Industrial Placement Student, Financial Services Assurance Review

It was a great insight into the professional world. Working with clients and within teams helps you develop a number of essential skills including communication and teamwork skills. The best thing about audit is building strong relationships with our clients. These relationships not only make our jobs as auditors easier but it also makes the job a lot more enjoyable and interesting as working in the clients office means that you can hold conversations with the client employees. Furthermore having exposure to senior client staff is a great experience in how to communicate with various directors and heads of departments.

I worked in a variety of teams at EY and every team made me feel like a valuable member. Working within our audit teams was fun and made the job a lot better even despite the times where the job wasn't going quite as planned! The social events that are organised by the department are a great way to meet everyone including senior management. This makes you feel integrated in the department. As well as organised socials, team drinks were also a great way for teams to get to know each other better and relax after work.

Before I started EY I had very little about accounting or financial services. By the end of the year I had learnt not only the basics of accounting but also some more technical elements, such as IFRS 7. I also learnt more about financial services such as derivatives, securitisations and asset management. All of this knowledge was gained on the job and was due to the help given by my executives, managers and senior managers who were all very approachable.

Audit is not a 9-5 job and therefore everyone has a large workload through the majority of the year but especially during busy season. Due to the large workloads teams have to work late but more importantly work together as a team.

As a placement student you are thrown straight into the deep end. You are expected to complete the work of a graduate. In audit you are given lots of areas of the audit complete which you are left to complete by yourself. Therefore good organisation and time management skills are essential. Furthermore there were a number of occasions where I was asked to complete work that was usually completed by second years and in one occasion as qualified executive. Although this was daunting at first the additional responsibility was great and made the job a lot more interesting. By the end of the year I was given even more responsibility in the various teams I worked in as I was give riskier areas of the audit to work on which therefore meant more responsibility.

Working for a year at EY has motivated me to continue with my studies and graduate with at least a 2:1 in order to return to the firm. Furthermore skills that have developed during the year I am now using in my studies especially my time management and organisational skills.

Working in audit I was rarely in the office however when I was it was a friendly environment and a good atmosphere to work in.

The placement scheme was well organised by EY. As a placement student group we were given appropriate training and various soft skills training and socials during the year.

As a placement student I began my Chartered Accountants qualification with ICAS. This is a three year course which I will finish when I return to EY. This is a professional qualification which is highly regarded by employers.

I was offered a graduate position at EY.

As group of industrial placement students in the London we often enjoyed nights out in London as well as drinks after work and fun days out in London. Furthermore working in teams we often went for drinks after work which was a good way to get to know our colleagues better.

London is expensive but worth it!

London has so many different areas from Shoreditch, Camden, Brixton, Clapham or Central. Each area has a different vibe and there are a number of great bars, clubs and restaurants for any type of night out.

There are a number of different clubs and networks at EY that anyone can join. Some of the best activities are the sports groups.