Audit Associate Review

I am an audit associate, within a department that primarily deals with retail clients. I am responsible for audit work assigned to me, which primarily involves testing the companies balance sheet and profit and loss general ledger accounts. I am out at the client site most of the time so have lots of interaction with both my colleagues at EY and the client contacts.

I have learnt to deal with difference types of clients, and different personalities both within my own teams and clients. This has improved my communication skills greatly, and has given me more confidence in different situations, including team and client meetings and calls. I am on a programme that enable me to study for the ACA qualification at the same time as my on the job work. I have currently gained a CFAB qualification for completing 6 of the 15 ACA exams.

Whilst the job can be challenging at times, mainly due to the long hours duing busy season and other year end audits, I get a feeling of achievement everytime you complete an audit. The culture at EY is good, with lots of team events at the end of the audit, to make it feel as though your time and effort was worthwhile. EY is also fleexible with its working environment, enabling people to work at client site, in the office, and occasionally at home if required. Whilst th job was not entirely what I was expecting, it exceeded my expectations in terms of how interesting the job is. I enjoy understanding how my clients business works.

Despite the size of the company, it does feel as though you are in the companies minds, and this has been proven by the fact that we have recently ben put into department families, where we can discuss any maters we may want to raise.

As we are the first year of school leavers at EY, it has been hard to establish what the structure of our programme is going to look like over the 5 years. Whilst this has been a negative, the programme structure so far has been effective, with both the support I get on the job and through training, as well as the college support for exams.

When at college and during exams, the training team (Kaplan) supported me efficently.

EY provides me with both a councillor and a department family, where I can discuss any issues or thoughts about work. The managers o the teams I have worked on, have also been very supportive.

Due to the costs of living in London, the majority of my salary immediately gets sacrificed on rent and bills. Whilst the salary for my age is satisfying, it would be nice to have a salary more in line with the grads, who arrive at EY a year after us (and therefore the year below). As we are the ones coaching these less experienced grads, it would be nice to have a salary closer to theirs.

There are EY clubs including sporting clubs, however due to my personal commitments elsewhere I am not a member of any.

Yes

Overall, its a great experience that you could not experience anywhere else, at such a young age.

Be yourself during your interview and aplication and dont get too nervous, as all interviewers and assessors are helpful and friendly. Also research the role you are applying for, as accountancy has many areas.