UK Finance Intern Review

I found UK Finance Internship at Warner Bros fantastic, there was a great mix of learning, experience and socialising providing such an enjoyable year. The team I worked with were fantastic at understanding my needs and helping me develop throughout the year, with a great and wide range of tasks. There are also fantastic opportunities at Warner Bros including volunteering and being able to attend many special events and screenings, there was never a dull moment.

The team at Warner Bros are extremely welcoming and supportive. As well as always being there if you needed support, they helped my development by trusting me with greater responsibilities and tasks throughout the year. This made me feel valued as they constantly appreciated my input to the team, as my working helped aid my colleagues in their reporting to more senior members of staff. The culture at Warner Bros in general is very immersive and thoroughly made me feel a part of the team.

I worked in two separate teams throughout the year, both of my managers were extremely supportive and have had many years of prior experience with placement students in their team. It was always known I could approach either of them with any issues I was facing, and they helped me succeed in my placement year goals by providing support with developing my role throughout the year. I also worked closely with junior analysts in both teams, who were very encouraging and great in supervising my development. They both also taught me a vast amount throughout the year, answering many questions to aid my understanding of their roles and the business as a whole.

My role was filled with different tasks from 3 different teams; corporate finance, theatrical finance and home entertainment. My time was planned on a monthly cyclical basis, and the tasks from each of the teams were spread fairly evenly throughout the month. I found the balance of the work just right for me, I was consistently busy at all times throughout the month but the tasks were spread out so this wasn’t overwhelming. As the year and my capability progressed I was also able to pick up more work with higher levels of responsibility.

The tasks I was given throughout the year gave me an invaluable experience with the level of responsibility given. My main roles were managing the Amex accounts for the UK allowing me the responsibility to work closely with employees and use my initiative. I was also responsible for the UK SOX reporting and ensuring deadlines were met, exercising my time management skills. I was also given a lot of responsibility in the theatrical month-end reporting such as the P&L and many more tasks. This responsibility and hands on working really opened my eyes to a lot of experiences within finance allowing me to find which roles I thoroughly enjoyed.

I have learnt such practical accounting skills within my role that I will definitely be able to relate a lot of my degree learning back to, especially as I have had the opportunity to see and be involved such a vast number of tasks within the department. I also had experience working with different systems such as Excel, SAP, Tableau, MACCS and salesforce, it will be fantastic to bring the skills I have learnt from these programs back to my university work. Warner Bros is also very encouraging in personal development and training. It is great that as placement students we get to enrol in a wide range of mandatory and voluntary training, allowing us all to improve our knowledge and skills for further studies and best working practice.

The office atmosphere was fun and engaging. As interns we were encouraged to all get to know each other at social events inside and outside of work, this allowed for me to understand different roles throughout the business which is key within your placement year. There were always internal events going on within the office whether it be internal or external screenings, publicity events or internal film release events and goodies there was always something to be excited about.

The internship was very well structured and organised as it has been running for many years, the tasks are very well structured in terms of time and responsibility across the Corporate Finance and Theatrical Finance team. There is also a good length handover period, this allows you to learn the entire role from the previous placement student which works really well. There is also consistent catch ups with managers and other members of the team to track my tasks and progress throughout the year, as well as discuss any further tasks or improvements to be made.

At Warner Bros training is deemed very important. I have taken training specifically for my role (e.g. SAP and Tableau training), and other training such as Learning and development personality training to understand more about myself and how to apply this to my work. There have also been key sessions for development such as email etiquette training, and more enjoyable extracurricular opportunities such as media immersion sessions to help me understand areas of the wider business.

At Warner Bros there are no specific finance graduate roles or schemes, however if you make a good impression on the company and senior mangers HR will keep your details and contact you if any suitable roles do come up after graduation. There are many previous interns that will come back after graduation into junior roles, so this is really a great opportunity for future prospects. There is also plenty of opportunities for networking with many employees from many other teams, building your network is very important for future prospects within the organisation.

Yes across the placement student programme and the apprenticeship programme at Warner Bros there are over 50 students. There are many socials put on across the year by warner internally and also general meet ups externally. This is great as you will make friends who work across the whole business and not just finance, this allows you to learn more and also just have fun. There are also great socials put on within the finance team, and a great social atmosphere.

The cost of living in London is very high as assumed, most interns will commute from home to avoid high London rent costs. However I lived and rented with other interns at Warner which was expensive but can definitely be done within the Salary and you will still be able to spend money on socialising. It was a great experience and personally worth the extra money, unless you do want to save a lot throughout the year.

The night life in Holborn where Warner house is located isn't too great, so we always found our way to nearby areas such as oxford street, covent garden and soho. But as can be imagined in London there is always something to do and for a range of prices. Especially if you live in central throughout the year as at the weekends you will get to enjoy the perks of being able to do whatever you wish without it being too far away.

There are some sporting activities to get involved in such as football however I did not, but I did get the chance to benefit from the great gym discounts and offers provided. There is also the chance to get involved in so many charity volunteering opportunities and events, the main one for interns in the centrepoint sleepout to raise money for young homeless people which was a fantastic experience. Warner offers you 2 volunteering days completely paid and to use as you wish.