Associate/Intern/Trainee Review

My role was as a PwC associate in the Audit line of service, which involved working from home this year. I was assigned a client, which I joined the audit engagement team for. I was then assigned various tasks and areas to work on, for example interest and payroll testing. We would have catch up calls every morning at 9am, and towards the end of the audit another one at 8pm, to update the team on the progress we have made on our areas of work.

I've developed my technical skills as an auditor greatly, as well as confidence in speaking to clients. A new skill I've learned would be on how to manage my time while working from home, as well as learning how to navigate essential communication applications, such as Google Meets and Zoom. In audit, it is common to find that each different area is tested slightly differently, so gaining experience in testing interest and payroll, among other things, has been a great learning curve for me.

I enjoy my programme in the sense that I am working with very accommodating and intelligent people, for the most part, who care about helping me develop in my career as an accountant. There is also a sense of pride in getting things done, especially when your tasks make a tangible difference to the team, contributing towards finishing the whole audit. However, as I was on a year end audit, it can be extremely busy and stressful, often working up to 12 hours a day in the final few weeks, and while this is necessary, it takes away from the enjoyment of the programme.

The programme is very well organised for the most part, in my opinion. We are provided with work laptops and phones, as well as all of the information we need to log in to them. We had 2 weeks of training before beginning real audit work, which set us up nicely. There are some issues in resourcing, sometimes not automatically being assigned work, or in my case not being directed towards independence confirmations which are required before starting work on a client.

My employer, PwC, treat me like any other employee. There is a vast network of people to contact and most internal problems can be resolved quickly. The cast majority of the seniors I worked with supported me greatly; always happy to help, coach and work through my questions with me. If there ever is an issue that the seniors can't resolve themselves, they will always point you in the right direction to someone who can.

The University is not involved too much while you are on your placement and working. That being said, my personal tutor did contact me twice throughout the placement to arrange a video call, to discuss how things were going. Also it was required of us to submit two 'placement essays', explaining and evaluating our experience and how we have developed one of the five PwC professional attributes. The university also accommodates the 2 weeks of training.

I feel that what we learn while on our placement is the best experience possible to set us up for full time work, as we are literally doing the job. We are treated as any other employee and not singled out for being on placement. Therefore the skills I've learned and experience I've gained is identical to that I would have gained if I were working at PwC full time anyway. We do not gain any experience in accounting outside of audit however, but audit is an important part of accounting and is key in learning how companies work and why things are tested.

There are social activities available, if your team organises them. There were not any extra-curricular activities this year, due to working from home, however usually there is a Christmas Ball you're invited to, and some teams have regular socials, going out for a drink/food. I believe there are PwC sports teams you can get involved in, but they are not advertised, at least not in my experience, but if you reach out to the right people you can get involved.

Yes

Because the particular placement that I am on gives you the best experience in training as an auditor, as you are literally doing the job. It is the luck of the draw in which clients you are given, as some are much more stressful than others, and this affects how much you get out of it. That being said, in my experience, I was very busy which did feel draining at times, but I have got valuable experience out of it.

I think the number one tip would be to always ask questions, and don't be afraid to do so. Luckily the vast majority of people you work with are lovely and very happy to help with any queries or issues, which makes it a very safe environment to ask questions. This is also crucial as you could be dealing in complex areas of testing, therefore asking questions to perfect your understanding is vital and encouraged.