Flying Start Degree programme - Placement 2, Manchester Review

During placement, we work within the audit sector of PwC. Meaning we meet with clients to audit their financial statements. Day-to-day this involves speaking with the client to understand their accounting approach, testing each FSLI in different ways, and reviewing the final statutory accounts. We work in teams which can range from 3 people to 30, therefore we meet lots of different people from all different backgrounds.

Throughout this placement, my audit knowledge and technical capabilities have been developed greatly. Due to it being my second placement, I have been involved in testing more complex areas of the file which I didn't even look at last year. I believe that my confidence and understanding when testing has developed greatly due to learning from my peers on the job. At university, we also do an audit module which comes into practice greatly during placement, it helped my understand how to test certain FSLIs and why we test them that way.

Although it can be challenging and stressful at times, I do greatly enjoy this programme. It gives me an opportunity to get experience in the industry at such a young age, all whilst still being able to get the 'university experience' which appeals to people my age. I take each challenge as a learning experience to help me develop.

I believe the degree programme is well structured. We receive a week of training/induction which helps to form a basis of what to expect during placement, however I do believe the majority of the learning has to occur on the job in order to get a solid understanding of audit. Having the placement split up across university learning also helps, as we learn at university and then we get to put this into practice during placement. We also have a good support system at university, made up of chartered accountants who used to work for PwC, therefore they understand what we will be doing on our placement and what problems may arise.

When working on different audits, we are in different teams and overall the managers are really supportive. They often check up on the less experienced members of their teams to see how we are getting on and if we understand what we are doing. We also have a Career coach, who is also a manager - my career coach is very approachable and quick to answer any queries I have. Due to the nature of the flying start programme, we all know each other well throughout the year groups so any flying start in the firm knows what we are going through and are happy to help.

At university, we are in small classes of around 45 students, this helps with learning as it feels more like a class room than a lecture theatre. This helps provide more 1 to 1 learning, as you gain a better relationship with the lecturer as they know you by name. We also have a personal tutor who doesn't teach us directly, so I feel comfortable going to them with any issues I have. I believe the lecturers really care about our progress as young professionals, which is reassuring knowing they will help if we have any issues/queries.

At University we have an Audit module which directly ties in to the work we perform on placement. This helps me perform better in my role as although a lot of the learning is done on the job, it gives us a good basis of knowledge to develop. I also believe the financial accounting modules help throughout placement as this is the basis of the work we are performing - i.e. we have to understand how the financial statements are prepared in order to audit them!

Due to Covid-19 this has been difficult this year, however in prior years we have had 'flying start socials' where we get to know all the current flying starts and pervious flying starts who still work for PwC. This year they were moved online to try mimic these. PwC as a firm also have multiple extra curricular activities for us to get involved in, such as quizzes, live streams, springfest. These socials provide a nice change to working during busy season.

Yes

I would recommend PwC to a friend as throughout my placements, I have met a number of different people, all from different backgrounds who have become really good friends. I also recommend PwC due to the large support systems they have in place, although some areas may be tough, there is always someone you can talk to about your problems to know you're not alone. There are also multiple other benefits, such as socials, debrief meals and opportunities to work abroad!

When applying to the Flying Start programme I would say make sure you do your research, make sure you understand what audit is and what the degree programme entails by looking at the PwC/University websites. I would also make sure you're enthusiastic about learning and are always open to challenge, as the programme can sometimes get difficult, you need to show resilience.