Audit Summer Vacation Student Review

Overall I was very impressed with Deloitte and their Summer Vacation Scheme. The scheme was well structured, and I was soon given plenty of responsibility. As this was the first time I had worked in audit there was a steep learning curve, however this meant I learnt a lot in a short space of time, and the support provided by colleagues was fantastic.

I was soon given responsibility for completing audit testing. My work contributed to the audit process, and I felt that my contribution was valued by my colleagues. As an intern, the team had realistic expectations of my knowledge, and as such they were always happy to help when I didn't understand something.

My supervisor was always willing to help. I was soon given real responsibility, and this forced me to quickly learn audit concepts, but my colleagues made it clear that they were happy to help with anything. Summer Vacation Students have a Buddy, usually someone who has joined the firm in the past year or two, and a Champion, usually a manager. This means there is always someone you can ask for help.

I worked at Deloitte during what was a busy period for the Newcastle office, auditing one of the firm's largest clients. Interns aren't expected to work unreasonable hours, however there was always lots of work to do. Being busy as an intern was a good thing as this allowed me to learn more about Deloitte and auditing!

The level of responsibility is similar to that of a recent graduate who has joined the firm, and within a couple of days I was performing real work which contributed to the audit process. My team had realistic expectations of me; interns aren't expected to know anything about audit when they first join and plenty of support was provided throughout the scheme whilst I learnt how to complete the tasks that I was responsible for.

Working in audit is mostly unrelated to my degree, which is in mathematics. The skills I learnt however are invaluable; as my first experience of working in a professional environment I have greatly improved my time keeping skills, which will help during my final year at university, and all of the skills developed on this scheme will be useful in my future career.

All of the team were very friendly and the atmosphere in the office was good. The audit team was very busy during my placement, however everyone socialised during breaks. The team tends to eat lunch together and takes this opportunity to talk to one another about things unrelated to work!

Very well organised. There was a central induction event near Birmingham which all of the interns attended before returning to their respective regional offices. Once back in Newcastle, I had already been booked onto a client for the duration of my placement, where I was given regular objectives by my team.

As I said earlier, there was plenty of support available from my colleagues at Deloitte. Most of the training and development was done on the job - this seemed to be an effective way of learning the basics of audit. Graduates who join the firm are given fantastic support with regards to development and completing their professional qualifications.

Following my placement I have been offered a job! I will be working in Tax rather than Audit; after speaking with people during my placement I realised that I am more suited to this area of work. I am looking forward to returning to Deloitte next year & they were very supportive regarding my change of business area.

As I worked in a small office there were only a small number of interns. However, we got to know each other at the beginning of the placement, and arranged to meet up after work. There was a charity football tournament organised in the office during one of the weekends, and the Summer Vacation Students were also invited to join in with this.

Newcastle is a fairly cheap city - I lived with my parents, and other living costs aside from rent are cheap! Price of beer is probably half the cost of London...

Newcastle is very well known for its nightlife. There are plenty of bars, pubs, clubs and shows to attend every day of the week. If nightlife is important then you'll never be bored in this area - Newcastle probably has the best nightlife in the UK outside of London with something to suit everyone.

The charity football tournament was the only opportunity, however this was because of the short duration of the scheme. I'm sure that if I had been working at Deloitte for a bit longer there would have been more opportunities!