Associate Review

I am an audit associate at EY on a Level 7 apprenticeship in accountancy and taxation. This means we study towards a professional qualification under the ACA with ICAEW which involves sitting 15 exams across 4.5 years. You need 450 days work experience to qualify. In audit we review financial statements of our clients to issue an opinion on them.

I have developed skills such as networking, communication and also gained confidence as you are thrown in the deep end by discussing issues with clients at such an early stage in your career. This means you grasp onto the aim of the job very early on which is helpful later in your career as you've built work experience.

I enjoy the apprenticeship programme as it is an alternative to university but without the student debt. We are in the same position as graduates who join after 3/4 years after university. We all sit the 15 ACA exams so I found it to be much more beneficial to start after school.

Its very well organised and we have apprenticeship coaches who guide us if we are ever struggling with the work load and juggling between sitting exams and revision after work especially if working late hours. This makes sure you know who to talk to if you have any issues with work.

We receive support from your counsellor who is a selected manager who you go to with any questions you have about work or even struggles at work trying to manage the work load. We also have an apprenticeship coach who guide us with the work we need to do to complete the programme.

We receive alot of support from our training provider (Kaplan) who supply tutors and classroom taught lessons to learn each subject of the 15 exams. We can contact any of the tutors via email or phone call if we are stuck on any topics or questions and they are happy to respond.

Its helpful studying towards a professional qualification whilst also working on the job because it makes you understand the work you are doing at work make more sense. We learn all the technical accounting treatments with the training provider which is helpful when reviewing client work as we can understand if they have applied incorrect accounting treatment.

There are many activities you can get involved with at work, including charity events as we have our own charity who reach out for volunteers. We also have 2 days each year which we can take to volunteer which is really generous of the company. We also have sports teams who compete against other Big 4 companies.

Yes

I would recommend the company to work for as there are such a large variety of opportunities that will arise either within the business or externally once you have the reputation of a Big 4 company on your CV. The culture involves promoting wellness and flexible working so they are keeping up to date.

I would say "be yourself". This is all the recruiters will be looking for and be confident. Ensure that you research the company and their morals, main aims etc. This will show that you are interested in the business and have put time into researching their ethos. Also make sure you ask questions about the business or any you have about the role.