Financial Internal Audit Intern Review

My role was as parts of the Internal Audit Services team. On a day-to-day basis, I would assist my manager with the various tasks she gave me, notably I did some FCF control testings for the Kuala Lumpur GFS audit, I also worked on the risk scoring tool for next year's anual audit plan and did sustainability related research.

I have learnt many skills in audit and finance throughout this internship, as I notably recieved training in audit and finance when I started the internship through coaching by my manager and linkedin learning courses.

I was given a decent amount of responsibility in my placement and had a lot of freedom to design projects the way I wanted. I was able to test controls and decide for myself whether these controls were effective or not, with just a potential review by my manager afterwards. I was also tasked with presenting our internship to the senior members of the IAS team, and this amount of responsibility was very rewarding.

I received a huge amount of support, despite the internship being online! My manager would call me every day to make sure everything was ok, I also received guidance from many other members of the team. I would usually have 2 or 3 online zooms every day, either work/projected related or to discuss the other AstraZeneca's job. I felt very supported and it was never weird or awkward to ask for help if I needed it.

I really enjoyed the AZ company culture and general atmosphere. During my first week there I was introduced to the core values of AstraZeneca, aswell as their objectives as a firm. It was great discovering this, and I really realised the values of AZ were constantly reminded to me throughout all the presentations I saw or people I spoke to. From my first interview to my end of internship presentation, the people I worked with reminded me of them. The culture of AZ generally is amazing, you can feel it is a modern firm that is trying to build pharmaceutical drugs in a sustainable and honnest way.

I really enjoyed my placement and internship at AZ, I feel like everything was done so I would have the greatest experience possible, despite the complications covid brought. I really liked the culture and how nice the people were, but also the work I did.

Yes

I would advise them not to stick to the traditional expectations of a pharmaceutical firm when applying. I that way, I encourage them to be themselves and be original during their application process or interview. I really felt from my experience and from talking to various individuals that AstraZeneca value determined, smart individuals who don't necessarily have the right skills for the job. I did audit while studying geography, and I think AZ likes diverse profiles so I would advise this in priority to a friend.