Project Accountant IP Review

I enjoyed my placement overall. I was trusted with some high level responsibilities and was involved in a range of activities and initiatives alongside my daily role.

I felt there was always a feeling of hierarchy and people were at times very distant. People in my team were quite friendly and most of the them were quite polite, acknowledged my efforts and contribution, said thank you and gave advice. I had three different managers during my placement and their styles were completely different. With my temporary manager I felt highly appreciated and as a result I enjoyed the role a lot more.

We had regular meetings as a team and one-on-ones with our manager. Most of the time we received clear instructions as to what we need to do and the manager was always available when I had questions.

In the first few months my workload was poor due to it being a new role and due to changes within the team. I had to address this issue a number of times in order to finally get a result. I also did a two month secondment which was a very busy role. Towards the middle of my placement the workload picked up. However, as everywhere in finance it is always busier at month end then mid-month.

In the beginning i was told that I would not have a full responsibility of accounts, but after a few months I was more or less doing one of the accounts by myself. My role was business-facing from the start which is a rarety for interns. I was trusted to make decisions and exercise judgment as an accountant.

Training and development at Fujitsu is outstanding and there are so many opportunities and things to get involved in. However, the emphasis was always on behavioural competencies rather than technical skills. So you are expected to pick up technical skills eg. Excel, Oracle by yourself. In terms of putting the theory learnt in uni into practice, it was very good. My understanding of accounting is at a much better level and I am looking forward to my final year.

People in the office were always busy and pretty quiet, so the atmosphere was very professional. We had a few laughs in our team though.

The part where all IPs got together for events was very well organised. We had an interesting CSR projects where we worked in teams of 6-7 people. We had workshops and other training events. So I would give this part nine out of ten. However, my daily role in the beginning of the placement was very poorly organised and I had to consistently ask for something to do and felt like i was bothering other people. There should have been a structure in place for when we joined as it is not fair to expect interns to create a role as they go along without having prior experience in finance. Luckily for future IPs we put together a plan and they will not experience the same problems as we did.

My secondment was very beneficial in terms of training. It is important to submit a PDP plan and discuss it with the manager, so he/she understands the importance of certain skills/qualities that you need to develop, agree on timeframes, get relevant training approved, etc.

I am really hoping to get accepted onto the grad scheme as it is an excellent programme judging from my own observations and speaking with many current and previous years grads.

There was a good social scene amongst the IPs, especially in Reading/Bracknell. I was based in a different location and for people in my office it was more like get the job done and go home. However, I had another IP in my team and we were a perfect company for each other.

It is cheaper to rent a room but I chose to rent an apartment, so it was more expensive for me personally.

Have you ever been to Slough??? Fortunately, this branch is moving to Bracknell in September 2014 so future IPs/grads will be unaffected.

quarterly social events with the wider finance team and annual finace community event where we had accommodation in Hilton hotel and various fun activities including dinner and bar in Birmingham.