Associate Review

I am an associate at Deloitte. I work in audit and complete various testing documents and procedures in order to fulfil this role. These include writing memos explaining controls the various businesses have in place. We complete substantive analytical procedures in order to reliably compare expectations to actual outcomes in the year.

During my time at Deloitte I have passed numerous exams towards my ACA, this has left me with a CFAB qualification. I have also completed my level 4 apprenticeship. I have also learned various transferrable skills such as: communication, whether that be in person or via email. Team working skills, including leadership and junior roles. I have also improved my time management skills, managing multiple engagements at a time and managing a large number of tasks within this job.

Things I enjoy about the programme include: the people we work with, most of the firm are of a junior level and therefore are of a similar age 18-25. The company also offers reasonable flexibility to do extra work if required. The work culture does however cause me not to enjoy the programme quite so much. The culture of long hours (70 hour weeks), and lack of recognition for people increasing efficiency in the work place, instead being placed on pure volume of hours worked.

Recognition in the firm is hard to come by. Within certain tasks you may receive a thanks from the manager; however in my experience simple but tangible appreciation such as bonuses are non-existent. The appraisal system feels a little outdated and is not transparent. It is very difficult to find out what you could be doing in order to receive recognition. I'd say this is a real weak point within Deloitte, with the only real recognition being from those team members on your level or up to field manager who appreciate the hard work you put in on a day to day basis.

I think the programme is well organised. You know how you will progress each year, and it is laid out on a 4 year plan. The training and exams are also well spread out along the course. One improvement that probably should be put in place is having scope to go ahead of the programme. In many cases, Deloitte will push you to complete tasks and take on roles above your pay grade. However upon taking on the extra workload and increased responsibility you remain on the same wage and progression course leading to a lack of progress in later years.

The training provider is very useful. We receive plenty of time off, credit to Deloitte for that. Giving us time to go to college. We then revise in our time which seems sufficient. The training provider also offer up support often sending emails, detailing that we should get in contact with them should we need any further advise or help.

The employer does not offer a mass of support; however we do not expect them to. We get the time off to go to college which is very useful as trying to learn the whole course from home would be very difficult. Managers can be a little difficult when taking annual leave for exam revision; however normally come round and give you a couple of days off to revise prior to the exam which is nice.

The salary is very good for our age. I don't think the salary is quite so good when compared with graduates who get paid the same while doing work of the level below. However on the whole it is hard to complain too much about the salary itself as it is a well paying job. The fact that the pay grade for each grade has remained stable for the past number of years despite costs of living and inflation rising (4% this year) seems a little ridiculous, especially when the company profit has increased by 18%. Maybe this is something to look at.

There are many opportunities outside of work, they have free drinks Friday once a month, another social event probably around once a month. A Christmas dinner, football trip to prague etc. This is something they are strong at and spend plenty of time looking into and investing. Possibly need to add a little more variety of activities but generally this is a strength.

Yes

If that friend was willing to work too hard, get good pay, even if feeling under valued the majority of the time then this is a decent career. The people are young and of a similar age which is nice and makes you feel a lot more comfortable and the learning curve is steep; therefore acting as a good entry point to the accounting world.

Practice interviews.