Business apprenticeship Review

Audit assurance, within the wealth and asset management sector, this involves a variety of daily tasks. Firstly, there is a lot of "testing" to do in certain areas. My daily interactions interanlly is with all levels of seniority and my daily interactions externally are with clients. My responsibilities involve the areas of work I am doing.

I have learnt quite a few new skills whilst working at EY, they are mainly in the Excel / Word area, whereby I have been able to learn a variety of new formulas within both and why the formulas are used. In addition to this, I have developed my personal communication skills with individuals whom I may not have met before.

The programme I am on is not joyous at all (in my opinion) - The work load is fine, however the hours worked are too much, especially for an apprentice programme. There is very little flexibility for apprentices, which is incredibly dis-incentivising. The programme has not met my expectations, compared to what was showcased to use during the insight / induction days.

The programme is well organised and structured, which is to be expected from a firm who is considered to be part of "the big four". However, there is a lot of excessive adhoc work which wastes a lot of time. In addition to this, there is not enough time / support for external studying for our accounting exams. The excessively long hours do not support this.

There is a lot of verbal support, however very little support in terms of being able to have time to study for our exams. The exams being taken are already incredibly hard, and managers / team members are not very supportive in allowing you to have time off to study. Albeit, the support from individuals regarding advice and help is great.

It varies. On one hand we are very fortunate in having our resources and exams paid for by our provider which helps a lot and is a burden not to worry about. However, the time we get in college is very rushed and not productive / suffice to help us reach our qualifications.

The day to day work done in our apprenticeship does not help with our qualifications, as what is required to be learnt for our exams and qualifications is not too applicable within our day to day work. I do feel that studying for my accounting exams helps understand more about the job.

Yes, there are a lot of social events and Extra curricular activities available at EY. These are often in the form of drinks, or smaller events being held by smaller groups. However, to get involved in extra curricular activities is very hard, as we do not have the time to do so.

No

My friends and I have very similar personalities and goals. Working within EY is not a workplace whereby we will be able to achieve the goals we have in mind. It is very strenuous and not a good workplace for individuals who have goals and a life outside of work.

It's not all about the grades you have or the Uni / College you went to, EY from my experience places equal emphasis on your personality too and whether you will be able to have longevity within the workplace. It is a very big firm, so it's a great place to meet people from all over the world and different backgrounds in one area, which is nice.