Audit Associate Review

I really enjoyed my placement year with Grant Thornton, there were many opportunities during the year that I was able to get involved in, such as gaining experience in other departments not just the department I was based in. I was also presented with the same challenges and responsibilities as a graduate and through this learnt a lot throughout the year about accounting and how a real business operates and believe this will help during my final year of university.

The friendly culture at Grant Thornton was something I had heard about prior to joining and had experienced throughout the application process, therefore when I started it was great see that this carried through to day-to-day work. Everyone I met along the way and worked with was very friendly, helpful and treated me like any other member of the team, not just a placement student. I was also pleasantly surprised at how interested all of my colleagues were, from people of a similar level to myself to directors and partners, in getting to know me throughout the year. I felt very valued by my colleagues in terms of my audit capabilities and as a friend as well through out the year.

At the beginning of my placement year I was assigned a people manager who was there to provide guidance and support whilst monitoring my progress throughout the year. This was very reassuring and through setting some initial goals and catching up frequently through the year I felt I had a good level of support that was the right balance between being given the responsibility to make the most of my own experiences throughout the year and receiving guidance and support when required. For example, I was keen to get involved in representing Grant Thornton at university careers fairs and gaining experience in other departments, all of which my manager was very happy to support me through.

To start with I was not very busy and was given time to complete relevant training and to understand fundamental accounting principals during work time. I also found myself frequently asking other members of the team if they had any work I could help with, however this was to be expected as I was new and during the summer months the whole firm is not as busy. As I began to learn more and progress throughout the year and as the busy months of January to June began I was very busy and found myself working longer hours with the team to complete my work and occasionally worked a few extra hours in an evening or weekend. However this was rare and there is a policy at Grant Thornton that up to 12 days of overtime can be claimed as time off in lieu which meant that I was able to claim this time back as holiday. I would say that during the year I often had too much work or not enough, although this meant that I quickly learnt how to manage and prioritise my workload to ensure I was working sustainable hours.

At the level I was working at it was hard to take responsibility of whole situations or projects given the type of work in audit and as I had limited knowledge and experience compared to other members in the team. However during the year I was able to take responsibility of my own development, workload and client relationships. I thoroughly enjoyed this and being trusted to work at the same level as a graduate. Due to this trust and responsibility, towards the end of my placement I was working at a level above what was expected of me which I was very proud of and had I not been given as much responsibility I would not have been able to do.

In terms of the degree I study I feel there may be limited technical audit knowledge that I'll be able to carry through into non-financial modules. However working in a real business and with different clients has meant that during the year I saw a lot of operational, technological and logistical procedures that I had learned about in my 2 years of studies be put into practice. This along with the soft skills I have developed throughout the year, such as becoming more independent and confident, will definitely aid my studies. Overall I believe the whole placement year will help me in my final year of studies, general life and has prepared me well for when I return on the graduate scheme in 2018.

The general atmosphere in my office was open, friendly and helpful. Everyone made an effort to get to know me during the year and as a result of feeling welcome I felt that if I had any questions I could ask anyone and they would be happy to help. Also when working in smaller teams of different people on audits during the year, especially during busy season, everyone made an effort to work well together and to have fun at the same time to motivate each other which is something I really appreciated in more stressful and busier months.

As the placement scheme at Grant Thornton is a national programme it was clear that the placement had received a high volume of planning, organisation and aimed to improve upon previous placement experiences. As a result of this my placement year started 2 months earlier than previous years due to feedback from other placement students. However the only issue I felt this posed was that the accounting training we were given was not aligned with this and therefore I had worked for 3 months before being given some fundamental off-the-job training. But when I voiced this to members of the recruitment team and they were keen to take this advice on board to make changes for future placement students which I was very pleased with.

The training and development I received during the year was of a very high standard and was much in terms of training I was invested in much more than I had expected to be as a temporary employee. My first 3 days were solely induction training which involved being properly introduced to the firm and accounting theory. Then began the on-the-job training (which continued throughout the whole year) which meant that within my first 2 weeks I was out working on an audit, asking questions to understand the practicality of an audit. Also the off-the-job training was clearly something that Grant Thornton work hard to create and I visited the national training centre several times, occasionally for a whole week at a time which meant that I learned a lot during the year. There was also separate development days put on for placement students which I appreciated as it was nice to speak with other placement students to hear about their experiences and to think about personal development during the year.

Future employment prospects are very appealing at Grant Thronton and through working hard during the year and making an effort to try different departments to decide whether audit was for me I thoroughly enjoyed my year and have been offered a job with Grant Thornton on the graduate scheme when I finish university in 2018!

Despite being the only placement student in my department, I started my placement year with seven 6 week interns and one placement student from another department which was comforting and it was good to start with people in the same position as me. There was also an intake of around 20 graduates in August and most people in the office were in their twenties which meant that there was a very social atmosphere and there were several social events during the year. There were often drinks around exam results times and more office social events in the summer to celebrate everyones hard work during busy season.

I was working and living in Reading which is an area with a high cost of living. I found that compared to the price of rent that I had experienced at university in Loughborough, Reading was far more expensive for the size of property. The cost of socialising in Reading was also quite pricey with meals and drinks out often priced similar to London. However, luckily Grant Thornton consider this and pay employees based on location.

The night life in Reading is great as it is a student town. There are many restaurants, bars and clubs which means there is something for everyone to do every night of the week. I found that this really helped when it came to socialising with work colleagues as there is so much to do in Reading. It was also very useful having such a great train station as it meant that going to other towns and cities of an evening was very easy and achievable.

There were often sporting events after work such as cricket and netball matches against other companies or friendly games of squash and badminton between colleagues. Personally I did not partake in these but it was nice to know that had I wanted to get involved other colleagues would have been more than happy for me to do so. Also in the business park the office was located in, Winnersh Triangle, there were many activities after work that were communicated around the office. There were also social events planned outside of work by the office social committee which I frequently attended and were great fun.