Audit Vacation Student Review

Really enjoyable! Everyone was really kind and accommodating to the fact that I was completely new to Audit and had no background in finance. The team I was working with were really fun and sociable and made sure to include me in any social activities which made the experience a lot more enjoyable. I think it would have been beneficial to be slightly longer as I felt like I was starting to get into more technical work just as I was leaving as I had gained skills throughout my time, so would have liked to get to practice these a bit more.

I felt really valued after settling in. At first, no one was expecting me and there was no work that I was able to complete as everything was very complicated and complex. As time went on and I learnt more about the software I was able to complete more difficult tasks so felt more valuable as I could create work that would be kept into the future.

I had a lot of support during the insight. The induction day was very helpful as I felt more relaxed and knew what to expect when working for the firm. When I first joined the team I was assigned a buddy who was available to me at all times to answer any questions which I found really helpful. The more senior members on the team were really helpful by guiding me through things I hadn't done before and were really understanding of the fact that I didn't really know what I was doing by taking me for lunch so I wasn't alone etc.

I don't think the skills gained will directly assist with my degree as I'm not studying accounting, but the softer skills like teamwork, communication and pro-activeness will definitely help me when going into my final year. I think that what I learned has given me an invaluable insight into career options in the future as I always assumed I would go straight into audit but learnt during the insight that there are other lines of work that are also accounting but not particularly audit. I think this will be really helpful to open my mind to other opportunities when looking for graduate jobs after uni.

I think the induction day was really well structured and I liked that there was a timetable for the day released in advance so I knew what I was going to be doing to calm my nerves a bit before starting. When I first joined my team it was made clear that no one was expecting me! I think this aspect could have been more structured as no one knew how much I knew and what I could already do, however this did help me build a rapport with my team. Also there were certain things I didn't have access to like the shared drive which someone asked for me to get added to but it would have been helpful to simply have access to this initially. Also I couldn't use certain software like Clara and Visio which meant that some tasks which were appropriate for me I couldn't do, so I also think having access to these would have made things easier.

Great, one of my favourite aspect. Was surrounded by a really friendly team who admitted they were happier than usual as it was summer. The social events were great and really welcoming. I like how there is an intern-specific social to celebrate the end of the placement, I don't think KPMG had to organise it and I'm really grateful they have so I get to see the people I met on induction again. All my colleagues, from E1's to my PM have been so welcoming and I have never felt uncomfortable with the work given. The friendly and welcoming atmosphere couldn't have been better!

The induction day on the first day was really helpful. It informed me of what to expect during the placement and what is expected of me which I appreciated. I was assigned a PM just for me, which was helpful as he could give me a lot of guidance and time to help advise me how to get the most out of my time here. I think there could have been a bit more audit-specific training, even very briefly as I joined the office and had no knowledge on how to do anything at all, but having it explained by people actually working on the project was very insightful.

Very well. I got the opportunity to speak to people from all levels, graduates to managers, so got to hear a lot of people's experiences of working with KPMG. I heard a lot of mixed reviews but was able to match people's preferences to my own to get a better understanding of which aspects of the role I would enjoy and others that I wouldn't. The internship was during the summer which, for my team, was a very very quiet time so for some full-time members of the team found themselves with little work which I was told wasn't at all representative of busy season. I would liked to have experienced a bit of a busy period but I think this would have been difficult to achieve within the university holidays. Also, I think it would have been beneficial to move teams even just once as my team was based in the office at all times and never went to client site, whereas other interns never went to the office and were always at client site. I think it would have been helpful to see what the role is like when working away from the office as it sounds like we had very different experiences when we spoke with each other.

It helped quite a lot. I got to attend a social, I got to see what it was like working in a big team and I noticed around the office nice aspects of the company's culture, like the encouragement of taking the stairs and all the healthy lunch options, plus the lunch allowance. It seems like a lot of care is put into making employees feel valued which I really liked getting to experience.

Super valuable. Definitely gave me a much clearer understanding of the day to day tasks within audit which I had no understanding of before the vacation scheme. I got to experience what work is like in finance and a Big 4 firm which is obviously completely different to the leisure industry where I have worked in the past. It has definitely steered my towards a career in finance.

I was paid well, I think a pre-joiner loan for a monthly train ticket would have been really helpful as I did struggle to pay for this before starting the internship as I don't live in London.

Yes, some. On the induction day we were given time to meet with other interns and here I made some really good friends. As I was part of such a big team, just working around them was a good opportunity to network. The FS social is a good opportunity to network and meet other employees outside of my team too, but I would like to have been given an opportunity to meet with employees of other divisions like IRM or Deal Advisory just to learn about other potential career paths to look in to and learn the most from my experience at the firm.

The networking opportunities, as already discussed, were beneficial to an extent but limited to just audit. The social opportunities were great. I appreciated being invited to the FS social and really felt like part of the team. I got to go for team drinks after work and take advantage of the summer hours, but again I think this benefit came from being in a big team. The final intern social is going to be great and I appreciate how this was organised for us.

Yes. I heard a lot about the socials from team members, plus the holiday organised for the Banking teams. On my induction day I learnt a lot about the opportunities for helping local communities which really interested me. I also learnt about KPMGym which I hadn't known about before joining.

I would if they were interested in finance, but I would also let them know that it is very short.