Vacation Student Review

The internship turned out to be both a challenging and interesting experience. Within three days of starting I was out at a client site contributing towards an audit. This level of responsibility continued throughout my 4 weeks with the firm. Each week I was sent out to help an audit team on a different client so rarely spent time in the office. This meant I was able to experience an array of different clients ranging from large multi-national firms to public sector work. Despite my limited time with the firm, this enabled me to gain a broad insight into audit and provided the opportunity to work with a number of interesting clients.

From the first week, my colleagues were willing to give me graduate level work to complete. Consequently, I feel like I gained an invaluable experience of what it's like to work as an Audit graduate on a day to day basis. This showed a high level of trust in my ability to produce work which would usually be carried out by a first year audit assistant. Moreover, on every job I completed there was always plenty of work for me to complete so I never felt like a hindrance to the team. Everyone I met and worked with during my internship was always more than willing to provide help and support when I needed it. They also went out of their way to make me feel like part of the team on each job that I completed.

I was given a performance manager for the duration of my internship who was a great help if I ever needed any help or guidance during my time at KPMG and helped introduce me to many colleagues around the office. I was also paired up with a current graduate trainee "buddy" who provided a great point of contact if I ever had any questions and gave me a great insight into what it's like to be a graduate at a big 4 accountancy firm. On each client I worked at, the in charge was always extremely welcoming. This helped make me feel like part of the team while they also provided me with insight into the client and were more than happy to explain any of the audit work I carried out. I also gained great support from graduates I worked with during the internship who were always happy to explain any audit work I didn't understand. On the whole, everyone I worked with very approachable and more than happy to assist me in what I was doing.

On the whole I had plenty of work to carry out during the internship and everyone I worked with was always keen to make sure I always had work on going. While out at clients there was always of work for me to complete whether that be assisting other members of the team or getting on with a task of my own. The only time when I felt I had slightly less work to do was during a couple of days I spent in the office. However, this required me to use my initiative and ask around if anyone needed any assistance as there was usually someone who had some extra work I could complete!

This was a real emphasis during the internship that I would gain a real experience of what it is like to work at KPMG. The majority of work I was given was work usually given to a first year graduate so there was real responsibility from the start. The work given was definitely challenging but gave me a great insight of what I would be doing on a day to day basis as an audit graduate. I was also entrusted on a number of jobs to go and talk to clients to obtain various information which proved a great experience.

I am confident that the skills I gained during the internship will be invaluable in my studies and in any future career I have. I hope I am able to carry forward the self discipline and motivation I obtained from my internship into my final year at university. I also know that the vast array of experiences I gained during this internship will be substantially helpful in any future career I have whether that be accountancy or something entirely different. Finally, the internship really helped improve many "soft skills" such as communication and analytical skills as well as being substantially helpful in improving my self confidence.

Everyone in the office, ranging from graduates up to managers and directors, was extremely friendly and approachable. It was great to be able to sit with graduates and learn from their experiences and the hot desking meant I quickly felt part of the team. While it was slightly daunting to begin with I soon felt comfortable in the office and felt like there was plenty of help around if I needed it.

Overall the internship felt really well organised. The induction day was well organised and a great opportunity to meet other audit interns from across the country. Moreover, I could see that the firm had made a real effort to help make the experience as rewarding as possible by providing me the opportunity to work at numerous different clients. I was also given the opportunity to go out to a meeting with a potential client with a manager and director. The only time where there was a slight lack of organisation was on my first day in the office after my induction where there was no immediate work for me to do. However, having asked around I was quickly given support and soon had plenty of work to complete.

I was only at KPMG for a short period during the summer so there wasn't a great deal of time to participate in training. However, I fell like the work that was organised for me to do and the client jobs I was able to go out on provided me with a great experience. I learned a huge amount about the firm and audit and believe these experiences have been invaluable in my personal development. Moreover, the internship was fantastic in helping me improve various other skills including communication and analytical skills.

I've feel like I've gained a great insight into the various opportunities available from a career at KPMG. It appears that there's a real emphasis on personal development within the firm and that the work is always challenging and therefore there are always opportunities to gain new skills. There appears to be a vast array of opportunities to quickly take on more responsibility even before fully qualifying as a chartered accountant. There also appears to be opportunities to become an in charge of your own team and work your way up to management level. This along with various other opportunities such a secondments make KPMG a very attractive firm to work for.

There were very few placement students within the department due to working at a regional office. Therefore, there wasn't any socials organised for the placement students. However, I was quickly invited to take part in the office cricket team which was a great opportunity to get to know other colleagues who I hadn't had the opportunity to work with. I was also invited to a summer social which was also a great opportunity to meet more people in the office.

I lived at home during my internship as I was able to commute into work everyday. However, I know that on the whole it isn't too expensive to live and socialise in the city and there is student accommodation that can be rented out for the summer if needed.

The office is in an ideal location near to the city centre where there's always plenty going on. Within the city centre there's plenty of restaurants, pubs and clubs as well as a large shopping centre, cinemas and music venues so there's plenty of choice of things to do whatever your taste.

As previously mentioned there was an opportunity to get involved with the office cricket team which was a great experience and is great to get involved in whatever your level of skill. There was also the chance to attend the summer social which I was invited to despite this being after my internship had finished and which was a great chance to meet up with everyone again.