KPMG360 Apprentice Review

As a 360 apprentice, my daily tasks can vary hugely and can really depend what placement I'm in as the work/placement needs will differ. For example, when I was in Audit, my daily tasks would consist of completing work papers to test significant and non-significant accounts and I would interact with the client frequently to perform these tests. Now that I'm in Tax, my work has included a lot of research tasks which I never had to do in Audit. You interact with the team every day and depending if you are in a placement that requires client interaction, you will usually interact with the client a lot. You will be responsible for completing the work assigned to you and you will be doing meaningful work despite our lack of technical knowledge and experience.

I have learned a lot in the short time since joining KPMG. Firstly, we have been working towards our AAT Level 3 qualification and have learned so many accounting principles as a result. There have been lots of internal and external training courses for the respective departments where we can improve our technical know-how in the respective area/placement we are in. You also develop personal skills like the ability to talk in a much more business-like manner and you gain a much better phone manner too since you have to talk to both clients and colleagues.

I would say that I enjoy the programme. The work is usually engaging and we aren't just doing meaningless work because we're apprentices. The teams are great and very approachable. I really like the company culture and the people in our workplace - we are definitely what I was call a 'people' firm. I would say the programme has definitely met my expectation and provides a great experience. I do enjoy the programme and I really like the people.

I do feel like we get praised by our in-charge/manager for a job well done as they will usually say thanks for the hard work that we've put into a job. We are usually very involved with projects and will be tasked with multiple things to do to help but obviously there is only so much we can help with due to our level of knowledge and expertise. Managers/in-charges will usually make it known when they are impressed with the work that we have done.

We had a week-long induction which did show us the ropes and allow us to settle in at a nice pace. Our training/study is well organised in the sense that we usually get adequate time for learning the content and the exams follow roughly 3-4 weeks later which appears to be fine so far. Our meetings/updates from management are frequent enough so that we are kept informed and we are definitely kept 'in the loop'.

We received tuition from a tutor both in the classroom and on our online sessions so the content has been physically taught to us which makes the content so much easier to digest. The support we receive is great, both on the forum on the website where the tutors or other students can answer the questions we have and we also have performance advisors which email us separately. They are always willing to help. The amount of materials we receive is very useful as well.

We do receive a lot of support from the Management team and can go to them with any queries we may have. They are practically always available to help and if they're not at that time, they will reply to us as soon as they can. They are extremely willing to help us and have a great attitude towards supporting us. We also have the PQA team which are there to support us as well regarding our exams and the training that we do for exams.

I do feel like we get a great deal regarding our pay since many people our age won't receive anything close to it unless they are doing something similar to us. I would say that I'm quite lucky that I can live with my parents and don't have to rent closer to work as I only have to pay house-keeping. If I had to rent, I would have to be a lot more careful with my money but in my circumstances, I can save some money per month which is great. My travel costs were expensive and equivalent to a month's pay but that lasts me the whole year since I bought an annual train ticket. The pay also does cover social costs pretty well.

I would say there are quite a few opportunities outside of work. There are plenty of talks and informational events to attend outside of work hours. There are voluntary opportunities available to us like our ‘back-to-school’ scheme where we go back to schools and raise awareness of our apprenticeship schemes available. There are plenty of department socials and the location is ideal as there are lots of places around Canary Wharf. There are leisure/sports clubs near/around Canary Wharf which you can sign up to and aren't too far away.

Yes

I would recommend KPMG to a friend because I think KPMG is a good company to work for. They really give you the opportunity to prove your worth and also allow you to change/rotate departments so you can find out what you want to do, something that barely any other company offers. They also really support you in your studies and allow you to sit all of your exams cost free. KPMG also offers many benefits too.

In regard to interviews, even though it's very much easier said than done, try to relax and not stress too much. Just try and answer the questions as accurately as possible and don't feel intimidated to ask them to repeat the question if you didn't hear it properly or didn't quite understand what they wanted. Also, don't be afraid to tell them that you're nervous, you're only human and the interviewer will understand that you probably will be anxious. With the assessment day, just read EVERYTHING in the material given to you and try to cover everything you possibly can to show attention to detail but most importantly, answer the question as you can get easily distracted with all the information given and the requirements that they want. Don’t feel that you have to actively go out and get business experience before coming to KPMG as you’ll learn everything you need to whilst you’re there.