Accounting Technician Review

I prepare annual accounts for sole traders, limited companies, and partnerships. In addition, I regularly prepare Corporation Tax and self-assessment tax returns for companies and/or individuals. All of the above then need to be submitted to HMRC and Companies House. On a daily occurance, I liaise with managers and clients to ensure smooth communication in the company.

I have learnt a number of new skills. I do not come from an accounting or finance background so when I joined Albert Goodman, I knew nothing regarding how to prepare annual accounts and related documents. In addition, I have developed my leadership and communication skills in a wider context.

Whilst I have enjoyed the camaraderie of the apprenticeship, I feel that I have not yet learnt sufficient additional skills and knowledge to fully support it. As someone joining Albert Goodman with previous life experience, I have found some courses and training to be inefficient as they are covering skills which I have already developed. In addition, there is a significant amount of work which needs to be completed for the apprenticeship, and as we are unable to complete this during work hours, it has had a very negative impact on my worklife balance.

I feel scheduling apprenticeship skills days outside of study periods have been very positive. This has enabled me to focus completely on study during certain months rather than having to juggle additional study day preparations with this. However, I know this has not been the case for all apprentices on the programme.

I do not feel that Albert Goodman fully appreciates and understands the amount of additional work that is required to complete the apprenticeship. In particular, completing development tasks requires a lot of time, and the pressures faced in juggling this, completing the First Intuition ladders, completing ICAEW ladders, and also general workload can be overwhelming.

First Intuition Bristol provide a lot of support with exam study and revision. All lecturers provide us with their email, phone number and other contact details and make it clear that we can use these whenever necessary. This has helped considerably with stress and anxieties regarding study, revision, and exams.

Studying towards the ACA qualification will help me to perform much better in my role as an accounting technician. As I gain more knowledge and understanding of the accounting profession, I am able to apply more on the job learning to my exam studies, making it a more holistic experience.

In my department, we have a very stong social ethos. We have regular socials including bowling, Flip Out, and meals. In addition we endeavour to engage in sporting activities including inter department rounders matches. We also participate in a range of professional networking events. We also have an annual away day.

Yes

It is a friendly place to work and has a strong community ethos. Our central Taunton location is good as it enables us to have strong links to the local community as well as enabling us to be able to go into town or Vivary Park for lunches and to relax.

Before applying for a role at Albert Goodman, I would advise prospective employees to research the company and know our strengths. For example, we have a particular strength with Xero and cloud accounting, and we have won awards for this. They would also benefit from understanding the main principles of accounting.