Associate Review

Associate: During busy season I worked on various clients, auditing sets of financial statements. Interacting with many different team members with varying seniority. Responding to emails, and involved with testing different items e.g cash. By being involved with the client to get the right information so I could finish the area I was testing.

My communication skills have definitely improved while being on placement, as we are encouraged to talk to different type of people that we may not have previously came across. Also organisation skills have been refined due to the shear work we have to complete it is key that we always stay organised.

I really do believe that this programme is the best one for any individual with a career choice in accounting. It provides the best mix of work and study in a exciting environment, as you have the "uni life" for some of the year and the working life for the rest which gets you into good practice for when you graduate. Also everyone at uni and at PwC are extremely welcoming and make you feel comfortable to never be scared to ask questions.

I feel extremely valued by PwC, as your people manager really makes you feel valued, by always having meetings and catch up calls. Even though it can be really busy they make time for you, if you are having any issues. Also staying in contact with the us when we go back to uni. Also little things such as we are invited to the PwC summer ball at my base office even though I'm not working there at the moment.

The programme is extremely organised as you always know where you are with the programme and what stage you are at learning. Also there is always someone to ask if you are unsure about the programme. Plus the programme is well set out with the learning done from Sept- Dec and then going on placement Jan - April really does set the learning into place with the real life experience.

The ICAEW are really helpful, by sending regular emails, and also having access to the website. Which has lots of documents on to help pass our exams which I felt was really helpful.

PwC supports its employees so much, by having the close relationship with your people manager they are always there to help you with whatever your query is. In general it is really supportive even when it comes to the HR teams when calling up for information or booking things like accommodation for away jobs, everyone is helpful and lovely.

I think the salary is a little low for the amount of hours that we do due to being on placement for busy season. As a lot of overtime is worked so in relation to this some weeks I was working for less than minim wage. But things like travel expenses Pwc are great at paying back.

In my office there were lots of opportunities to participate in, such as drinks after work, sports teams etc. Also there were lots of networking events that we could go to, which was nice to meet new people.

Yes

It is one of the best companies to work for, it really involves its employees with everything that it does. It just has such a great atmosphere, and all of the staff are lovely and makes you feel welcoming.

The main thing is to be yourself, as audit is such a people thing which makes it important to have an welcoming and friendly attitude. Also make sure you are a team player, as this job is about being a team member and always helping people e.g sharing the workload.