Assistant Senior Review

Auditor for a Big 4 Company. I visit client sites on a daily basis and provide assurance to the market through thorough review of Business performance in the Financial Year. I interact regularly with the client, from Assistant to Director level and discuss Accounting Matters and results of the Audit.

I am now coming to the end of my 4th Year and so the role has changed dramatically since I joined. Therefore, the job I am doing now is incomparable to the job I had when I started. I am now managing teams and have a portfolio of clients that I manage. I have definitely improved my excel skills and team leadership. I have, of course, also improved on my Accounting knowledge on both a UK and international standard.

Due to now being at a Senior Level, I am no longer associated to the programme apart from the fact that I still have a few exams left to do before I fully qualify. There are times when I find that the programme is extremely slow compared to the Grad Scheme. The progress of exams is slower than it needs to be and this generates a big separation between School Leavers and Grads. It did not meet my expectation. The working culture is sometimes good/sometimes bad and depends heavily on your team and the Manager you are working under, but generally people are nice and helpful.

I do not feel valued by EY. Due to the size of the business, it is faceless and Board Level decisions do not seem to factor the impact this may have on its staff. Staff turnover is very quick and this creates a culture where you join, take some Big 4 experience and then leave soon after.

The structure of the programme for the first 3 years has been good. However, I have had significant issues with the Advanced level exams which involved many emails and calls going back and forth to try and discuss timetables of exam sittings. Thankfully these issues have now been resolved.

Kaplan have been exceptional and I would thoroughly recommend them. In terms of general job support, you receive a counsellor however the general consensus is to keep meetings with counsellors to a minimum unless there are some major issues, which thankfully there hasn't been. I enjoyed college a lot and the tutors are very knowledgeable.

Counsellor is available for support when needed however this is seldom used. This is not exclusive to School Leavers, every employee up to Partner level is allocated a counsellor. There is no specific support for School Leavers.

Salaries are not good and do not reflect the hours/work that is required, especially as you progress through the programme and take on more responsibilities. Geographical differences in pay do occur in order to meet living costs however I do not feel that School Leavers are fairly compensated for the long hours required, especially through Busy periods.

There are a lot of opportunities however these are tailored specifically to EY. There are lots of careers events that you can get involved with or you can help fundraise for the EY Charities. You receive 2 days a Year where you are able to volunteer for any charity however these are very rarely used amongst the firm and I have never personally used them in my near 4 years at the firm.

No

It is a very pressured working environment which demands a lot but does not pay accordingly. Due to change in regulations, there is also more required in the role however EY have not factored this in to their staff intake and for the deadlines set for each job you work on. It is a good stepping stone to move on to other things but the staff turnover being so high is largely due to employees burning out and needing to leave to join a stable, less pressured job.

There is lots of information available on the internet which can help you through the whole application process so definitely look out for it. It does not impress anyone that you have done some last minute research and have compiled a fact file of the Company. Make sure you are well prepared and understand the requirements of both the Job and the training thoroughly before applying to ensure it is the right job and path to take. The interview is very relaxed and so if you make it to this stage, you have done the hardest part already by getting through the assessment centre (which in itself isn't as daunting as it sounds!). The facilitators were friendly and helpful and understand that you bring little to know work experience. This is factored in to the whole application process and decision making, so don't feel like you have to try and think of relevant work experience. Bring your life skills and experience instead, it is far more valuable.