Audit Intern Review

During my time at GT, I was given the opportunity to work on a number of different clients across a range of industries giving me a great insight into the accountancy profession. I found the work to be rewarding and was given constant support by my colleagues. I also had the opportunity to spend time in different areas of the business which I found enjoyable.

Generally I felt valued by my colleagues, as the internship progressed I became more competent completing work and I think this was reflected in the responsibility I was given. Whilst some tasks are repetitive in nature, they were critical to the audit process and it is rewarding to know that the work you are completing serves an important purpose. By the end of my internship I was given opportunities to work with clients and take a leading role on a small project.

Throughout the process I was given constant support from my colleagues, both those who were directly supervising me and those who were sat in my vicinity. People were always happy to answer questions and assist me with tougher assignments. Whilst the work and audit process can appear to be daunting at first, I quickly got to grips with the tasks that needed to be done and there was always someone to ask if issues arose. There were also processes in place to allow for feedback to be provided which I found to be useful.

The amount of work I had on varied on a weekly basis and at times I was asking around for work both in my office. Whilst this was annoying it certainly helped me to get to know everyone in my office and forced me to take the initiative. However, by the end of the 6 weeks I was busy most days, I also had the opportunity to work with a client for a week. I would not say that my experience is necessarily indicative of the internship programme overall, other interns spent the majority of their time out working with clients and this seemed to be the reality for most interns I spoke to.

I was given increasing responsibility as my internship progressed and I became comfortable completing tasks by myself. This seems sensible as I had no real experience of accounting before I started at Grant Thornton. By weeks 5 and 6 I was given responsibility to complete whole sections of the audit process and worked closely with clients on site.

Whilst my degree is not that closely related to accountancy, I developed a number of skills that I can see being valuable both for my degree and for like beyond university. For example, having responsibility for work that was going to clients meant that I had to be diligent and thorough. Further, much of my work was computer based and I certainly improved my Excel skills over the 6 weeks.

I found the general atmosphere to be friendly and welcoming. I did not feel uncomfortable in the office at any point during my 6 weeks.

I could have done with a little more structure to my internship with clearly defined projects/tasks across the 6 weeks with the possibility of spending a week in a different department. Without this, I was forced to ask colleagues for work which was not always forthcoming. Had managers been warned in advance then they may have been able to identify work for me. However, as I became more experienced I did have more work to do.

Both the firms and its employees invested significant time and resources in me. At a wider level, interns were invited down to London and GT's training centre for roughly a week of training. Within my office, I was given constant support with the IT systems which was helpful.

I think there are fantastic future prospects with the firm. As a national firm, there is opportunity to work across the country (and internationally) which is appealing. Further, whilst I completed my internship in audit, there are many different areas in which employees specialise once they are qualified.

There were a number of social events organised by GT which provided the opportunity to get to know both the interns and more experienced members of staff.

Expensive.

Plenty of things to do in the evening.

yes