Assurance Internship Review

The people I worked with made the internship enjoyable as they were really understanding and helpful answering the many questions I had. There were times when there was not much work available for me, because I had limited knowledge of Audit. But, I enjoyed the work I did and the variety of clients I worked on during my short time at EY.

It was good to know that the work I was doing was helping towards completing the audit. I also enjoyed interacting with the client, and knowing the work I was completing was often going to them. My colleagues made a conscious effort to put me at ease and tell me what I was doing was helpful and adding value.

I mostly interacted with the seniors on the jobs I was assigned. But my councillor was that if I had any questions. I also enjoyed the partner shadow experience. If there is something you want to do on your internship, you have to ask/email around, someone else isn’t going to do it for you.

It depended on which client I was on. There were times when I was working all day and the work was challenging, and other times, particularly towards the end of an audit when I had to ask around for work to do. But on the whole I was fairly busy.

I was given a good amount of responsibility for the experience I had. I was surprised to be interacting directly with clients, whether that be in person on site or via email. You are responsible for the quality of your work and how much you get out of the internship.

I believe the excel skills I have gained on this internship will be beneficial towards my degree. I think I have a greater awareness of different opportunities available at EY and within FS after graduating. This has helped me to narrow down what I find interesting and would like to do for a job.

The atmosphere in the office depended on how busy it was. It was often quite chatty with cake being in the kitchen area for birthdays. Everyone was very friendly and willing to help. I wasn’t in the office very much over my internship but liked it when I was there.

On the whole the internship was organised from receiving the offer. The only thing that let it down was the online training. But the training received while on client from your colleagues was really good, and I was assigned for my entire internship. Communication on the whole was very good.

The one on one training on site was helpful and well organised but the online training was not very well organised on my internship which was a shame. I think the firm has invested a lot in all the interns which makes you want to work for EY in the future.

Employment prospects at EY are good. There is a lot of flexibility to change services lines or move offices, even to ones abroad permanently or on secondment. I spoke to quite a few people in my office who were doing different, interesting things within EY. The training EY offer on the graduate scheme is particularly good.

There was a good social scheme amongst the people I worked with we went to lunch and on a night out. When I was away on site we would go to dinner all together, and I was on the same client as my buddy. They were a social office at Southampton.

I lived at home during my internship which meant I saved money. I was away on site for two weeks where I spent little money, I think the expenses system is very generous. The office was relatively social, particularly amongst the other interns and we often went to lunch all together.

The nightlife is okay in Southampton. I am from there so I knew what it was like. It is better for places to eat/drink and there is good travel connections only an hour from London. The office is small in comparison to others but there are pros to this such as getting to know a lot more people.

I believe there are activities outside of work, I saw trips abroad to do charity work on the notice board in the kitchen area and heard there were sports teams against other companies. I personally didn’t get involved in any of them because I was there a short time and the hours are quite long, so during the week I didn’t really have time.