Intern Review

I enjoyed working on my placement as I grew both academically and personally throughout the experience. I felt that I was constantly challenged in a rapidly changing environment so although there was a steep learning curve, it meant I developed a large number of skills within a short period of time. I also enjoyed the level of responsibility I was given during the year, being allocated my own sections to complete within the team, learning to take ownership to ensure the deadline was met. I think sometimes it was hard to adjust in the beginning as the role was intense but as soon as I had adapted to the needs of the role and gained some familiarity with the clients I was working with and the other team members, I started to relax into and enjoy the role.

I felt valued by my colleagues as I received very positive feedback and also some recognition awards throughout. I think that sometimes this feedback could have been communicated more readily and voluntarily on the job but I realise the great deal of pressures that my seniors were under thus this is likely to have limited their ability to do this. By some teams, doing post deadline dinners, this made you feel more valued as part of the team. Furthermore, by having my own sections to complete, I could see the impact on the audit that I was having thus adding value when the work was reviewed as quality and marked as complete.

The support given was very dependent on the team in which I was involved. Some of my seniors took the time to sit down prior to commencing my work and explain the testing being performed and the reasons behind the particular testing. This helped me to understand the necessity for the work I was doing and I could more easily spot any misstatements as I understood the areas in which the risk lay. However, on some jobs or those where we were highly pressurised, there was no time for explicit guidance to be given so I had to learn independently using knowledge from prior jobs and also using prior year working papers. This made the learning process more challenging but the outcome was the same.

Initially during the planning season, I was fairly busy during a day but still had some time to myself to perform any independent learning. However, after busy season - Jan to Mar - the workload rapidly increased working a great deal of overtime. This is due to being given many sections to complete within each audit engagement. I also had a number of small jobs, where delays were also found or were understaffed so the work was not completed within my booking. This meant that I was very busy managing several jobs at once. Thus again working overtime on a weekly basis and having busy days.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement. As mentioned previously, I was assigned a number of different sections to complete on a varying number of accounts. There were also delays by the client so it was my responsibility to ensure completion of these sections, thus chasing the client for the information outstanding and working outside of my booking. When interacting with the client, I did this by myself so had the responsibility of being a positive ambassador for the company at all times. I did have support within the team but was responsible for the assigned sections. I would also sometimes be on client site by myself. However, I enjoyed the responsibility within my work.

The information and technical knowledge that I have gained during my placement year has helped with my modules in my final year. I also think that I have become more organised and more disciplined with my time when back at university as I have been used to having many things running at the same time thus helping with the six modules I have per semester. I think I have also developed my confidence to speak out and contribute in lectures as I have grown when speaking to some intimidating clients. Thus I have learnt to adapt to situations and think on the spot. I also think I have become more succinct as the work produced in audit is short and to the point as there is no time to waste.

The atmosphere was good in the office; however the job was highly pressurised so this often showed with most members of staff working overtime hours on a frequent basis. Everyone was very polite and did speak but completing the work was a main focus and there was often not time to take a break and chat. However, more of a bond was formed within the teams found on site at the client's location. The office environment perhaps lacked as the majority of the younger graduates would not be found in the office frequently as we were mainly onsite. This meant that there was no regular encounters with a set group of individuals.

I think the placement was well organised in the sense that we did complete two ICAS examinations at the first level and got the opportunity to live in London for five weeks when the placement was based in Bristol. Furthermore, my retain was fully booked so I could easily see what jobs I was on and who I was working with in advance. I was treated like a first year graduate thus was kept busy and given the same amount of responsibility as the other employees who had completed university. The only improvement could have been prior to starting the placement and giving the instructions with regards to living in London on a more timely basis as this was done a bit last minute.

The company invested in me in the sense that the sent me on an ICAS course to sit two examinations towards my professional accountancy qualification. This was positive as it means I have exemptions when I return to the firm. They also sent me on training courses to further develop my technical audit knowledge. In addition, by being part of a team on many different audit engagements found based on several companies stretching across different industries, I was given great exposure to how these businesses work. As mentioned previously I was treated as a First Year Graduate would be thus the company did invest their time in me. I did not get the feeling that I was any less important as I was only contracted for the year.

I have currently accepted a graduate role with the same firm but in a different location. The change in location was due to personal reasons and not that of the office in which I attended during my placement year. I think that I learnt during the year the importance of being qualified as a chartered accountant and how EY provides a great training ground for this. I also enjoyed the variety within the job switching jobs and colleagues so to meet new people on a regular basis. Furthermore, I think that it is very valuable to have the opportunity to be exposed to large listed companies and gain an insight that not many others will gain, as to how these businesses are run.

The social scene was pretty poor as I was the only placement student within my department in the office. There was one other in another department but as I was not readily based in the office it was fairly hard to meet up and socialise. There were some work drinks on offer so the socialising aspect amongst all colleagues was not horrendous. I think the part that made it harder for me was that everyone else (the graduates) had year groups and so they had the set individuals to attend these events with. I struggled in the beginning as they were sometimes resistant to integrate with the placement student but in the end I was more integrated so socialising improved.

The cost of living in Bristol is fairly high thus it was not that cheap when we went for drinks, dinner or to go out. However, the salary given did cover these costs. Thus it was not as expensive as London but was definitely more expensive than other areas. I think that we picked and chose the particular bars that you wanted to go to and the area you lived in to reflect the money you had. I did have support from my parents which allowed me to live in a nice area of Bristol. I was about 20 minutes walk away from the office.

I thoroughly enjoyed the nightlife in the local area.

I am an active hockey player so there was plenty of opportunities for me to be involved in. I joined a hockey club and trained and played with them on a weekly basis. This also formed the foundation of my friendship group outside of work and through them allowed me to meet more people in the local area. I also had the opportunity to attend other actitivites but sometimes the long working hours prevented this as there was not enough time in the week. Furthermore, it would also be difficult if you were on an away job as this meant you were not in Bristol from Monday to Friday.