Assurance Review

My role within Grant Thornton is an associate in the audit department, I have numerous jobs that require interaction with not only my colleagues, but clients externally as well. An example of a daily job that I might undertake would be making sure that all we are keeping up to date on information on the audit and that all work we have completed is attached to our software so that we can start signing work off. As a trainee accountant I have many responsibilities on an audit such as making sure my specific sections are completed, to do this I need to interact with my team, generally with my in-charge accountant who will guide me to the answers that I need. My day will never be doing the same thing due to working with different clients that although the test I conduct may be the same, the figures and outcome will always be different.

I have been with Grant Thornton for just over 4 months and already been to three courses to help my understanding of the job I am performing, I will also be attending Kaplan Financial (Southampton) in March to start my training towards my AAT qualification. By attending these courses and reading upon the course I will be studying in March I already have learnt new skills that I can use within my work place, one main one being talking to clients about how they got to a figure such as their depreciation of an asset and what basis they used to depreciate that asset. Not only am I learning new skills every day but I am also expanding my potential for growth by developing my existing skills.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this programme I am currently on, a 10, to be able to work and study at the same time, whilst earning an income and getting on job experience is an amazing place to be after leaving college. Many of my colleagues attending University and they are at the same starting point as me, who has just left college and is 3-4 years younger. Not only is the work place enjoyable, but the team and company culture is outstanding, no-one will feel insignificant in our workplace because everyone has such a strong group cohesion that we all work together so well. I was not expecting a work-force to be so strong and be able to work together so efficiently, I am very lucky to be apart of Grant Thornton and I thoroughly enjoy not only my work, but the programme that I am currently on.

As said above, everyone at Grant Thornton works together so well that no-one will ever feel insignificant, ever since the induction meetings I have met new people and felt respected by not only my peers but the Audit partners and managers. I feel very valued working at Grant Thornton by our team, some jobs that I have been on have needed me to try a new task that I may not have already done before but they will get me involved so that I will be able to adapt my skills and maybe carry out this task again on another client which allows me to be involved with more of the work which Grant Thornton like to promote.

Due to only have started on October 1st 2013, I have not fully experienced my programme yet however the briefing to the programme has been very detailed and I have learned a lot from this, the support and studying I can already see is very organised and after speaking with numerous other colleagues that have already completed their AAT, I can see that the support and mentor system helped significantly.

Again, as I haven't started my training yet as it commences in March I have no feedback on my experience, however after speaking with numerous employee's I have found that the training support is incredibly useful and they wouldn't have been able to pass their modules if they hadn't gotten the support that they did.

Even though I haven't started my course yet I have already received support from my employer, the managers and staff are very helpful and where some of them have already done the course they know how to help and can give so much support on the area's that I potentially could be weak in.

My salary meets my costs more than enough, I have more than enough income to provide for rent, daily costs, social costs and travel costs for the job (although travel costs can be claimed back via the company), where I live very close to work I have the option to walk as well as drive. Even still, my salary covers more than enough with a lot left over to do as I please with.

There are countless opportunities outside of work for Grant Thornton employee's, one of many being, bowling night, as the Southampton office audit department often are out on clients and not in the office its hard to see everyone and catch up, but with these nights it gives us all a chance to catch up and see people that we haven't seen in a long time. Our work also has sport teams that we can participate in if we chose, the men's football team compete once a year against all other GT offices in a competition to see who has the best football team. There are several social activities that are available for the employees, the list would go on and on.

Yes

Fantastic place to work, learning on job experience whilst getting a tuition from one of the best providers (being Kaplan Financial) whilst receiving an income and expanding my knowledge of the entire financial aspect of business'. I am very glad that I chose to work with Grant Thornton UK LLP than attend University and I thoroughly encourage anyone that wants to get an apprenticeship in accountancy from school/college to definitely apply for Grant Thornton, the business works amazing as a whole and the team have such a strong cohesion that you will always be enjoying yourself even if you're just sat at your desk speaking to another colleague, no moment will be a dull moment at Grant Thornton.

To make sure you read up upon Grant Thornton before applying, and not only read information but make sure you know about the current financial/economical downturn/upturn that we are in, because industry knowledge is very useful and shows you have will to find out information about something you want to be involved in.