Finance Undergraduate Review

Day to day varies a lot depending on the team. Typically there are weekly or monthly tasks that are completed to schedule but then it is not uncommon for adhoc work to arise. Typical tasks include journal postings, balance sheet reconciliations and invoice posting. Typically I communicate daily with my line manager and other colleagues I work closely with. Typically there isn't much external communication apart from when I was working as part of the audit team, which required frequent conversations with our auditors. Depending on the team I can be given lots of responsibility to look after a certain project myself or a set of tasks that I manage independently.

I have learned many new skills using software such as SAP and BPC. I have also improved my excel skills significantly. As well as these more technical skills I have developed soft skills such as communication and team management whilst working directly with teams sometimes as big as 20 people. Another development I have noticed is my time management as there are typically many things on my to-do-list so prioritising the most important tasks and making sure I complete everything to deadlines is very important.

In every team I have worked in I have always been treated at the same level as any other employee in finance working at the entry level. When working in RTR I was given the responsibility of posting payroll and all other month end accounting journals for an entire entity alongside supporting other team members with their work. I also was given the opportunity whilst in the reporting and decision making support team to produce my own report that was requested by internal stakeholders.

There has always been someone for me to go to, whether it be my line manager or someone else trained in dealing with specific issues I had. My line manager also guided me with the different teams and organised meetings with every team manager prior to joining their teams so I felt as comfortable and prepared as possible for transitioning teams.

The culture in BBS is very friendly and I have always felt included within the wider finance group. It can definitely get very serious around important times in the financial year but the team always remains open and warm regardless of the sometimes stressful environment.

I have enjoyed my placement a lot and most certainly do not regret my decision coming to Burberry. Being the first cohort of undergraduate placement students sometimes there were issues - but this was inevitable. The team were adaptable and always tried to provide me with the best possible experience following any feedback given. I believe this placement will only improve over time when the many managers in BBS become more accustomed to what a placement experience should look like and what we as the students require.

Yes

Make sure you are comfortable with moving teams relatively frequently and learning lots of difference areas in finance. As well, be open to expectations not being met as it is very difficult to know exactly what you will experience when going into your first corporate finance job as I found the work very different to that of University.