Audit trainee Review

As a second year student I spent about 65% of my time out on clients. On site I now look at more complex areas compared to last year and have to challenge client judgements. I also support first years by explaining things to them and answering questions. The remainder of my time is in the office doing planning and completion for jobs.

Every day my skills are developing. I am feeling more confident in challenging clients, particularly challenging ones and I have also begun to learn coaching skills when a new intake started below me. I have learnt how to audit new areas this year but there are still several which I'm yet to look at and I will begin looking at these soon.

There are many things I enjoy about Mazars. The team I work in is amazing. Everyone is friendly and encouraging and in my immediate team of about 25 I don't dislike a single person. However the work life balance could be improved and sometimes days can be long and long commutes add to this making it harder to enjoy the job.

Everything is centralised as far as possible which can sometimes be difficult as if you want to rearrange an exam for example you have to contact the team in London and wait for them to get back to you which can be timely and stressful. We get given a reasonable amount of notice for any training etc which I appreciate.

In the Poole office every member of staff is incredibly supportive and happy to help with any problems. Outside of the office we don't receive support generally unless you count being given time off work for college as support. There have occasionally been issues where I have an upcoming exam and been put on far away jobs which couldn't be changed which meant leaving at 6:30 in the morning and not getting home till 8pm leaving very little time to study which was irritating.

BPP provide materials to allow us to complete the exams but I wouldn't necessarily say that they provide support. In college the tutors are helpful and happy to answer questions however 85% of my exams are self taught so we just have an online bank from BPP and no further contact with them than this.

Although the exams I take allow me to learn new information I actually feel that I have learn the most through doing work on clients and learning as I work rather than through exams. However some of the information is helpful and I know having the qualification will help me in the long run.

Yes! Mazars is great for offering extra opportunities. In our office there's a social committee which I'm on and we organise at least one event for everybody to take part in every month. In the last year we've gone to a waterpark, had a quiz night, ice skating, mini golf, bowling, greyhound racing, as well as having smaller activities in the office.

Yes

It is a great alternative to university and will get me to a higher financial position much quicker. You get given paid time off to study and the team I work in is very young so we all get on really well. However, you do have to be prepared for unpaid overtime and long journeys. basically, if you can put up with that for 4 years you can then go pretty much anywhere.

Get to know your interviewers, if you get to an interview they know you're good enough so they want to see how you would fit in as part of the team as that is equally important. Ask questions for yourself throughout the different stages. Make sure you have questions prepared as they will ask.