Apprentice Review

- gain comfort over financial statements - talking to clients - obtaining evidence to back up financial statement - working as part of a team - review work performed in prior years and look for ways to continually improve - work in teams to discuss new ways to tackle issues. - work alongside more senior members of staff and learn from them

Yes, talking to clients has developed my communication skills and helped me gain confidence. I am able to apply the accountancy skills I learn at university to the work I do, allowing me to develop my accounting knowledge. Within audit, I am now comfortable to perform many testing procedures independently, which I wouldn't have been comfortable doing a few months ago.

I enjoy the programme in the sense that it allows me to develop new skills I wouldn't have gained at university. I'm also able to gain on the job experience and encounter first hand what somebody in a finance role is responsible for. I wouldn't be able to experience this elsewhere.

- Personally, I feel that sometimes exams are not spread out evenly over the year and this can impact performance. - The programme is well structured in the sense that it allows apprentices to experience more than one area of work, for example advisory, tax and audit. It also allows you to experience working with a range of people and environments.

A lot of support is offered to apprentices. All apprentices are assigned with a performance manager, and as part of their role they available to answer any questions and deal with any issues apprentices may have. Study leave days and course work days are also given to help manage work load with exams.

Tutors were very approachable and were happy to answer any questions in class. Contact details were also given to students so that we could contact tutors while we were back home studying. If tutors are ever contacted via email, they always reply with a detailed and helpful response to queries.

It depends on the department in which you are working. Personally, qualifications such as Financial statements of limited companies gave me a better understanding over the work I was performing while working in financial services audit. Similarly, the tax qualification is relevant to a tax placement but doesn't get put into use very much in Audit.

I know of afew extra-curricular activities, including sports and religious networks, however I feel they are poorly promoted. I know of these networks through other colleagues but have never received any emails to promote them, or encourage people to join them. There are annual department away days in which everyone can get involved.

Yes

I wpould recommend KPMG as a good place to work as it gives you client exposure that you wouldn't get anywhere else. Also, KPMG is very welcoming and inclusive. They welcome employees of a range of backgrounds and ages. Furthermore, they offer many opportunities in relation to secondments to other departments and offices.

personality plays a huge part in your role at KPMG. It is inevitable that you will have to work as part of a team, so if you work well in teams and have a strong/confident personality - make sure you show it. The most important thing is to be yourself and always be willing to learn.