Rating

6.4/10
  • 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
  • I am an audit trainee. I went to college for the first few weeks of my apprenticeship to get my first two qualifications. In the office, it is doing a lot of little jobs as part of the greater good of the project, and after work involves going home and revising.

    6/10

  • 2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
  • So far I have developed not so many key skills. I have improved in my excel skills and have learnt new functions to make me more efficient. I have also somewhat improved in client communication skills and ways to make my wording sound more professional. Other than this not so much at the moment

    5/10

  • 3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
  • So far it is okay. The employee benefits are really nice and the fact that we are able to claim back any travel or overtime makes work a lot more gratifying. There has been a lot of socials to help us integrate and I feel the people we work with make it much more enjoyable.

    7/10

  • 4. How well organised/structured is your programme?
  • The programme is run through BPP and uses the ICAEW exam board. The programme for the first two weeks was really well organised and we got alot of exam materials straight away. However since then, we do not get the exam materials for the next exams until 6 weeks beforehand which I do not understand, why don't we just get them straight away after passing.

    6/10

  • 5. How much support do you receive from your employer?
  • This is highly dependent on who you are working with on your client. From some individuals, support is really good and they will explain things to you really thoroughly to make sure you understand which as a trainee is really helpful. On other occasions people tend to brush you off to the side which is annoying.

    7/10

  • 6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
  • I believe that we get excellent support from the training provider. The exam materials provided to us are really good and easily understandable especially from a background that is not accountancy related. Also, there are plenty of tutors who openly reach out to you if you appear to be struggling in certain topics.

    9/10

  • 7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
  • At the moment I don't feel it helps me perform better and having spoken to people in above years a lot of the exams we do are not really relevant to the job. Some exams help you to understand certain terms better but in general they are not so relevant.

    4/10

  • 8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
  • There are plenty of socials to attend, at least once a month. There were also a few introductory drinks so the new joiners could be introduced. With regards to sports clubs, there are not so many. There is only really a football one which few people can get in to and there is a hockey one starting April this year.

    7/10

  • 9a. Would you recommend BDO to a friend?
  • Yes


  • 9b. Why?
  • There are plenty of different job opportunities and a wide range of experiences. Every job is different which keeps it quite exciting. Most of the people in the office are really friendly and the food in the canteen is also really good and quite cheap too which is a massive bonus.


  • 10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BDO?
  • Be yourself is probably the best advice I can give although it sounds quite cheesy. The people who are examining you in the application process are really good at what they do and can tell if someone is suited to the job that they are going to be applying for.


Details

Higher Level Apprenticeship

Accounting, Finance

London

February 2020


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