Summer Intern Review

My role consisted of two parts: helping the audit service line in their work planning and executing audits as well as training offered by EY. The helping of the audit service line day-to-day consisted of tasks such as checking spreadsheets to see which had been completed, making sure the right forms were ready for the audit and making sure the numbers were correct in reports. The training consisted of working towards my management certificates from the Chartered Management Institute as well as the option to work towards an EY badge (an online certificate) which can be in a variety of topics in technology and business.

I have learnt many new skills and developed some pre-existing skills from the internship. I have developed my skills in excel which is vital for work in accounting. I have improved my understanding of business management through the CMI courses. I have also improved my ability to code in python with the EY badge artificial intelligence courses, learning new skills such as how to use machine learning modules like 'sklearn', as well as natural language processing modules such as 'spacey'.

I was given responsibility in that I was given work to do on my own that contributed to the audit. However, given the importance of getting the details right during an audit, all of my work was reviewed by someone more experienced to ensure that if I did it wrong, it would not affect the overall quality of the audit. I also had the option of always consulting someone more experienced when doing tasks so I always could get help if I needed it.

I received lots of support and guidance during my internship. I had two main points of contact throughout the whole internship, my buddy and my counsellor. My buddy was a graduate who had been working for a few years and was helpful with getting everything up and running, for example, getting my laptop working and who to contact for work. My counsellor was a manager who was there to make sure I was getting all the support I needed. I also had a point of contact every week for the account I was working on and they would help me with any issues I might have with the tasks I was doing.

The company culture and general atmosphere were very friendly. Everyone I worked with was very nice. Everyone, at all levels, was friendly and helped me whenever I needed it. The culture was very non-hierarchical with partners working a few desks away from the interns. The atmosphere was very relaxed with little pressure being put on the interns, instead there was more of a focus on wanting to help the interns develop and learn than on making sure our work was valuable for the audit.

I really enjoyed my internship. The atmosphere was friendly and everyone I worked with was extremely nice. The work was engaging and I had help whenever I found it difficult. I really appreciated the opportunities I was given to learn and develop, especially given that these opportunities covered topics that were not in the scope of my internship role. For example, while I was doing audit, I was given the opportunity to take a course on machine learning.

Yes

My advice would just be to be friendly and make sure you are ready to engage with the work you are given. EY has a very friendly atmosphere and it's important that you can get along with people to help contribute to this atmosphere. There are also loads of opportunities to learn and develop, so it is good to show that you want to take advantage of these opportunities and engage with the work you are given.