Audit ACA Vacation Student Review

Throughout my 8 week internship at KPMG's Leeds office this summer, I was encouraged, challenged and made to feel valued. As well as being an informative and educational experience, it was also a surprisingly enjoyable one. Fellow employees included me and other interns in social activities on a group and personal level, and made us all feel welcome from the outset.

I was included in all aspects of working life. From being valued enough to be given complex audit tasks in clients' offices to being asked to go to the pub after work on a Friday.

KPMG employees at both Manager and Assistant Manager level personally delegated work to me, assisted me where needed/possible and also checked up on my internship experience in general. A contact was assigned to each of us on our first day in the office and this person was responsible for giving us helpful feedback on our performance and tips for the final interview.

For the most part, I was engaged in activities such as requesting information and talking through queries with clients as well as creating and updating spreadsheets. There were, however, some days where I was not required to do much and was consequently fairly bored.

Whilst the tasks that I was given were, understandably, the more straightforward parts of an audit, it still involved a large element of client interaction, which was a pleasant surprise.

On a technical level, there was not a large crossover between working as an auditor and my management degree. The insights I gained from time spent at client sites, however, has given me experience of some of the business issues studied as part of my course. The main skill that I developed was my 'people skills' as, until you spend time in industry, you can never completely know how to conduct yourself in the company of professional people.

The nature of the job, with most time spent in small teams at clients' offices, meant that I did not get to spend much time in KPMG's office. There was, however, a good atmosphere amongst most employees.

From the application process to the final interview, the entire HR process was very impressive, with fast and efficient communication.

I was expected to complete tasks including asking clients various questions about issues that I did not fully understand, and no real training was given to us beforehand. This, however, taught me to adapt quickly and use intuition.

I have been offered a contract starting in Autumn 2014.

This was made difficult by the fact that we spent our days in various locations across Yorkshire, but some of us arranged to meet up after work in Leeds, and there were some good characters.

Leeds is a very affordable area to live, eat and drink in.

Although I didn't see much of it as part of the internship, I know the bars and clubs in Leeds are top class.

Spending little time with the same people - or in the same place as many others - made this difficult.