Associate 1 Review

My role was to complete testing of client accounts to ensure that their financial statements are true and fair Day-to-day I worked within assigned FSLIs and communicated with the team to inform them of my progress and any concerns/queries. I contacted the client with questions and asked for supporting evidence for required testing.

I have further understood the testing over unrecorded liabilities which I will take with me for my future placements, and can apply with developed understanding to my studies. I have also learnt new excel skills such as more complicated pivot tables and producing graphs for inputted data. This will help me complete my testing in the future.

The programme offers me the chance to experience real-life work and situations that I can apply to my studies. It also allows me to gain a further understanding of what my future role will consist of of. This means that I can fully interpret the work I will be performing after I have graduated, and can decide early on within my degree whether it is a job I am suited to and enjoy.

The programme is very well organised with numerous people being available for questions. PwC provide a 'Career Coach' to every member of staff who is someone to go to with any questions. They are also the person to moderate your performance and summarise your feedback to help with the development of your learning and understanding of what PwC expects from their employees.

The employer offers many people as a support net. There is the career coach who you can go to directly with any questions and they decide if you pass placement or not based on feedback you receive during your placement. There is also multiple teams within the office to allow for group communication and more people available to ask for any help. Resourcing are also available for questions and can be directly contacted where there are any concerns over jobs you have been assigned or if you want to take a day off.

The training provider provides multiple exams with exemptions for the ICAEW exams. This means that once we have graduated there are fewer exams we have to sit and pass to be able to gain our qualification. This saves us an extra year of studying and sitting exams, providing us a fast track within our career.

The content we are learning within our degree directly relates to the work we are performing during our placement. This means we can have a book understanding of the job and audit procedures we will have to conduct, and then when we go to complete the work we can further this knowledge with personal experience.

PwC offer many extra curriculum activities outside of work that allow PwC employees to come together in a different environment. We are also permitted one day a week where we can leave work at a reasonable hour to allow time for other commitments outside of the work place. This shows their understanding of outside commitments.

Yes

PwC offer many benefits to all their staff. Whilst you work long hours and the work can be challenging, there is always a network of people to support you through your time there. There are lots of different opportunities that PwC provide such as the option to go on a secondment and work abroad for a desired period of time to allow you to experience new places and work with different team.

Make sure you are prepared to work long hours and sometimes to be challenged by the client for why you are asking certain questions. Always reach out to your team and don't be afraid to ask questions, as this allows them to trust you more and will just worry if you are not interacting.