Audit Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed the internship with BDO. I honestly looked forward to going into work everyday, and it gave me a structure to my day for 6 weeks.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. My buddy assigned to me for the 6 weeks sent me a text before my first day in the office, telling me what time to get in and what kind of thing to wear as it was a dress down day. On all the jobs I was on the seniors and managers made me feel very welcome, and appreciated the help you provide and the work you do for them whether being in the office or out on client site. Everyone in the office was really welcoming and friendly, and made me feel comfortable very quickly.

The support during the internship with BDO is brilliant. You will be assigned a buddy and a counselling manager for your 6 weeks. You can ask your buddy anything, but if you have any work problems (which I'm sure you won't!) you can talk to your counselling manager and discuss anything with them. When working on clients, the seniors and managers guide you through it as it will most probably be new to you, and really encourage you to ask questions and get involved.

Generally I was really busy every day. I almost always had work to be getting on with, and if it is a little bit quiet there is always someone in the office who will be more than pleased for you to take some work off them. Out on clients you will be very busy, as there is a time frame the work has to be completed meaning you will never be short of jobs. It is a quieter period in Audit through the summer, but I was never bored or looking for things to do.

I was really impressed with how much you are trusted with throughout the placement. You will never be left to get on with work without knowing what you're doing, but you are left to get on with work and if you need to ask anything then do! You do not feeling you are being constantly checked up on, but if you feel comfortable and confident with what you're doing in-charges are happy to leave to get on with work. They of course will check it once you've finished to make sure you're on the right track!

As I'm studying Accounting and Finance, the experience in Audit really helped me to see how what I've learned is applied in a practical situation and how what I've learned is applied to real life situations. It has also given me a broader understanding of accounting and showed me things I haven't learned yet at University. I will without doubt go back to University with greater knowledge that I'm sure will help me with my degree going into my final year.

The atmosphere is really vibrant and friendly. I was in the Guildford office, and the Audit team was quite a young team. Everybody will always say hello and smile, and you are made to feel welcome and included as part of the team. During my time at BDO I was always invited to join Fantasy Football leagues, play for the BDO cricket team and even join in with the annual BDO football tournament held in Cardiff this year.

The internship is really well organised, and before you start in Audit you will be booked out to jobs and clients and be shown all of this in your first couple of days. Before the internship starts HR get in touch weeks before to tell you the plan for the 6 weeks, what you'll be doing and who to contact should you have any worries.

At the start of the internship, we had 4 days in the Birmingham office on a 'crash' training course - which is really worth it! The 4 days gives you an introduction to accounting and tries to bring everyone up to the same speed. As I was in Audit we also had 3 days using the Audit software BDO use, so we would know what to do and be familiar with it before we started working. The Birmingham training week is really good, as they also have nights out for dinner and drinks and we had a bowling night as well. Throughout the internship you are really encouraged to ask questions, and I found everyone was really keen to show you how to do something or even little tricks in excel!

Future employment prospects are really good, and if you show you're keen and interested this gives a very good impression. Talking to graduates is helpful as they tell you what it's like to work whilst sitting exams, what their work is like and what opportunities there are within the company. Being able to work within the company for a number of weeks gives you a much better insight into a potential future with the company as talking to people that work there and learning I think gives you the best and most realistic impression of what life will be like.

I was the only Intern in the Guildford office, so the social scene from the perspective could have been slightly better. However, there are lots of graduates in the office, so pub lunches on a Friday are a good laugh and they do drinks after work at least once a month, but most likely more than this which is also good fun.

I didn't notice the cost of living or socialising as being any more expensive or cheap, I thought it was average. However, Guildford is possibly more expensive than further North, but as I am from the area anyway it didn't affect me.

The nightlife was good. The office is really close to the high street, so there were lots of pubs and bars, and also a couple of clubs.

There were lots of opportunities to get involved in activies outside of work. There were also emails going round the office about sports nights, a cricket night, a drinks night. There is always something going on if you want to get involved!