Accountant Review

Official Job Title - Auditor. Ensure that the Financial Statements produced by the client are free from error and misstatement. Involves agreeing the numbers to external confirmations i.e. banks and / or other companies. Other key parts to the job include being comfortable taking to the client as well as having competent excel skills.

During my time on placement my mental arithmetic skills have improved significantly, due to constantly having to remember short number chains and sequences. Also, I have learnt a huge array of shortcuts and formulas on excel such as VLOOKUP and SUMIF. I have also become more confident in talking to people face to face and over the phone.

The placement is hard as I am in London, and the work requirements are significant. The three months after Christmas are known as 'busy season' due to year end work over financial statements. The net result of this is that I am required to work more than my contracted 7.5 hours per day, often up to 12 hours. However, the team is there together and there is a free dinner service so enjoyable enough.

In my opinion the programme is very well structured as PwC works very closely with reading to ensure we have the best experience. Nearly all of our uni exams result in us receiving exemptions from ICAEW exams, meaning we only have 3 to complete when we graduate to become chartered.

The employer, PwC, provides a significant amount of support. Not only do they pay us for our time on placement, but they provide those who live more than an hour away from their base office FREE accomodation. Even when they do not receive this accommodation, a living at home grant is provided.

The university take care of the tutoring side of things, with lecture classes in term one. Whilst on placement in term 2, we are encouraged not to revise but focus on placement. Back to uni in term 3 and we have a high amount of revision classes to help us. PwC also fund ICAEW books.

Our exams are very specific to our job role and help us complete our work much faster. For example, we learn modules called Tax, Audit & Assurance and Financial Accounting. When we go on placement, we have to audit tax using financial accounting. All in all, the exams are very relevant.

There is a wide array of social activities to get involved in whilst on placement. When we join PwC, we are allocated to a social group the same as an other employee. The social group leader then organises socials either weekly or every two weeks to ensure there is opportunity to meet new people.

Yes

pwc is a great company to work for. They promote a great work - life balance and are extremely flexible in working hours. There is no set time people must start or finish and it allows people to fit in their own personal agendas e.g. rugby or football. There is also a great team working environment.

When applying ensure you research where you'd like to go to uni; pwc have three courses. One is at Nottingham, with placement in term 1. The other two are Newcastle and Reading, with placement in tem 2. Also, although the annual salary is £18,000, overtime is paid for any hours worked over 7.5 per day so there is scope to earn more.