Audit Assistant- Vacation Programme Student Review

I enjoyed the vacation programme a lot. It was an amazing experience. I got the opportunity to learn a lot over the four weeks that I was at the KPMG offices. I also had the opportunity to work at clients sites, and at the office and therefore benefited a lot. It definitely gave me a very good insight into how working in a professional services firm is and in the audit field.

I felt extremely valued during the vacation programme at KPMG. I worked on 2 firms and felt that during the audit and the half year review of the firms, I was given work that was very valuable to the team and it was important work. This meant a lot to me and showed that my manager and teammates trusted me with important pieces of work.

I received a lot of support. Whenever I had a problem with some work that I was assigned I could always go and ask a manager or one of the other teammates. I felt they were very approachable. In addition, when I did not understand a piece of work that I was assigned I would approach the person who assigned me that work in order to make it all clear. The person who I approached for help was always very helpful and helped me out.

I learnt a lot during my four week vacation programme at KPMG. This internship has also made me more interested in pursuing a career in the audit field after graduating next year. Therefore, I definitely feel that everything that I have learnt during this vacation programme will help me in my career. In addition to being given tasks to do, I made sure I understood why that task had to be done, and therefore I would always ask the person assigning me the task to give me more information about it.

I felt that the vacation programme was very well structured. However, on the third day of the vacation programme I was not assigned any work and therefore I ensured that I communicated with the people leader on the second day so that she knew about my problem. Once the problem was communicated, she gave me a task to do (working on an audit) for that day. The rest of the vacation programme was structured well. The manager's would communicate with me the day before starting each engagement to ensure I knew where I had to be and when.

The atmosphere was very good. It was a very professional but at the same time very fun environment to be working in. My teammates on both audits were very approachable and everyone was always willing to help. In addition, my buddy was always there when I needed some help that was not related to the audit work. I felt that KPMG has a working environment that consists of talented and motivated people, and is an environment everyone would enjoy working in.

KPMG invested a fair amount in the vacation programme students. On the second day of the vacation programme scheme, we had to complete a 3 hour getting started training. This was a virtual classroom training that consisted of learning how the KPMG systems work and also learning more about being a KPMG employee. We also had to complete the introduction to research tools training. This was also a virtual classroom training. This consisted of learning how the KPMG research tools can be accessed and that it is possible to learn more about a client through the research tools.

The vacation programme scheme was very useful. This is because I learnt a lot about the culture of the firm and what it is like to work on a daily basis at KPMG. The first audit I worked on- we were a team of 2. This meant that I was assigned more tasks and I learnt a lot about audit while working on this client. I also learnt so much about the KPMG systems and how they work. Thus, if I were to have a full time role at KPMG, this experience will be very useful.

On a daily basis, I learnt a lot and this has made me more interested in pursuing a career in the audit field. Furthermore, I was given tasks that were small and some that were very important. Tasks of such a nature exposed me to the audit field and developed my understanding of working in a professional services firm of this size and nature. In addition, I learnt quite a bit about the culture of KPMG.

Yes there were many opportunities for networking and meeting other employees. On the first day of the vacation programme scheme, there was a social networking event for all the vacation programme students. This was very useful and fun because I interacted with people of different cultures and backgrounds and from different departments. In addition, there is a boat party that has been planned so that the vacation programme students interact with one another and network. Furthermore, I interacted with other employees at different levels of the firm because I was working in teams. I had the opportunity to attend drinks and dinner with managers, a senior manager and a partner after completing the half year review of a client.

Yes I would definitely recommend this insight to a friend. It developed me as a person and made me understand what it is like to work in a professional services firm of this size. It was an amazing experience and I learnt a lot on a daily basis. Furthermore, the size of the firm means that there are many more opportunities, this exposed me to more challenges and work. It also enhanced my understanding on what it's like to carry out an external audit. This experience is very useful and something everyone should go for. Furthermore, KPMG consists of an environment that is both fun and professional. It is a work environment that everyone would enjoy working in.