Apprentice Review

Restructuring advisor Involved in drafting reports for deliverable work and cost modelling proposed scenarios to generate an estimate of the benefit value. With team members every day - it is a small team so we tend to have dinner together (we stay in hotels) and do activities such as 5 a side football on a weekly basis and whole team meals once a week. I sit with the clients in their offices and work alongside them. Responsible for collating all of the documents we are going to be using in the final handover document. I was also responsible for writing a paper on one area of a deliverable for the client.

I have learnt very many new excel skills and general formatting skills on all of the Microsoft office applications. I have also learnt how to write comprehensive reports. I have been able to develop my ability to network with other KPMG employees and clients due to the immersive environment. I have attended numerous different training courses, educating me on how to use the internal administration system, on the processes of an administration and a liquidation and training regarding the market for which I am working in on my current placement. The qualifications I am learning towards is the AAT level 3 qualification. I have learnt the basics of financial accounting, how to prepare final accounts, the basics of management accounting and the basics of indirect taxation.

It is a very flexible programme which enables me to choose where my career goes. If I am enjoying the work I currently do then I am able to extend the placement within the department, however if I am not, I can request to move out of the department and into another one to help identify the work I enjoy and do best. All of the people at KPMG have been very focussed on development - my current team are especially focussed on this as they tend not to give me the lower valued administration jobs. The programme has well exceeded my expectations, as I was not expecting it to be so flexible, nor was I expecting the teams to be very development focussed.

I have had a lot of interaction with my manager regarding my performance. He is very determined to help me with any issues I am having, or to go over what I am enjoying and to try and take these things into other aspects of my working life. He not only praises me when I do good work, he also provides constructive criticism when there are things which I can build on.

The induction into my programme was very detailed and made me feel more comfortable in my first week at the business. The training is excellent. The tutors at BPP college are all very knowledgeable and concentrate on everyone understanding everything.

Quite a lot. They send us emails if they feel like we may need more support and the tutors provide us with their emails so that if we have any questions then we can ask them directly. The online system and the materials they provide us with are top class, they are very clear, easy to use and prepare us for the exam very well.

We are provided with study leave for some exams which enables us to focus solely on studying. Furthermore, everyone around the firm encourages you to go home earlier than normal to fit in more revision as they all recognise that passing the exams is the most important thing.

I am just able to afford renting a shared flat and the travel costs I need to cover to get into and out of London every week. I feel that as an apprenticeship however, the pay is very good value for money and I feel that we are paid what we are worth.

Both my department and my team are very sociable and encourage us to attend monthly social events. My team in particular are more social than most due to the fact that we all stay in hotels together, thus creating a close-knit environment. The firm provides us all with 6 volunteering days which we can use to advertise apprenticeship programmes to our old schools or help out in local schools. There is an entire social network which is dedicated to providing a platform for social clubs, be them sports clubs, societies or just social organising.

Yes

The standard of the qualification that I am getting is exemplary and it is a very inclusive environment to work in.

Do not worry about the qualifications you are entering with; it is very focussed on the transferable skills you are able to identify within other work or experiences you have had which you can bring to the table at KPMG.