Audit Vacation Student Review

I really enjoyed meeting everyone as well as getting a realistic insight into the job. I learned a lot during the course of my vacation scheme and met some amazing people who were all very helpful and understanding. I feel like the internship could have been a little better planned as sometimes there was not always work to do and I think I would have benefited from some initial training.

Everyone that I worked with made an effort to make me feel valued and included in the work. My buddy would often check how we were getting on and we had interim and final meetings with our performance manager to address any concerns we had.

I gained a lot of guidance from the people I was working with while I was out on clients as much of the work that I was given had to be thoroughly explained as I had never done anything like it before. Everyone was always willing to help with any queries I had, however, I would have liked some initial training so I would have felt more useful whilst in the team on a client.

I've learned a lot about audit and accounting in particular which I think will help with my accounting and finance modules in third year. It has also given me a clear insight into that career and has helped me decide if it would be something that I would be willing to do full time.

I found that it was very well structured. The first day was an induction in Manchester where we got to meet a lot of the other interns from the northern office and learned a lot of information about the company and the job. During my time there, I got to experience 2 different clients, spending two weeks on each. I enjoyed this because the 2 clients were very different so it gave me an insight into the diversity of the client base of KPMG. The actual work that we did day to day was not very structured and was often just left to the people you were working with to give you any work. We also had meetings with our performance manager and socials built into the vacation scheme which I enjoyed.

I felt the general atmosphere was friendly and laid back and everyone was always nice and friendly. Been as it wasn't busy season, I feel that everyone was quite laid back and relatively stress free however I feel that this wouldn't be the case when everyone is busier with work and exam preparation.

I feel that the firm invested in us heavily. They gave us a work laptop which was ours to keep for the 4 weeks that we were there. We also were able to claim any expenses with getting to and from the office and to clients' sites along with a £5 lunch allowance everyday. They also invested a lot of time into us in terms of our learning, as we had 2 dedicated days for training. Out on clients' sites, the audit teams that we were working with spent a lot of time helping us and explaining things to us even when they had other work to do.

For the majority of the 4 week vacation scheme, I was doing everything that a first year grad would be doing, which includes travelling to and from clients and taking on a significant amount of work. I feel that now I have done this internship, I have a very clear idea of what it would be like to have a full time role with the company.

Although I didn't spend much time in the office, I felt that I picked up quite a lot about the company culture. In the office, everyone was often dressed quite casually and no one has a designated desk which made the office have quite a laid back and friendly feel. We also received emails about getting involved in charity work which shows that they are wary of corporate responsibility.

I feel that the vacation scheme was very helpful in helping decide on a career path and after experiencing the Liverpool KPMG office, I would be more than happy to work there full time. I feel that the work I was doing day to day was not entirely representative of what a first year grad would be doing because I didn't have too much responsibility, but I feel that working there full time would be much busier and therefore I would enjoy it much more.

I was both paid a graduate salary for my time there as well as being reimbursed for all expenses. I also received a £5 lunch allowance every day. This made me feel extremely valued by the company.

The only people I interacted with during the course of my vacation scheme was my performance manager, the people leader, my buddy (a first year grad) and the people who I was in the audit team was. While I learned a lot about the people I met, I would have liked the opportunity to meet more of the people in the office in other departments.

I thoroughly enjoyed both of the social events that were organised for us. The first was half way through our vacation scheme and it consisted of escape rooms in Manchester with the other interns from the northern offices and then drinks and food at a near by bar. I felt that this was a great way to interact with the other interns in a less formal setting and I really enjoyed the escape room as it was something I had not experienced before. The second social was with people in our home office where we went for drinks and then went bowling. Again, I enjoyed this as it was good to talk to people outside of the office.

I found out about a few opportunities available to us via email where we could get involved in charity events such as bake sales or marathons. Other than that, I didn't really here much about activities we can get involved in outside of work.

If they were interested in a career in audit but unsure of what it entailed, I would definitely recommend the vacation scheme as it is very informative.