Finance Analyst Review

My placement at CDS was extremely valuable - even just in the 13 months I spent as a Finance intern I developed a wide range of skills - not only financial but other transferable skills which helped a great deal whilst in my final year of uni and following graduation. I was given a large responsibility of becoming business partner to 2 of the 4 regional areas of the Company. This involved daily interaction with different Managers within the Company who depended on me to supply then with not only financial information but support when they liaised with the customer. I also played a big part in month end close working closely with other members of the finance department to ensure that our numbers displayed a high level of integrity.

The Finance department within CDS were all really friendly and I found it to be a really close knit team. Myself and the other finance intern got on really well and that made it much less daunting and at ease when starting in the new role. We seemed to fit in really quickly and everyone was really helpful whilst in the training period, and were keen to get us up to speed within the team.

The Finance Manager at CDS developed the intern programme himself and so was really enthusiastic and welcoming when we joined. Throughout the year he would set us tasks to test us and develop our knowledge, which we would the reflect on during our bi-weekly 1-2-1's. The senior analysts in the team would also help on a day-to-day basis.

No day at CDS was quiet in Finance - if it wasn't month end then we would spend the majority of our time assisting the Managers with forecasting, customer queries and also creating financial reviews to present monthly in the respective management meetings. At first the prospect of presenting financial information which I had created was really daunting, but by the end of the year you become accustom to it and even start to enjoy it!

The responsibility given to me whilst on placement was the best thing about it. I was never sat around asking anyone for work or waiting for someone to get something to me. The role requires the intern to be really proactive and almost run their own business section from a financial perspective, We were expected to be really independent and onerous of the area which we were given which meant that we had to be extremely organised and professional at all times.

Going back to uni for final year, I almost felt too mature to be there to start with! I was much more organised and on top of my work as I was much better at managing my time and working to deadlines. Having a year out in industry made me so much more motivated to do well at uni to make sure I succeeded in getting a good job afterwards and having a successful career. I got offered a graduate job at CDS and I jumped at the chance...a year down the line and I am still here so I must be doing something right...!

We had a good handover period of 5 weeks with the previous interns, hence why the placement is 13 months. This gives a good amount of time to learnt from someone who knows what it is like to be fresh out of uni and completely clueless. The handover period at the end is also really good experience before you leave to train someone else in the role, and I found it really surprising to see how much I'd learnt!

I got lots of on the job training at CDS, and there were also lots of opportunities to do placements within the parent Company HP. I spent 2 weeks working in the tax department, learning about HP's tax structure which proved invaluable in my final year while studying for my International Tax module.

There are approximately 80-100 interns taken within HP each year. Due to the offices being located around the Reading area, this is usually where everyone chooses to live. For the first month of the placement we lived in uni halls in Reading. This was a great chance to get to know everyone, and try to find your way around Reading if you aren't local. There are loads of bar crawls and social events laid on by the intern social committee, including an intern ball every July, consisting of old and new interns!

To live in Reading, the prices are pretty average compared to other Uni towns. You can pay anything from £300-£400 per month depending on how fussy you are! There are loads of student houses which are dotted around the city centre and in Reading town centre there are lots of student nights going on in the week and obviously weekends. Being so close to London, the trains never really stop so a night out there is always recommended!