Associate Review

Title: Associate grade 1 Tasks: General audit work. Usually basic aspects of the audit - PPE, cash, debtors/prepayments, creditors/accruals. Interactions (Int): Interact with other members of the audit team every day whilst at a client. Interactions (Ext): Interact with clients & their finance teams every day whilst at a client. Responsibilities: Usually responsible for the work I perform and gathering the evidence needed to perform it, including speaking to the client and requesting proof of things.

I have had no prior experience of audit so I believe I have learnt many new skills. Professional judgement; professional scepticism; how to quickly develop relationship with people, both clients and team members.

I have enjoyed learning new things and meeting new people. Also I have had three weeks away and will be required to spend two more weeks away, which is interesting for me.

I feel as though I am being treated like any other member of staff. However, I feel as though there could be some improvement with regards to making the staff feel valued. There are few benefits to working overtime and it feels as though there is a culture of working overtime on the vast majority of jobs. This makes me feel as though staff are treated as workers rather than people. I receive appreciation and recognition from colleagues and managers and it feels genuine. I am involved in fairly basic tasks although I always ask questions to help myself gain an understanding of why we look at certain things and the reasoning behind certain aspects of the testing.

I feel as though the programme is well organised and although my timetable has moved around quite a bit, it has always been weeks in advance. However, there has been some confusion about stockcounts that I have been booked on, as I was removed from a shadow stockcount without it being updated on my timetable, leading to confusion later on in the placement, as I was booked onto stockcounts on my own without shadowing one first. I explained this to HR who updated my timetable accordingly, but it was still something that could've been improved.

I haven't requested any support.

People manager has held a short mid-placement meeting with me to catch up, however I didn't have too many queries. Colleagues in general are very helpful and will take time to explain things to me and answer any questions I ask.

This isn't really applicable, as PwC pay for my accommodation & bills and reimburse expenses. I walk to the office so there is no expense there either.

There are always emails about charity events & socials to get involved in.

Yes

I would certainly recommend the course, however I have noticed that many people leave PwC after becoming qualified so I'm not sure I would recommend it for the long-term.

Prepare for your interview. It is entirely about your personality rather than your qualifications/knowledge.