Flying Start Degree Programme - Flying Start 1 (Manchester office) Review

For my work experience, I have been assisting on the auditing of companies. This work has involved carrying out evidence gathering activities 'EGAs' that provide us with the assurance that the companies' financial statements do not contain material mistakes as a result of fraud or error. I have performed work on numerous financial line items in the financial statements, such as on inventory, property, plant and equipment, accounts receivable, leases, and revenue.

I gained the first hand knowledge to understand how auditors carry out their testing on their clients and assisted in carrying out these tests. This helped me understand the auditing processes and testing that I had learnt as part of my accounting. I also had several calls with clients as part of my audits and with other auditing firms as part of file review handovers I was doing. This helped me develop my communication skills. I rated a 7 star as despite the aforementioned skills, I feel as though I didn't actually get to put as much of it in practice as I would have liked to.

The auditing work I was given I found both challenging and interesting and on all my jobs I had a supportive and engaging team around me. However, doing this work experience virtually due to COVID-19 was always going to limit the rating I could give on this section as despite having sufficient systems in place to carry out audits virtually, it is not quite the same as being able to be going into the office and working at client sites, both from a social perspective and from a development of skills and knowledge perspective. Also, I felt throughout my placement that I was not really put on that many 'real' audit jobs and was often just put on tasks where, for example, the audit had already taken place and there was a few tedious tasks that needed to be completed. As my first of three placements at PwC, I am not sure if it is expected that I be given this type of workor if I was just unlucky.

On all the jobs that I was on, there was a strong level of organisation and structure within the team and the expectation regarding workload and effort was usually stressed at the beginning of the audit so we knew what was expected of us. Throughout the audits I did there was always a strong support network from my incharges and the managers so I knew I could go to them if I had any issues or concerns so that was always reassuring. However, one area that I feel was slightly unorganised was the induction. We only received information on the first day the night before and I thought it would've been nice to get it perhaps the week before as some of me and my fellow course mates were slightly worried as we had not been contacted by any PwC employee until 7pm the night before our placement started.

I'd say the company values at both company level and business unit level was strongly emphasised through training, setting targets for ourselves at the beginning of placement, a reward system PwC have in place to reward employees based on these key values. From the experience I had on jobs, it was clear that there was a strong supporting culture adopted at PwC and I felt like this was particularly crucial for me having to work remotely having the support network in place to help me with any issues or concerns I had. By working virtually, I had no experience of any office atmosphere however by speaking to other employees, and through calls with my audit teams and online social events, there appears to be a really strong culture of structure, teamwork and support at the office.

The work experience certainly gave me an insight into what it would be like to become an auditor. I have a second and third placement at PwC in 2022 and 2023 and (COVID-pending) I feel as though I will be able to gain a greater insight then into what it is like to be working as an auditor when working in-person with an audit team at client sites and at home. However, this placement by no means has put me off this career path and I still like the prospect of becoming an auditor.

By working from home, I did not have to do any travelling to the office or client sites so did not need any reimbursement for any location or travel costs. On some of the work socials I went to, there was a budget given to us to spend on snacks or drinks during the social and we were reimbursed for these costs up to a certain amount.

As part of the Flying Start programme I am on, there were two social events during my placement, one which was a murder mystery and another which was a quiz. We were split into smaller groups for these so I got to meet some of the other Flying Starts from other years. There was also a whole office social where similarly we were split into smaller group for this social so I got to meet other employees that I had not worked with on any of my jobs. Ideally, I thought a few more socials would have been good but I was happy that there was some effort made for socials virtually.

Yes

For someone who wants to work in financial services, it is one of the biggest firms in the world to work for meaning that there is the potential to work for some of the biggest companies in a variety of sectors and markets, and from speaking to other employees, it appears that there is vast potential for promotion and advancement within the firm. Also, the people that work for the firm are really supportive, friendly and approachable so it is really easy to get settled in and adapt to working for the firm.

Similarly to what I was told by other employees at the beginning of my placement, I would encourage anyone applying for PwC to not be afraid to ask questions when starting as this really allows you to gain the deepest level of experience and knowledge and to make the most of the placement.