Audit Associate Review

Going to different client sites around the country to test their financial accounts. Communicating with EY people all around the country, and also communicating with finance directors at many different businesses. Responsibility to get your own work done, and there's always an opportunity to help others and expand your knowledge.

Training to be a chartered accountant throughout the apprenticeship by going to college and doing exams. Many internal training courses such as web based learning courses and also full courses in other cities. Help to develop personal skills such as communication and team work, as well as professional skills such as communicating with clients.

Always plenty of opportunities to develop and experience new things. The people are the best aspect of the programme - everyone is there to help and answer questions, a real sense of a team. You are always going to new places which you wouldn't normally go to in an office based job.

The programme is well structured and allows you to have a good balance between study and on the job learning, such as going to college occasionally to prepare for exams, and then coming back to work to go to client sites to put theory you've learnt into practice, which helps to develop knowledge.

There is a lot of support from EY, as each apprentice has a designated counsellor who you have quarterly meetings with to discuss how things are going. Also, you are assigned a buddy which is someone in the year above you, and is someone who you can go to for small questions. Everyone is there to help you do the best.

When working towards being a chartered accountant, you are able to have days off for study leave, and are able to revise in the office so you can ask your colleagues for help if you need it. The training provider gives us access to speak to a tutor for any questions we have too.

The knowledge and information learnt from the qualification helps us to understand businesses in greater detail, and understand why we have to perform certain audit tasks. In addition to this, it also helps us to put theory we've learnt into practice, therefore strengthening our understanding of the subject at hand.

At EY there are a lot of extra-curricular activities for people to get involved in, such as sports teams, charity work and social events. At the end of every month, there is a social where we have drinks in the office and then head out to local bars. There is also plenty of professional networking events, such as young professional events and recruitment events.

Yes

EY offers a wide variety of opportunities that you wouldn't necessarily get from working at a smaller firm. You are able to meet intelligent people from all across the country and even the world. In addition, everyone is really friendly, and the work is interesting. EY sets you up well for the future.

For anyone wanting to apply to EY, I would recommend researching the different service lines available, to see which you are best suited to. Also, I would advise that you practice different types of reasoning tests to give the best possible advantage in succeeding in the application process. Research about the business.