Audit Assistant Review

Job title - Gap year Audit Assistant Daily tasks including -checking consistency in financial documents such as profit/loss statements, balance sheets of clients - doing three way checks which involves checking the purchase order, invoice and credit note and ensure that numbers tie up Daily interactions include with your team and the client's team including senior members of their finance team. Projects can be with various clients across different industries in and outside of the location of your office.

- Although they are no formal qualifications that come with the gap year internship unlike a full time role the opportunity enables you to develop your soft skills. - You have a workshop at the start of the program which outlines the basics of the work you'll be expected to do and what we need to know - Soft skills you develop include communication across various levels of corporate hierarchies - Spreadsheet skills as a lot of work is based on that

Although I recognize that the experience of working at a big four firm at an early stage of your career does look good on your CV, I realized from this internship that I did not want to be an auditor in the long run. Of course these are what internship are for - to know what your preferences are.

I had mixed feelings about my value to the firm. Some managers tried to ensure that we were given fulfilling work and were not expected to stay too long given that we were more junior and there on a temporary basis. However, it felt like others would use us for more menial tasks.

There is an induction in place which helps you fit into the company. There are other gap year students so there's peer support. The KPMG gap year program has been running for many years now and so it's nothing new or shocking to teams. As such there is no real shortage of work to be done and the program spans over the busy season of the firm. Teams are mostly supporting but can vary between assignments.

There was not really a training provider but we were assigned a manager that we had to have regular catch ups with to update on our progress. She was alright. She was happy to meet on request but at the same time when we were at different client sites it was often hard to organise this.

As mentioned before when at client sites you can have different teams. Within each team I normally had a more senior person I would report to. They were generally quite happy to give guidance with problems and assistance when required. The general attitude of most team members towards supporting me was positive.

Living in London can be quite expensive but at the time I was a student and didn't have many expenditures. So the internship met my costs however it probably isn't the highest paid internship you can find in the city even at a junior level. Any costs associated with clients outside London were covered by the firm. KPMG also provide towards your lunch everyday so that was nice.

Yes there are some opportunities outside of work, the main one is the departmental Christmas party which is a good laugh. There are also volunteering activities for the gap year students. If you are based in London there's much to do around after work. Opportunities can be low when you are at client site though - especially if it's in the middle of nowhere.

Yes

Even though auditing may not have been the career choice for me, KPMG is a good professional services firm which recognizes that their staff is their primary asset. It's a good place to pick up interchangeable skills and exposure to various industries. If going for the gap year scheme the program is fairly old and decently structured so there will be no major surprises. If considering a full time role the firm offers many training opportunities for graduates.

For the application process make you sure you research KPMG and it's different sector. Know about the competition and the 'big four'. Practice some numerical and verbal reasoning tests if they are part of the application. Make sure you read forums and reviews on various websites to get a feel for how the assessment center is likely to be.