Audit Associate- Summer Vacation Scheme Review

Great experience. Learnt a lot about my service line. Met some great people/Everyone was friendly. I was not given much responsibility but I guess that's not that surprising considering we were just interns. But overall, I enjoyed the experience.

My colleagues were very friendly and extremely helpful, going out of their way to make sure that I had the best possible internship experience that I could. They also did a good job of showing me how the work I was doing (when there was work to be done) fitted into the big-picture of the audit and were appreciative of the work I did.

We were assigned buddies and councillors. Buddies were first-year graduates and councillors were more experienced (mine was an assistant manager). My buddy was hugely helpful and would answer whatever small questions I had, without being at all condescending. My counsellor was also very helpful; he handled the offer process and helped present my case to the offer panel. He also guided me through the swap process.

There were certain things that needed to be done on most days. On some days, I would be assigned work such as rolling documents forward to the latest template or casting financial statements. The period I was interning for was not busy season so I also had non-busy days where I wasn't doing much.

When I did have work to do, I was given more responsibility than I thought I would be. Some of my work would have been signed off by the partner on the audit without my manger looking at it first. I was also given some of the more important aspects of the audits to do (think of significant accounts). I think that I was given a good balance, wherein I was given a fair amount of responsibility but had the necessary guidance available when I needed it.

Learnt a lot about the business. Gained some good analytical skills/attention to detail through various tasks such as casting financial statements. Did a presentation in the 5th week which also assisted with my communication skills.

Much more relaxed at EY's offices as opposed to when teams are based with the clients as to be expected. It felt like people were approachable if I had any issues.

The support system was very good around it but as I was part of the first intake of my particular placement, one of my teams didn't have quite enough work for me initially as they didn't know what to expect (what complexity of work they could give me) but they soon adapted and gave me more responsibility and different tasks to do so the initial problem was very understandable and unlikely to happen again now that they have experience of having a placement student

I attended quite a few development events and was given training on various pieces of software. People were also always willing to help me out with anything that I wasn't sure how to do including the use of systems, general work e.g. advanced excel

I have been put straight through to a final interview for a position in a different department at EY, people were very willing and happy to help me find employment there.

There were a few events put on and a social group formed of all the placement students in London and a couple of events for the UK wide placements. There were a lot of company social events to meet others throughout the company.

London is expensive but the salary was enough to survive on.

It's London so there is any kind of nightlife and activity that you would like from pubs, bars, restaurants, theatres, sporting events..

Plenty of activities affiliated to EY and also obviously a lot of opportunities around London to do any other hobbies or activities that you're interested in.