Assurance Intern Review

Overall, I really enjoyed my internship. The reasons why I did so are because of the support I received throughout the course of the 6 weeks and the people I met. The experience also gave me confidence the I will be able to do the same or similar roles in the future.

I felt immensely valued by my colleagues in all of the teams I worked in. I was trusted, given responsibility and received feedback stating I was a valuable contribution to the jobs. I felt I was liked by people for who I am.

For most of my jobs, I was given detailed guidance and support by my seniors. Although they were busy with their own tasks, they always made sure I was given work and answered any questions I had. On one of my jobs, the seniors did not reach out to me or given me work.

Most of the time I had work to do, but there were some quieter times which is also okay. I was never expected to work overtime or finish anything within a very short period of time. Overall, I could have handled more work than I was given.

I was not given too much responsibility, probably slightly less than I would have expected. It would have been a good experience if I had the chance to speak with clients or present my own work/findings. Quite possibly, audit interns and first-year graduates are just not exposed to responsibility./client interaction that much.

The skills I learned during my internship mostly prepared me for working in the same or similar environment. I managed to pick up Excel skills and technicalities of accounting/auditing. I also learned soft skills such as how to work in an audit team as well as how to act in internal and client meetings.

The atmosphere in my office was kind, friendly and extremely welcoming and supportive. There were many young people (in their 20s) working there who just left university. There were also many extracurricular and social events organized. For example a sports day, summer ball, parties, and even a weekly yoga class.

Overall the internship programme was well organized. The intern induction day in London exceeded my expectations and the local office's induction was well structured as well. It was a good idea to let interns work on three different clients for two weeks. The only problem was that some interns' teams spent most of their time on clients' sites whereas others worked mainly form the office.

I did not receive any formal training as part of my internship, all I learnt was from my team/seniors. I felt I could have benefitted from maybe a one-day audit training where I could have learnt about the whole audit process, important terms and procedures and how my work ties to it.

Future employment with the company is very appealing to me mainly because of the support I received from my colleagues as well as the training that is provided during the three-year graduate programme. The least appealing part is the salary which I think should be at least £5,000 higher annually everywhere in the UK.

In my office, all of the interns worked with different teams, therefore, we did not spend too much time together on a regular workday, but I felt the interns were supportive of each other and were able to work together to host a fundraiser. We also organized social gatherings outside of work.

In Aberdeen, the cost of living is relatively low compared to for instance England, especially the London area. However, the salary earned by interns is just about the same as someone would earn while working in hospitality. A one-bed flat is about $400/month and a pint of beer is £3.

In Aberdeen, the nightlife is not quite exciting. There are a few nice restaurants and bars but most of them cater to the needs of university students during term time, not professionals. In my opinion, there are not that many opportunities to socialize as a sophisticated young professional in Aberdeen.

The Aberdeen office has sports days, a summer and a winter formal party, volunteering days - so there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. Since the atmosphere in the office is quite friendly, colleagues spend a considerable amount of time together outside of work as friends.