First Year Intern (Audit) Review

I can honestly say that I really enjoyed my internship with KPMG.

Even though I was only there for two weeks, I felt like a valued member of the teams I worked in. When working on client sites I was given important tasks and I was told that the only reason that some were a little basic was because my knowledge of accounting after two weeks wouldn't be enough for some of the more complex tasks. Overall I felt that I was always adding value to the work being done and that colleagues valued me for this.

The personal manager that I was assigned was brilliant. With both his email address and telephone number, I could get in contact whenever I wanted with any query and expect a prompt reply. When I was at head office or on a client site with my manager (which was for the first half of the internship), they would regularly check that I understood what I needed to do. However, it is worth mentioning that despite this guidance and support I was given a good level of independence and I didn't feel over-supervised.

I was fairly busy on a daily basis. I was given an extensive project for the first few days of my internship and during this period I stayed in the office after hours (c.9am-7.30pm) although it should be said that my colleagues were trying to get me to go home but I stayed because I wanted to finish the project! There were some times where I was less busy but nearly every day I was occupied from start to finish.

As said before, I was given as much responsibility as was possible for the two-week internship. I helped with some crucial testing and auditing on-site and at head office the projects I completed were crucial for the running of the division.

I gained a lot from my internship. Not only in terms of my accounting knowledge (terminology, processes etc.) but also in professional etiquette- I spent a lot of time dealing with colleagues and clients and this has been very useful. It was also an insight into life in the City which is important in itself for career motivation and experience for the future. But in terms of degree studies, I will indeed be assisted in terms of communicatory skills, time-keeping skills and also general problem-solving.

It was clear that everybody was working hard and was very busy, but despite this there was a good atmosphere in my office and people were generally talkative and friendly.

I knew what I was doing every day, the training was comprehensive and efficient and all the facilities in office (key cards, laptops etc.) were set up for me before I arrived.

I was only at KPMG for two weeks, so there wasn't much time for personal training or development. However, my colleagues and my manager invested a good amount of time in explaining to me what the purpose of my tasks was and giving me a level of accounting knowledge above the bare minimum to complete my projects.

Completing a First Year Internship with KPMG is looked upon very favourably when applying to positions in the future (Summer Internships and Graduate Programmes). During the induction day, it was stressed to us that we should really apply for schemes in the future as- provided we didn't get anything horrendously wrong- it would bode well to have gained a place on this internship.

There were around 12 of us on the scheme and two of us (me included) were in an office in the City rather than at Canary Wharf. Therefore it was a little tricky to create a good social scene, but we met where and when it was possible.

I commuted from a little further out of London, but the day-to-day at KPMG seemed reasonable to me. Food was subsidised at the office and nearly all travel was covered by expenses. The cost of socialising didn't seem too unreasonable for London either, particularly in relation to our pay.

I worked in three different areas during my internship, and the nightlife seemed good in all three. When I was working at Broadgate Tower (near Liverpool St Station) there were a number of bars nearby. At my KPMG Office and at Canary Wharf there also seemed to be plenty going on in the evenings.

This question is slightly redundant in my case. As I was only there for two weeks and the only intern (thus the only 18 year-old) in my Division, I wasn't really looking to get involved in activities. However, I did receive emails of things going on just over this two week period (fund-raising activities in Canary Wharf, trips to watch the cricket and going out for meals).