senior Review

We have to begin with performing planning of the audit and identifying any of the risky areas and ensuring we have sufficient resource to complete the procedures in the given time frame. We tend to go out onto clients sites Mon-Thur and have Fridays in the office to catch up on internal meetings. Majority of my day is spent on excel as this is the primary function of performing an 'audit' in which we will obtain information from the client and validate the integrity of the information.

Across the years at EY I have been able to develop my audit methodology in which I can now host a conversation and clearly use and communicate using financial and technical words. Additionally, I have been able to develop communication skills in order to approach difficult and awkward conversations with the client efficiently and be able to get a positive outcome.

I think it is great as it allows you to get on the job experience as well as be able to complete the ACA qualification. However, despite the programme been around for many years the structure of the programme is still lacking that it is not uniform across the country/other divisions as to what the expectation and what level you are meant to be at each stage.

Unfortunately I don't think the structure of the programme has been fully ironed out and perfect there is still quite a few miscommunications. I think the programme would benefit with having a syllabus of where each individual should be at within the career for each year they have worked at the business. In regards to the sitting of exams I do think this is really beneficial to both the individual and the firm.

At the beginning of the programme there was much greater support mechanism in place however as time as progressed at the firm unfortunately there is much reduced support. However, with comes with this is a much greater network of co workers who you can rely on for support and assistance.

Kaplan are a great provider of tuition, you can email a query regarding your exam over the weekend and most times you will receive a reply the same or next day. During college they are always more than happy to assist and provide great material and additional guidance to assist going into the exam.

I definitely think completing the exams assists in performing my role better, you are able to learn and advance in areas that are less common on an audit such as discounting cash flows and impairment reversals. Therefore, as you see the basis of the calculation as college you can use this basis to think of the approach in completing the work.

Yes there are several extra curricular courses there is several networks too. There is netball, football, womens network and there is muslin network. There is many, this is an area that EY prides themselves on as they are able to supply a wide range. Additionally, work also subsidise for each individual in a training contract to attend the NCAS ball.

No

I think the programme requires fine tuning to be perfect in order to provide sufficient support and development for each individual. Additionally, I think the benefit of going to university and being able to complete your exams sooner is also an opportunity that should be carefully considered. I previously worked a year in retail before working at EY.

I recommend that you perform sufficient research about the department and service line you are entering into, as the programme is for 5 years therefore is of a substantial time frame and it has to be right for you. Additionally, I would recommend reaching out to people who already work there on linkedin and see if there is any vacancies or opportunities to intern as an example.