any direct connection to this placement, the skills I have learnt will be immensely useful in my last year at university and in my future career. I feel I most developed in communication, initiative, confidence, teamwork, flexibility, self-management and business insight - all transferable skills.

The office atmosphere is relatively comfortable and relaxed. It is open plan and has a hot desk policy which creates a more welcoming environment and helps to integrate each department. However, I was mostly on fieldwork therefore spent little time in the office. During fieldwork the atmosphere was very different and dependent on the team (as there are a handful of people in one meeting room).

Overall, I thought that the placement was well organised with scheduled training sessions, an assigned buddy and people manager and two appraisals in the year. A calendar of the jobs each individual is booked to (called retain) is available well in advance (however this does mean holiday has to be booked very early). There were also socials for all employees which were well organised and inclusive. However, as with every organisation there could be improvements in this area (e.g. a more structured first week for placements) - all of which I know Grant Thornton is working towards.

I feel that the company does invest a lot into training its employees. I completed about 3 weeks of scheduled training with Grant Thornton (however these would have been more beneficial to have been booked earlier) and hours of on the job training.

Future employment is very appealing (and often offered to placement students), however I personally decided not to pursue audit.

I found that there was a good social scene amongst the associates within the office as there were regular socials which were organised by the social committee. However, due to an increased workload in the year I feel as if most people would be too busy for anything extra.

I lived with 4 other students not far from the office so it was a relatively normal cost of living and the travel to work was not expensive. The cost of socialising however was more expensive.

There is lots to do in Leeds which caters to a variety of tastes and the bars close to the office were good too.

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in outside of work such as a football and netball team as well as work drinks. The firm also offer other things to get involved in such as running associate forums, being apart of the internal sustainability team, raising money for charity and much more.