Associate Auditor Review

I am an Associate Auditor in the GPS (Government and Public Sector department). My daily tasks involve performing testing on clients figures that they will be using within the financial statements. I am responsible for my own workload and how I handle it. I have to interact face to face with the different clients that I work with and this is one of the main duties that I have. When I am not out at a client site, I will be planning upcoming audits and making sure that we have correctly planned for the audit and assisting junior staff.

As of right now, I have passed all four exams that I have sat. My training contract is five years long and at the end of the five years, I will be a fully qualified Chartered Accountant with ICAS. I have improved my communication skills a lot and I have also learnt a large amount of technical skills which I feel are very useful for my day to day work that my job entails.

I enjoy my programme a very large extent due to the different individuals and teams that I get to work with. I feel that this experience is a much better idea than going to university as you learn at a young age while also having an enjoyable experience. I enjoy my work every day and I am glad that I chose the school leaver programme at EY.

As an employee at EY, I feel extremely valued by my managers and other senior members of the team. As part of EY, we have a recognition award system which I have been recognised through and it is extremely motivating to know that you are appreciated for the work that you do.

I would say that the school leaver programme is very structured and allows me to grow at the same level as the graduate equivalents. I am provided the same training as the graduates of my experience and we are also allowed to perform the same work which is extremely motivating as we have not been to university and instead have come from school.

I would say that there is support from ICAS available but this is not something that I have needed to obtain myself. When in class for courses, the tutors are always more than happy to assist anyone and if needed, you are able to contact the tutors at weekends or out of hours. I have not required this myself but if I required this, then I feel that I could obtain this easily.

I would say that I receive a large amount of support from my councillor and also from other senior members of staff that I work with. There is always the progression element that is within EY as everyone is a team and there is the attitude of coaching junior staff which I would definitely say has happened to myself.

As I currently live at home, I feel that my salary is more than enough to meet my costs. I can comfortably meet my costs with the salary package that I have and I have also been able to upgrade my car and other luxuries which I would not of been able to obtain if I had obtained another job.

There are always social events available within the Edinburgh office and these are normally held on a Friday after work. This is normally held around once a month and there are also other activities which are held i.e. football matches between the Edinburgh office and the Glasgow office. People have also been involved in charity events which are organised through EY.

Yes

I feel that it is a really good opportunity for anyone who would like to be involved in the finance/accounting area. I have been able to find a really good programme that I can be paid for and also do exams while being given time off to study for the exams. I feel that the programme is very rewarding and an extremely good opportunity for anyone considering it.

The application process is extremely intense and is not easy. I would say that you need to just try and stay calm throughout and especially on the assessment day to be involved in the conversations as this is one of the main qualities that is needed and can be seen throughout EY.