Flying Start Review

Auditing - on a day to day basis, this role involves looking through financial information and data and analysing it to find unexpected variances and investigate. This is usually done through working on spreadsheets and inserting prior year data and then using one of many different methods depending on the information being tested

I have learned a lot of new skills, predominantly on different programs and applications on PwC software. They have a lot of purpose built programs which enable us to complete our jobs and I hadn't encountered them anywhere else earlier. This meant I developed a lot of new technical skills on new systems. I also developed my professional skepticism and questioning mind which comes working as an auditor.

My programme is excellent. Its the best balance for having a Uni life (and getting a degree) and gaining extremely valuable hands on experience. The placements are in 3 years out of 4 for just less than half of our uni year and break up the course making it go a lot quicker and making it enjoyable as we keep switching up what we are doing.

The structure of the programme is excellent. After first year, every exam we do is going to be at the end of the semester that we do it in, meaning we don't have to revise a whole 9 months back but instead can learn everything in the space of a few months and keep on top of it for a viable amount of time without causing a burn out. The placements break up learning and working and create a perfect balance.

The PwC side of the course, in my experience and opinion is a little more difficult than the Uni side. At uni there is support for every situation and we are treated as students whereas at work everyone is their own manager. It can be difficult to get guidance and support as everybody is just extremely busy in their own highly time pressured job.

Our course gets us 12/15 ACA exemptions and roughly 250/400 days required to become chartered as well as a BSc in Accountancy. The 250 days are completely provided by the training provider and are paid the whole time which is quite good. We return as senior associates and have to completely only the rest of our time and our final 3 exams. They do provide enough support to keep us going.

The theory we learn in uni directly applies to our role at work and then the tasks we complete at work improves our knowledge for what's to come in our exams. The 2 go hand in hand and help make our course overall in my opinion easier.

There are professional networking events very frequently as well as personal smaller ones amongst your co-workers on the audit you are on. It's very easy to get involved in these events. There are also seasonal events such as the winter social where the whole office gets involved in for example what I experienced - a treasure hunt.

Yes

PwC is a very big professional services firm. One of the big 4 and it has roles in a lot of different fields. It is amazing to work for in terms of high profile clients and a very good expense policy and you get exposure to many things smaller firms simply couldn't provide such as contact with so many people through every job being with new people.

PwC is a very professional firm but doesn't just want robot-like people working for them. Show your technical capabilities but also show your willingness to get involved in social events and get along with co-workers. It is good to have experience in the role you're applying to but it isn't a prerequisite.