audit associate Review

I am in the real estate, construction and hospitality department. I am involved in the audit process from planning to completion. My role involves travelling between my office and different client sites in order to complete the audit of the company financial statements. A key part of the role is also coaching junior members of the team on audit processes.

I have developed my communication and leadership skills, as well as hugely developing my organizational and planning skills. I have learnt how to manage a team and clearly explain what needs to be achieved. My confidence has grown hugely through the last year since I started, I now feel confident talking to clients and senior team members and partners.

I enjoy my program a lot and am surrounded by a good support system that take time to explain things to me and coach me. I have also made a lot of friends and enjoy the teams I work with. I feel fully supported and know who to go to for any issues or concerns.

I feel my program is fairly poorly structured in terms of study time. Study leave is completely insufficient and it is expected that apprentices use their annual leave in order to revise, which is unfair. College time keeps getting cut shorter and shorter for each exam which has caused a lot of people to fail and have unnecessary stress planning their re-sits. The exam team need to organize a structure that allows sufficient time to study for our exams. This point has been raised by apprentices on multiple occasions but is not taken on board

On the job we receive a lot of support and are set up with a good support system - a buddy and a counsellor to go to with any concerns. My team always take time to explain what I need to do and how it works and what value it adds to the audit which is helpful. We receive little support from the exam team in the way of exams. I have found they are often reluctant to reschedule exams, and although we have protested multiple times, the study leave and college time is insufficient to prepare for exams.

Kaplan offer a good support system. They have a tool to allow us to email or chat with a tutor at any time of the day which I have found very helpful. The materials provided are very helpful including mock tests and short quizzes. Tutors are generally supportive and very approachable.

The technical knowledge learned in the exams so far has been directly applicable to the work and helps a great deal. The laws, regulations and accounting standards are directly applicable to the audits we carry out and help us to make professional judgements. Technical accounting knowledge learnt helps us to understand each companies accounts.

We regularly have team or departmental socials that involve different activities such as sports or games. We also regularly have drinks with the client teams. We also have "families" and have family meetings and dinners. This helps break the ice and meet people and to make friends and build relationships as well as network.

Yes

The qualification offered is very valuable and I have developed a lot of skills and learnt a lot throughout this process. Whilst the qualification is very useful, I have also learnt a lot of life skills and built my confidence massively during this time. I feel it has been a valuable learning experience and is a good company to work for.

Everyone hear is friendly and approachable so make friends. Always ask for help if you need it because everyone is happy to take time to explain things. Make sure you speak up and have your voice heard if there's something you want to achieve or go for. Most of all make sure you maintain a work life balance.