Senior Associate Review

The role involves a huge variety of different tasks and responsibilities that change and progress each year that you are on the scheme. You start as an assistant associate in year one, however are able to take on all the same types of work as graduates joining the firm. This is tasks such as dealing with client contacts and building client relationships, taking ownership of parts of an audit file, dealing with different team members on a weekly basis and meeting a variety of different people, within Deloitte and at each different client. You never feel as though you are standing still in the career as there are always opportunities to push yourself. Currently I am going into my third year and am taking on responsibilities of leading audit teams for a number of different clients - also working in a senior position on an audit of a listed company, being the main point of contact for the client and being in control of building and furthering strong client relationships. It also involves attending college for the ICAEW qualification and building significant knowledge in areas such as financial management, financial accounting and reporting and tax.

There are so many skills that can be learnt and developed while being a part of the scheme. Firstly you work towards an ICAEW ACA chartered accountancy qualification, doing 15 exams which significantly increase knowledge in all areas of accounting/tax/finance management. Internal training courses are run, with which 3 of these are residential courses where you stay away for 3 days and perform team building tasks such as running a fictional pizza company, and professional actors are brought in to act as different client situations to improve your skills with dealing with the client. Leadership skills are gained from being in control of senioring audit teams for a large range of different companies/industries - as well as teamwork skills in the first couple of years when you are junior grades - teamwork skills don't just stop there as the management team form an integral team in each office which you can be part of once you qualify.

There are so many skills that can be learnt and developed while being a part of the scheme. Firstly you work towards an ICAEW ACA chartered accountancy qualification, doing 15 exams which significantly increase knowledge in all areas of accounting/tax/finance management. Internal training courses are run, with which 3 of these are residential courses where you stay away for 3 days and perform team building tasks such as running a fictional pizza company, and professional actors are brought in to act as different client situations to improve your skills with dealing with the client. Leadership skills are gained from being in control of senioring audit teams for a large range of different companies/industries - as well as teamwork skills in the first couple of years when you are junior grades - teamwork skills don't just stop there as the management team form an integral team in each office which you can be part of once you qualify.

The range of different types of clients/industries that can be worked on, and then further to this the range of different responsibilities and areas of audit work that can be performed is so great that there is always an opportunity to improve your own skills in whichever direction you see best. There are many different departments not just limited to audit which I work in which Deloitte offer secondments to so you can build your knowledge in these areas too which is another significant way of building experience in different areas. Also the large number of people you meet, not just co-workers but also all different types of clients in different locations throughout the UK broadens your experience in dealing with different types of people. The fact that I never feel like I'm standing still and there is always more things I can take on to push myself and push my career is the best part about the scheme and the main reason why I enjoy the scheme as much as I do.

As it is such a large company, there are obviously a large number of different managers, and thus a large number of different management styles. For the most part there is a strong push towards rewarding high performing staff, and this is seen in the strong feedback culture within the firm whereby you get feedback after every single client that you work on, as well as building objectives for each year to work towards and assess how well you are doing and how much you are pushing yourself. This is where the main focus on praising staff is done, as well as appreciation by management shown on each job. However while being lower down on the career ladder it does sometimes feel that your contribution is just one of the thousands of other cogs spinning keeping the firm running, and no significant individual recognition is given straight away. However this goes with the territory of working in such a large firm and it does not detract from the enjoyment of the job as there is still plenty of appreciation and value shown by the individual managers to junior members of the team.

BPP the qualification provider are extremely strong with the support and advice structure that they promote. The tutors let you know from the beginning of the course that they are always contactable, with most giving there home numbers for any support and advice right up to the date of the exam. They also run sessions where they come into our office and have one to one meetings to make sure that I am happy with the course and the progress of my revision and offering help and advice where necessary. The whole culture of BPP is to support the students however they can - also having online learning where all content for exams is in online lecture format - with hundreds of practice questions to try.

There is an appraisal system in place, as well as a mentor scheme, giving each person 2 point of contacts for advice and guidance right from the beginning, and this continues throughout the scheme, with flexibility being given on who the designated people are once you know who you work best with and who you prefer to get support from.

The starting salary is good for the industry, however it does quickly diminish due to living costs - many travel costs are reimbursed by the firm. The main point for salary that it is significantly better once qualified and this is when it would be bumped up to a 10 here.

There are office drinks every month, summer and winter balls -as well as association with the local university accountancy student union who put on social events a few times a year. There are also away days, volunteer opportunities such as I took part in volunteering for the Paralympic training camp for London 2012 with Deloitte which was a memorable experience.

Yes

It is the most challenging, rewarding and diverse working experience I have ever had, and it continues to push me all the time and move my career forward.

The application process is quite rigorous, however this should not put anyone off in applying as a large amount of the process is generally being interviewed and having one on one talks with management from the firm - they are laid back and do not feel like you are just there to prove yourself - my interview for the job lasted over 2 hours as me and the interviewer spoke for ages about our past/holidays etc as well as stuff relevant to the job which made me feel very relaxed and it made it easier for the interview to flow. The process is an online application followed by an online numeracy and literacy test - both of which are not too tough. Then there is an initial interview with a manager from the firm which is based on them getting to know you as well as them assessing your competencies for the role you are applying for. Once you get through this you then do an assessment day which involves doing a simulation of an hour of client work with emails being sent to you and you have different options of how to proceed with each - with a score being given to you at the end. Once you have gotten through these, you then go to final partner interview where you may have to do a short presentation or just a general talk about a topic that they give you which only lasts around 5 minutes - and if they feel you are the right person for one of the positions then you will be hired. Although it feels like a long process, if you push yourself to do it then it is very rewarding when you get the job as you know you worked for it and got through a number of different stages to get the role and so you feel more rewarded to know you got the job - the process was very smooth and relaxed - much more than other companies which I applied for which is why I eventually chose Deloitte.