Audit associate Review

Overall I really enjoyed my placement. I was given the opportunity to meet lots of different people within the firm and lots of professionals at the clients that I worked on. I was given lots of support that has allowed me to consolidate and improve my accounting knowledge which will be of use to me in my final year studies.

I always felt valued by my colleagues as I always worked as part of a team with a shared goal, therefore we were relying on each other to get the work done and help each other in the process. Higher level colleagues would show their thanks of the work I completed for them regularly, simply by saying 'thank you' and also by giving constructive feedback. I did not feel like their was a divide between levels of employee and therefore I felt valued even though I was only at the firm for a year.

I felt that I was supported by all levels of colleagues throughout my placement year. The job managers I was working with always provided their knowledge and experiences to help me get through the tasks at hand. My people manager supported me greatly by making sure I was getting the exposure to tasks and jobs that I wanted, that I was given the opportunity to develop my skills and generally making sure that I was coping with working full time.

Due to the nature of the audit department, the level of busy-ness differed day to day. For the majority of the time I had plenty of work to be getting on with and whenever I finished all I had to do, I just had to ask the managers and they would provide me with more tasks to complete.

I was given much more responsibility than I expected during my placement year. I was trusted to get on with my work and complete tasks to a high standard in time for a deadline. I was also given responsibility to act professional and interact with clients on a regular basis, both face to face and over email. Having said this, although I had a lot of responsibility I feel that I always had enough support and was comfortable to ask for help if I needed it.

Both the academic and soft skills I have learned during my placement will help me massively with the rest of my degree studies and in my future career. I have had exposure to practical accounting which has helped to consolidate my knowledge from the two years of my degree studies, and build upon my knowledge further. I feel more confident with my technical knowledge of accounting which will aid me with my final year of studies. I have had lots of experience working in teams whilst on placement which has helped me to improve my adaptability and communication skills which will be useful when working in groups in my final year.

The atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable in the office. The audit associates sit together in the office which allows everyone to help each other if/when needed, which creates a really pleasant working environment. The office is open plan too which breaks down the barriers between levels of employees which also improves the atmosphere.

I thought that the placement was well organised. After I was offered the role I was assigned a 'buddy' to answer any questions I had, which was really helpful and made me feel more comfortable. There were socials organised for new starters even before we began working which was a great way of getting to know some of the intake I was starting with, and made me feel less nervous on my first day. I always had work to be getting on with and jobs booked into my calendar weeks in advance.

Although I was not on a training contract like the graduates I started with, and therefore not studying towards the accounting qualification, I was still given lots of opportunities to develop my skills. I attended courses at the national training centre for Grant Thornton which built upon basic accounting knowledge and audit procedures which helped me with the work I was carrying out day to day and will also help with my further academic studies. I also attended a workshop to develop my presentation skills which I found very useful and will definitely benefit from when presenting in the future.

The future employment prospects are very appealing. I have been offered a graduate role which is a 3 year training contract starting in the August after I graduate. At the end of the 3 years I will be a qualified accountant and encouraged to stay on with the firm to continue my career.

There was a good social scene amongst the associates within the office. At lunch times everyone would go to the kitchen to eat together and play pool, which was great for networking and getting to know people in other departments. There were regular socials organised at the weekends and some nights after work, and the firm organised 'away days' for the whole offices for us to socialise and celebrate the good work we had carried out.

I lived at my family home during my placement so I cannot really comment on the cost of living as I was paying minimum rent. But, after living in Loughborough and socialising in student bars for two years I did notice that the cost of socialising was more expensive. However, there were student nights that you could go to which were cheaper.

There were lots of places to go out, many clubs and bars which had a different music to appeal to different people. There were lots of student nights because of the university of Reading, which meant that the venues were always busy with young people. There was a good mixture of clubs and bars which meant you didn't always have to have a big night out.

There were many opportunities to get involved in activated outside of work. I attended the Loughborough careers fair on behalf of GT, in an attempt to attract new applicants to all the programmes that GT offer. There were lots of socials and sports events organised within the office too, and opportunities to be part of the social committee. In addition, there were committees for CLEARR reps, which were representatives that helped to manage the values of the firm.