Audit Vacation Student Review

I found the insight really useful to help my with my career choices as I got the chance to experience what working life would be like in this company and the department I was in. It would have been nice to get to experience a wider variety of jobs and teams but I enjoyed the work that I got to do.

Everyone that I spoke to at KPMG was very welcoming and kind, and they all offered their support and advice to all the interns for when we needed it. It was obviously difficult to become super involved as I didn’t have that much technical knowledge but I was made to feel that my contributions were important.

For me personally, I received a lot of support from the teams I was working on when it came to the tasks I was completing however a friend on the same internship struggled with getting any guidance from the team she was working with which made her experience quite challenging to begin with.

I have learned so much in terms of technical knowledge that will be very useful to me in university modules this coming academic year, and will give me a head start when I start a graduate job after university. I did find at some points that people expected a much higher level of technical knowledge than I had from university.

During the placement it felt a lot like team members and managers were not sure what to do with us interns or how the placement was going to work. Most people didn’t know how long the placement was and we were told very little throughout the process about what would be happening and what the next steps were.

I really enjoyed my placement and getting to know lots of different people. I got to experience a team away day whilst I was there which was a lot of fun and helped me to get a feel for the company and the people outside of working hours.

The first day at the firm was a full day of training and explanations about the firm and the regulations surrounding the firm which was very useful. There was then roughly 20 hours of online training modules that I completed on topics from confidentiality to health and safety to technical knowledge.

It is obviously difficult to get a view into real working life in only 4 weeks but i feel that the company did its best to show us what it would be really like. The interns were not babied and we were given lots of work to do and enough responsibility.

The company places a huge emphasis on living its values which were discussed with us at various different points throughout the placement. I feel as though this gave a very good insight into the company culture as well as the advice from other members of staff that I met on the placement.

I truly enjoyed the audit experience on my placement and the reality of the experience we were given had meant I am confident that this is the right career choice for me. I am thankful that KPMG allowed us to act as full members of staff during the placement to get a good feel of the role.

I was paid a salary for the experience that would be just less than a standard graduate salary and was able to claim back travel expenses and lunch expenses when working on a client site. In the office staff are given a lunch allowance to spend in the company canteen.

I spent a lot of time talking to other employees about their experiences to try and understand all the different backgrounds that can lead to audit, and we were able to network lots on the Audit away day that we got to attend during the placement. There was a networking event held after our induction also.

There was a social held just for the interns in our second week where we did an escape room then went for dinner and some drinks. We also got to attend the whole Audit team away day which happens once every three months - a great experience and a good networking chance.

The employees at KPMG get given 6 volunteering days a year to take part in helping out their community in a way they feel is appropriate. There is also a wide range of networks with different interests across the firm that you can get involved in to find people with similar interests to yourself.

I would recommend this insight to anyone interested in audit as a career as a great chance to get experience in the role and to get to understand better what the job can involve. It was a great experience and really has really helped me make the right career choice.