Flying Start Review

At the minute I am currently a student enrolled on the BA Accouting and Business course at Reading university which involves placements at PwC. When on a placement, I'm a Flying Start working in the assurance sector of the company. Day to day this means that being part of a team conducting audits at various other companies. Also, it does sometimes involve other tasks such as performing stock counts and having to liase with different departments.

The university side of the degree, when finished, exempts me from 12 of the 15 accountancy exams needed to be able to become chartered. Whilst on placement, I developed many audit skills and additional knowledge through performing work and additional e-learns. I enjoy learning new and useful things which help me in my day to day working and jobs, I find that a lot of the employees are also really helpful and i learn a lot from them also.

The university side of the course allows me to have the uni experience and enjoy the social side that comes with that. However it is noticably harder than most other course as the content is challenging, and so result in additional stress. On placement, there is a friendly and happy work environment with a lot of support from other colleagues. I enjoyed and acheived more on placement than I was execting to, and really enjoyed it.

It is very well organised and structured overall at PwC. Placement and lecture dates are distributed to us promptly and we have dedicated people on both the PwC and University side to organise us. When on placement, you are allocated to jobs and a timetable of those are on a system which you can log onto at any time to see where you are working. Compared to previous companies I would say PwC is very well organised.

At PwC, you are given a 'people manager' who you have regular meetings/phone updates with you to discuss your progress and any feedback you have received. You are also allocated a Flying Start Champion who is there to answer any other queries and questions that you might have with the company and your learning. There is a general attitude to encourage support between colleagues whilst working on various jobs and placements within the company.

You are provided with a personal tutor at university who you have regular progress meetings with. They answer any questions you have promptly and without making it seem like an inconvenience. They are really helpful with the curriculum and helping you understand the work. The work we do is really useful for the work at PwC. In addition, there is a buddy scheme where you are given a person in the year above you to ask any questions to or ask advice.

As mentioned in the above question, the work that we do at the university is useful for the work and jobs we do at PwC. The personal tutor at the university is really helpful with any course studies and questions that you have. As also mentioned in question 6, there is a buddy scheme where you are given a person in the year above you to ask any questions to or ask advice. This is useful as some of the PwC guys can be your buddy to help with personal work issues too.

PwC organise regular socials and other activities outside of work which range from sports teams to office away weekends. The University has a Accounting and Business society which arranges various socials which are open to all the years so can interact with many people. I have found some of the activities really useful for getting to know some of the people you work with and to also make friends. I have enjoyed all the past activities that i have been to.

Yes

PwC has many amazing opportunities for young people looking to work towards becoming a chartered accountant. They support you throughout and adapt to your goals. With them, you aren't just another placement student, you become part of the PwC team and i find it really interesting and nice to feel that way whilst in a working environment which is why i would encourage anyone to join and apply themselves to this type of company and workforce.

I would definitely say to show your enthusiasm, be confident in your abilities and most importantly be yourself. PwC aren't just looking for perfect but people who know their flaws and are ready to work on them and improve themselves. In addition to this i would say to just read up on the company and what sort of values and work they participate in. I think that doing a few hours of research can be really beneficial.