Intern Review

Audit is a business essential and the work I completed involved inherent reassurance of the financial statements, with work testing across various balances - - debtors, creditiors, cash, fixed assets etc. I needed to understand the company I was working at, their key risks and set up, and discuss the balances and figures seen in the statements with finance personnel, from junior accounting staff up to senior figures. The work is essential to give stakeholders comfort on the numbers seen

The most important skills in this placement are analytical and forensic skills, looking at numbers and having a critical / skeptical eye, to question the numbers seen and not assume figures are right at face value. To do this I needed to discuss in detail the statements with finance staff and I gained confidence talking about what is sometimes quite complex numbers and concepts, with finance staff. There are other skills around deadlines which are inherent in the job also.

Yes I would say taking responsibility and performing autonomously at a good level is key in this internship. I was given help beforehand and there was suficient training given to me ahead of the work, to ensure I was prepared. I was given balances to check and verify, and my work was later reviewed by a manager to ensure it was right. Luckily it was mostly accurate and I was told how to improve my testing

Support was a big part of my internship. I was told ahead of time how to do my work and there was always someone around for questions. I found the seniors around me to be approachable, right up to Partner level and this is a big positive in the experience, although of course most of my day to day work was alongside other interns and colleagues not much older than I am. The guidance given was fine.

This was positive, and I thought the culture and atmosphere was good. It is hard in a short time to get much impression of this, but I was able to ask questions and understand more about a graduate career at the firm, and what my future life could look like in terms of progression, training, college and other main areas which are important to me. The atmosphere was also business like which wasnt a surprise really.

I thought I would be worked hard and wanted to gain an insight in the key workings of the business, and the clients I was to work on, and to this end the placement matched my expectations coming into the summer placement. I enjoyed the job and it helped shed light on the work done by an auditor. There are deadlines and pressures but the teamwork around colleagues was a plus and helped me enjoy my time working

Yes

It's imoportant to consider where you want to work, as I wanted a placement in a big firm and ultimately there are a few companies to choose between. So I would say do your research and understand more, as some companies offer placements of weeks and some offer a month or more. But ultimately it is a good experience gaining work at any big firm and I am pleased I was successful in my application