Financial Services Audit Intern Review

As an audit intern, I was put on an engagement team. My engagement team was auditing an entity and the manager gave each of us a list of tasks to complete. As I was only an intern I was given the most simple things to do, such as cash balances, share capital, laws and regulations etc. This had a real impact on the audit though. I also had to request information from the audited entity.

Throughout the internship, I was able to immensely improve my excel skills as audit work involves using excel workbooks. I also developed my communication and teamwork skills as I needed to communicate with my engagement team whenever I needed assistance. I also developed these skills through working with fellow interns to research for and prepare a presentation for our CSR project. I also developed presentation skills through presenting the CSR project to a partner and to assistant managers.

Yes I was given a good amount of responsibility. I was responsible for completing my allocated sections for the audit. This was good because the work that I was doing actually contributed to the company. I was also responsible for requesting any information that I needed from the audited entity. I was given access to the website that we use for requesting information and documents and I started my own requests. I was also responsible for completing the CSR project.

I was given a lot of support from my Peoples Manager. Each intern was allocated to a people’s manager and a buddy. Our buddies were 1st year trainees so they were really approachable to ask questions for. Unfortunately my buddy was on study leave for the majority of my internship but was very helpful when available. My people’s manager was also really approachable and was really keen on helping me succeed during my internship.

The culture was really friendly and welcoming. The senior and manager on my engagement team were really approachable and were helpful whenever I was in need of assistance. Also every other colleague that I interacted with was very friendly and welcoming. As interns we were still invited to the Summer Party for out sector which was a good opportunity to mix with the other colleagues. The atmosphere was really good and I didn’t feel like a burden or an annoyance to anyone.

I enjoyed the internship quite a lot. I was able to make new friends with the other interns and it was a good insight into audit. I also really like that from this internship we are able to be offered graduate roles for after we graduate from university as this takes the stress of finding a job off of us in our final year of university. I enjoyed the colleagues and the office itself was a really nice building.

Yes

I would say definitely learn about the values and the culture of the firm as that is a big selling point for them. They really embody the values and they want their future employees to resonate with their values. Also know what audit is and why you’re applying to audit and to the company. Know the importance of audit and have examples of when you have demonstrated some transferrable skills like teamwork snd communication.