Intern Review

Work as an auditor focuses heavily on the past and feels like forensics. My interests and passions like more in the future and making decisions based on what we currently know. Also, the work of an auditor can be rather dull, especially if the tasks you are given should be simple but turn out not to be.

Some members of staff were most supportive and gave appropriate feedback on the quality of my work and explained how my work fitted into the bigger picture of the audit and the service the firm offers the client. Others gave me no support despite me having never done accounts - they forgot that I had not had the month long training in book-keeping and accounting that all trainees get. Staff need a more thorough understanding of the role of interns and how to act towards them.

As outlined above sometimes the 'executives' (one up from Associate which is the role an Intern fulfills) did not show any interest in supporting. However the managers of the audit accounts were extremely supportive. Unfortunately they are not the people managing me on a day to day basis and would only ring me once a week to check how things were - this is more to do with the structure of the organisation than an issue particular to interns. HR managed our time well in giving us activities outside of owrk.

I always had a task to do but with the lack of support could not always fulfill it making me bored and feeling undervalued. The firm needs to reconsider how its employers are briefed on interns.

For the performance indicator work outlined above I was given responsibility from the word go! After shadowing a colleague for only a day I took charge of a data quality account check for the next week and a half. I was the only person working on this and it was all down to me. Great chance to stretch myself, show I am keen to take on challenges, and learn a great deal on the way.

The skills I learnt have been great and most of my competencies for future interviews will be taken from this internship experience. Grant Thornton also encourage constant reflection through audit appraisals as well as one at the end of the internship. Through this and there guide to development I have really learnt how to think about how I can store my experiences and remember them quickly and accurately for an interview. I have worked on team work, (time it went well and time it went bad), decision making (through responsibility above), client relationships, commerciality, communication and credibility - everything really. Great skills.

For most of my internship I was with my 'buddy' who supported me and made good conversation. For one and a half weeks my buddy and I were joined by a colleague who really brought the atmosphere down by making inappropriate comments about clients and showing no ambition or drive in his career. I also had a week and a half with an executive who showed little interest in me unless his boss was around - not impressed to be honest.

Everything was perfectly organized, calendar invitations sent out before we got there. Great number of events which all ran on time and with no difficulties. Relating to work there were no major issues other than what is usual to expect in audit - travel.

The feedback system outlined above is fantastic and we went on a 2 day training course at Grant Thornton's country manor in Bucks. It was a great opportunity to improve my presentation skills as well as get to know the other interns. However, I would have appreciated a week intense introduction to accounts so that I had more confidence in doing main accounts audits.

The firm sets it self in a good position in the market for graduate jobs. It is sold as mid-size and it does match that description well. Good training opportunities and career progression however the reputation of being not Big 4 but nearly is a shame. Also, not impressed with lack of formal networks such as ethnic minorities, women in the work place, or LGBT.

We had a lot of formally arranged events which everyone attended. We were all rather close and got on well despite being from different backgrounds. Around half of the interns attended informal events arranged by us and all were friendly, motivated, and interested.

I can't comment on this as I was working in audit - I would work in different places at different times.

Although during the day time I could not socialize at night I could travel into Euston where one of our offices is based and meet the other interns. Great pubs near by although a little expensive. We went into Soho on a couple of occasions which was obviously fantastic! A great location for an internship (if you work in Tax or Advisory and aren't traveling all over the country)

Running event in first week. Networking with other interns from across London at ratemyplacement party and networking skills event with Nabarro. Also a networking event with the managers and buddies of all the other interns as well as day time events to learn about other departments and services offered by Grant Thornton.