Trainee Associate Review

Trainee Associate in Audit. Work with an audit team on various clients, at different sites. Talk to the client and request information. Responsible for carrying out tasks usually based on Excel, such as: creating audit workbooks, walkthrough the client processes and document findings, obtaining support, carry out audit procedures on financial statement balances.

Studying for the ACA (ICAEW) qualification. Internal audit training. Soft skills such as teamwork and communication. On the job learning relating to accounting and audit.

Love working at different client sites and working with different teams. Supportive culture. Think there could be more training in the audit work we do.

Sometimes it depends on the team you work with but feel valued most of the time. In our busy season, it can be really long hours and hard work and I think there could be some improvement to how valued staff feel at this time.

You start with an induction followed by audit training for a week. The training is great to get to know your colleagues, learn more about EY generally and an introduction to audit. The audit training is too full on and detailed. When you have never done audit before it is hard to follow and digest. I therefore think it could be more beneficial to move this training to 3 months after starting client work to make it easier to relate to. We have set college timetables to study ACA and take exams. We have progression set out for us across the programme including change of position and salary.

Kaplan are fantastic and really responsive. They always offer support should you get stuck or need to pop in and see someone.

There is a buddy programme when you start who has been at EY a year and so can relate to being new to the company and helps you feel settled and answers your questions. You are also given a counsellor who you can go to for help if you are unsure about how to approach certain situations or feel unsure about something.

It's competitive against the other big 4.

Yes, lots of networking events and sports clubs to get involved in as well as team socials and department gatherings.

Yes

The EY culture, the people and the reputation.

Interview practice is essential. Be yourself, they want to get to know you as a person, not just your achievements and capabilities so try and enjoy it and relax as much as you can.