Associate in Assurance Review

Job title: Trainee associate in assurance Daily tasks: Working in office and on client site performing testing on lower risk accounts, such as cash and debtors Daily interactions: Meeting new team members on each client and meeting new clients Responsibilities: Managing the workload set and providing an outstandings list to make a handover easier if the work cannot be completed in time. Projects: Various activities with the EY foundation and helping in the recruitment of school leavers

Working towards chartered accountancy. Currently studying CFAB at Kaplan.

The work and team can vary and the team can make the difference whether it is a good/bad experience. It does involve long ours, beyond what we're contracted and paid for and hours between January to March are awful, but outside of this time it isn't as bad, although the company culture is that it isn't the done thing to just work minimum hours.

There are good reward programmes, but these are hardly used. They advertise always wanting to reward people and make people feel valued, but it doesn't often feel this way.

It is well structured, but the course is too long for the exams we do. It could easily be done in 3 or 4 years rather than 5.

Kaplan is really supportive and makes training enjoyable. Internal training can be a bit of a drag and doesn't seem that effective or relevant.

Resourcing are willing to help if you need to book around clients flexibly, such as needing to start and leave early one week or needing a week on local clients. They are also helpful in dealing with issues by referring to people's counsellors.

I live at home and commute to Leeds, so most costs are easily covered. The main issue is work expenses, as they do not allow expense claims within 10 miles of the office, which is reasonable if I could drive as it wouldn't be much more, however this can mean needing to pay an additional £30 per week in train passes which I shouldn't need to do.

There are many activities, but there is never the time to do them.

Yes

It is a good experience and offers better prospects for the future.

Don't think about being in a big 4 firm is the best thing to do forever. It seems more of a stepping stone to find what you actually want to do.