Area Accountant Review

I was an Area Accountant. This involved looking after a number of Enterprise branches. I would be their contact for any queries, help them with cost control initiatives, provide reporting, provide training, carry out monthly operating profit projections and review their performance monthly. The role also includes partnering with other areas of the business such as risk, facilities and replacement rental to name a few.

I have learnt lots of new skills on placement. I would say the main ones were: - Communication: Communicating with lots of different type of people/companies via various channels such as phone, email, teams, in person meetings. - Organisation: There are lots of different aspects with this role and your often pulled in 5 directions at once. It's important to be able to manage your time, prioritise and organise your workload.

I was given lots of responsibility, almost too much in some situations where I felt under too much pressure as an intern. However, my supervisors were happy to help when I expressed this and looking back it was great to have this responsibility and it really helped develop my skills and career.

At the start, I could have done with more support/guidance and a structured training session/sessions. However, I did start during COVID and whilst there were lots of other restructuring complications within the company. As time went on, the support and guidance improved but initially I was thrown in at the deep end and had to figure most of it out as I went.

It's hard to get a true sense of this as I did most of my placement remotely due to COVID. However, I would say the company culture is quite masculine. It is also very demanding and work-life balance is not a priority. In my initial team, it was very friendly, supportive and fun, but outside of this I would say there is somewhat of a blame culture and you have to be able to stick up for yourself.

I enjoyed my placement because of how well I got on with my immediate colleagues. However, the job itself I can't say was very enjoyable, but this is personal preference and depends what job people want to do.

Yes

Talk to other people who have worked there and get a real understanding of the benefits/drawbacks of working for them. It's important to know if you value career progression/money or work-life balance more. Also, be yourself!