Audit Assistant Review

I enjoyed my internship a great deal. Having never undertaken any audit work before it provided a good immersive introduction into the work that external audit teams do. The only thing I did not enjoy was the large amount of travelling, and 5 weeks spent in hotels whilst working on clients out of commutable range. The large amount of travel and hotel stays are reimbursed, but there was no prior warning from KPMG that this was to be expected.

My audit team made me feel very valued, and were keen to impress upon my that they remembered how hard audit was to get to grips with when they first started, so gave me challenging work that was useful to them, but that was also within my abilities.

I was given a great deal of support from the members of the audit teams that I was part of, but I was seldom contacted by the person who was meant to be my handler. Being part of an audit team means working with different members of your office on different clients, meaning that I was under the guidance of a wide range of managers and high E-grades over my internship. I can gladly report that whenever I needed help with my task, there was someone who was willing to sit with me for as long as I need to help me understand whatever I was confused with, ranging from excel processes to financial principles.

The level of work I had varied on a day to day basis. For a majority of the internship there was work which members of the respective audit teams could delegate to me to ensure I had a decent amount of work to fill my day, but towards the end of audits, as the work being performed became more specialised, there were some days where I was left with very little to do, as there was no work the team could risk delegating out to me.

I was not given masses of responsibility, but that was to be expected when I was the lowest grade member of a team comprised of almost entirely other audit assistants. I was allowed to go and speak directly to clients for queries and testing, but there was little opportunity for me to have my own little project as part of an audit. However, when there was work for the team to delegate to me, it was uploaded onto the KPMG server for other future reference. As an intern I fully understand the fact that not much high level work could be given to me, as I had no prior audit experience.

The skills I developed were exceptionally useful. My excel knowledge has improved massively, which is always useful in a world where technology is increasingly important. I met with a wide range of clients, and as such feel more confident when having to speak authoritatively with people, and when presenting to a group. I have also gained a solid understanding of introductory audit, which will be useful as I consider my future in the financial services.

As part of one of the smallest KPMG office in the country, there was a real family atmosphere. Everyone knew each other, got on well, and were genuinely concerned with each others' health and wellbeing. It was great to be included in a group of not only professional colleages, but friends as well. However, the level of professionalism never dropped below an expectionally high level.

The internship was fairly well organised. I was given a company laptop and all the necessary accessories to take with me to clients, and my data was already on all the internal timesheet and expenses timesheets when I arrived. However, whilst the audit team I worked with were great, there was never any mention in the weeks running up to my internship starting that I would be expected to travel over 100 miles to clients and spend over half my internship in hotels. Within my first hour of my first day I was informed that I had to book a hotel 80 miles that night to start work in the morning, and out of my eight week internship have spent five weeks away from home. Whilst this is an obvious part of an internal auditor's life once you start, is was not specified anywhere beforehand that this is what would be expected of me. I have no problem with doing this, but KPMG let themselves down by not bothering to give me any prior warning.

The company has invested a good deal of time in training me in the way KPMG do their audits, how the work is to be completed and set out as per KPMG protocol. I feel that if I was to come back to KPMG, I would be well equipped to quickly slip back into an audit team. The only thing that could be done is a little bit more direction from central KPMG when it comes to basic accounting terms and practices, perhaps before the internship starts.

The prospect of future employment at KPMG is very appealing. There are many perks of being employed at KPMG, the company appears to be becoming more and more heavily invested in the wellbeing of their staff which is always attractive, and having spent eight weeks being trained to complete work in KPMG style, it would make sense to come back and continue training in the style to which I have become accustomed. I would highly recommend becoming part of the KPMG family.

I was the only intern at my particular office, so I did not end up going on any nights out or to any events. However, owing to the small size of the team at the office I worked at, there was a strong sense of camaraderie, and it was nice to see that people were more than just colleagues, but genuine friends.

East Anglia is a vast area, so costs varied as I went between cities and rural areas. Hotel prices were middling accross the region, and food and drink prices were not too high, so I never went above my expenses budget.

Ipswich and Cambridge nightlife is substantial as these are student areas, but the rural areas of East Anglia were suitably light in the nightlife area.

Whilst I was not able to attend any activities owing to having to commute a long way to the office, the team went on multiple nights out, and had an away day where they took part in a Crystal Maze set up for team building and relaxation.