Financial Reporting and Compliance Intern Review

On a daily basis my intern colleague and I have to deal with Barclays requests as we are Barclays Admins, this could be anything from transaction approvals to new user creation. I would update my managers about my tasks lined up for the day and keep them updated on my progress. My role involves a lot of work on SAP (accounting software), OneSource (Statutory Accounts Production Software) and Excel on a daily basis.

We have few general training sessions that are compulsory and few that are optional as well, I have found these very useful and informative. I also got full training in OneSource and SAP which are very widely used softwares which are quite complex, its a huge advantage that I have gotten exposure to these at such an early stage of my career. My communication skills and accounting knowledge have also improved throughout the course of my internship.

I was very surprised by how much responsibility I have been trusted to handle throughout my internship. It is a lot more hands on than I expected it to be. I was given a full in depth handover of tasks like ETB, Taxpack and Stats prep and got more and more involved in the complexities of the process as my internship went along. I have even started completely preparing ETBs, Taxpacks and Stats for some of the smaller entities by myself 6-7 months into my placement.

I have never felt hesitant to ask questions if I was unsure during my placement, if anything I am always encourages to ask questions if unsure. My manager always reminds me that 'no question is a silly question' which is very reassuring. The training and guidance is very thorough as well. My line managers and I get along really well and I was made very welcome ever since my first day. There are meetings with the wider team 2-3 times a week as well just so that we all stay connected even though we are all working from home.

The company culture is very relaxed and fun loving. It goes without saying because it is in the entertainment industry but I still wasn't expecting the Finance team to be so relaxed and jovial. Even though I haven't been able to maximize the usage of all the perks because of Covid, we still have weekly team quizzes, competitions and activities that we get involved in. If not for Covid and work from home, there are also perks and activities like Treasure hunts in the office, Movie screening invites and Charitable activities and that take place in the office.

I am so glad I chose to do a placement year and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given at WB. I have learnt so much from my team and I really feel like this has kickstarted my career in the best way possible. Even though I would've loved to have been in the office to enjoy all of the perks and gone out for lunch with my team, I feel like WB and my managers have the absolute best that they could (online quizzes, activities, meet and greets, etc) to make my internship as enjoyable and memorable as possible.

Yes

The whole process is very smooth. My advice to the applicants would be to thoroughly understand the role they are applying for and see what characteristics of yours suit/match the role. In the assessment activities, I would advice applicants to be proactive and energetic, this is the best way the recruiters can see your potential and understand how you can add value to the team. I wanted to join WB because I had heard that the company culture was very energetic and fun loving and because I wanted to get in depth knowledge about how the accounting process for such a big entertainment company would be.