Summer School Programme - Audit Review

I joined the 2 week Audit Summer School Programme and I was involved in auditing the accounts of BDO's clients. On the first day and the last day I was in the office, but in between then I was at 2 different clients.

I have learnt how to use Excel efficiently and quickly as I didn't really know much about it before. I have also learnt new accounting terms that I had never come across which helped me when listening to the team talk.

I thoroughly enjoyed the programme and it has made me definitely want to apply for their School Leavers Programme. I have enjoyed seeing the different clients and working as part of a team with other school leavers/graduates and also managers.

I felt valued at BDO. They welcome you on your first day and make sure you know where everything is and that you know what you're doing. You don't ever feel like you're not able to do the work they have set you.

When I was on site with a client, I always had work to do, and I very rarely found myself with nothing to do. On the first day they gave us a tour of the office so we knew where everything was. The only downside was one day when I was in the office, there was very little work to do so we didn't do as much as I had hoped on that day.

I found I received a lot of support from the people at BDO and they understood that people of the summer school programme are still doing their A-Levels so they may not know a lot about accounting. This was very good as it meant you felt more comfortable asking questions and they were all more than willing to answer them.

BDO reimbursed your travel expenses to London, which helped majorly as I live a fair distance from both London and Bristol so it saved on cost. They also give you £200 on successfully completing the programme, which unfortunately for me didn't cover the expenses of accommodation, as because of how far away I lived, I had to rent somewhere.

The other employees at BDO took us out for lunch a few times and my 'buddy' took me out for dinner a couple of times as well. Also, at the weekend, I was able to meet up with a couple of people from the company. However, apart from that, there wasn't any other opportunities outside of work.

Yes

I felt like you were always welcomed and it gave you a good feel of what it would be like to work at an accounting firm in the city centre. It helped you figure out whether it was something you wanted to do or not, and everyone at BDO were always very helpful.

Make sure you ask questions if there is something you don't understand, as they know you probably haven't done this before, so they are expecting you to not know some things.