General practice Supervisor Review

I provide audit services for medium sized companies which entails reviewing transactions, documenting and evidencing our reviews made as well as assessing whether they have been accounted for correctly (If not we raise adjustments accordingly). I also compile financial statements for small to medium sized companies. This role involves communicating with clients and travel to their offices. I also complete tax returns for companies and individuals.

During my time in this apprenticeship I have greatly increased my organisation skills from the need to plan ahead and work in teams, I have also greatly enhanced my communication skills with both clients and my colleagues. My professional knowledge in accounting has massively increased during this time, as well as my ability to use a large mix of accounting software platforms, CRM systems and the use of Microsoft office software.

The apprenticeship programme was amazing for me, I had the opportunity to work on a wide range of different clients and jobs and slowly took on more responsibility for the work I completed as well as having a client facing role very early on. There is a lot training / exams to complete but they are all 100% relevant to my day-to-day duties which helped me complete my work, I also found all the knowledge very interesting.

The apprenticeship is very structured in terms of both training and your actual progression within your job role. The first year involves tackling the first 6 fundamental accountancy exams, whilst completing work on smaller entities within a team having a lot of support. The second year is the next 6 professional level exams whilst receiving some responsibility of completing your own assignments and helping new team members. The third year involves completing the final 3 exams whilst working on the larger assignments in the office with support when needed.

Support is there for the day to day activities of the role too from a wide range of sources, however as a minimum each trainee has a training manager, training partner and a buddy in the office. You will work with different teams for each assignment where you can ask for support from anyone in that team or elsewhere if needed.

My employer gives you time to complete the administrative tasks for the apprenticeship within worktime, all tuition time my employer provides as paid study leave which is scheduled in a few months before the exams so there is plenty of time to prepare beforehand, the week before and the day of an exam is also provided as study leave. All the work you do in the job supports your study.

The ACA accounting qualification is a massive asset when performing my role, it gives you both breadth and depth in understanding businesses, accounting and finance. This means that you are prepared with extensive knowledge to handle most situations presented in the role, or failing that, an understanding of what points to consider when researching for more details.

There is a runners club, an annual sports tournament where London offices compete against each-other, Summer party, Christmas party, monthly socials for offices and many ad-hoc social events throughout the year. There are also annual volunteering events and internal networking days.

Yes

It is a friendly place to work and your supported during work. The structure of the apprenticeship means you are constantly development, once you are conformable with one area you then have the opportunity to learn new things and take on more responsibility. At the end of the apprenticeship you have the opportunity to work in any of the other departments within the firm to gain experience in other areas, with the possibility of moving if you like these other departments.

At times you will need to travel to clients offices so need to be prepared to travel occasionally. The work involves communicating with clients both face to face and through emails so you should be comfortable with this. Even with the support of the firm and training provider, to complete the ACA qualification you will need to spend some of your personnel time studying, so you need to be committed to completing the qualification.