Audit Associate Review

I enjoyed my placement at Grant Thornton, I was given real responsibility and trusted with a lot of work I would not have ordinarily expected from a placement. This meant that I was able to gain a lot of knowledge in a discipline that was previously alien to me. I have met a fantastic network of colleagues with a varying age range and experience level; there are a lot of young professionals who have just left university and of a similar mind-set to myself, and there are more experienced team members whose insight is invaluable. Grant Thornton also place a large emphasis on looking after their people which is evident in the positive atmosphere in the offices. Having said that, it has not been a perfect year; there is a lot of travel and time away from home involved and, on occasion, this has been on my own without any other team members. I'd like to stress that it is rare to be on your own away from home for an extended period of time, but this has happened to me. In fairness, travel is a part of the job in the Audit department at a professional services firm. But, at times, I felt it was excessively far. Overall, I have had a good year, learnt a lot and had an enjoyable time and is something I would recommend.

I felt valued throughout my placement. At no point was I the designated tea-maker or photocopier. It is a firm with serious work to do and that means that from the very beginning you are given real work to do that goes into helping which ever client you are working on.

From the very beginning there is support available; on the first weeks you are taught about the various systems used by your department and some basic knowledge elements required throughout the course of the year. For example, I am completing a History degree and had no accounting knowledge so I found this a very useful exercise. Of the year more broadly, there was support throughout from my manager and various team leaders. If you are unsure of something, you are encouraged to ask for help and other team members (from your level all the way to the Partners at the top) are more than happy to help.

For the first few months I was working my scheduled hours and no more. However, as my knowledge grew, and busy season approached, I was working an extra 30-45 minutes (on average) per day. This then returned to normal working hours at the end of busy season and for the rest of my placement. On balance, I was always busy and at times there were extra hours required.

I was given responsibility from my first day on the job and my work went into the final product that was delivered to the client. I was constantly given feedback on my work, so I was informed what was going well, what wasn't going so well and what I can do to improve. Additionally, the office had a sports and social committee that organised events throughout the year, which gave me the chance to meet a lot of new people.

Given that my degree programme is very different to what this placement was in (History degree), there will not be any overlap in terms of content. In terms of skills, I will be a lot more inquisitive and analytical in my studies, which are skills I have developed from my placement.

The atmosphere in the office was positive. The nature of Audit means that there is rarely a full office and a lot of travel involved. There are some people who are permanently based in the office, such as PAs. But whenever I was in the office, the atmosphere was good and the whole department is made up of approachable people.

Grant Thornton are a very large, multi-national company that have a lot of placement students and interns each year. There is a dedicated programme for us, and you get to meet other placement students across the country and compare experiences. My manager always knew what was required of me from my placement programme and she was in contact with my university tutor as this was part of my degree. Overall, the programme was very organised.

On the placement year, you are given a lot of training and also the opportunity to develop. You do not sit any exams over the course of the placement year, which is something I was interested in doing to get started on my professional qualification - there are logical business reasons why this doesn't happen (people not returning once they have completed university). Development opportunities are there to take on a daily basis. I was given the opportunity to attend various client meetings and network with people from similar backgrounds at "young professional" events.

They are fantastic. If you are lucky enough to be given the chance to return, you will be put on a professional qualification track. This is an unrivalled qualification and sets you up for life, should you qualify successfully. There are many opportunities within the firm, such as moving department or location should that appeal to you. Additionally, there is a fairly logical progression through the ranks, meaning that if you are good at your job and this is recognised promotions will come your way.

In the Milton Keynes office, I was the only placement student. Having said that, I started with other graduates and school leavers who are naturally of a similar age. Also, as there is a yearly intake, there are people of similar age and interests so there are lots of people to socialise with and this was something that was organised both outside and inside of work.

I lived at home for my year here, so I cannot comment on the cost of living. The cost of socialising is reasonable, there are plenty of bars nearby and food outlets are not too expensive. In terms of nights out, the cost is dependent on the place you choose to go. From my experience, it is not as expensive as London and about the same as a night out in Birmingham.

It was okay, there are plenty of clubs and bars to go to. Milton Keynes is like any other large town/city in that there is a lot going on and there is something for everyone. There are a lot of chain clubs and pubs, and other entertainment such as cinema and bowling.

Yes, there are plenty of activities organised outside of work officially. Similarly, there are plenty of unofficial work events. Over the course of the year, we had team-organised rounders, "sports day", zorbing (where you're in a massive inflatable bubble and run at each other), dragon boat racing. There is plenty on offer, which is all mainly organised by the Sport & Social Committee.