Associate Level 1 Review

External auditor, mainly involves speaking to clients and receiving/documenting their responses. Have been part of meeting both internal and with clients. There is also a fair bit of administration work, and reviewing meeting minutes.

Communication/confidence, especially when speaking to people of higher seniority to myself. In general my knowledge of auditing and accounting as a whole has improved massively- have completed AAT level 3 course and soon to start level 4 before advancing onto CIPFA qualification.

Really nice and helpful colleagues/ working environment make the whole experience much more enjoyable, however you are given a lot of responsibility and an early stage to improve independence, but this also comes with it's own pressures.

Not much positive feedback is given, you normally only hear a response if you have made a mistake. When feedback is given most of the time it is quite generic without much thought being involved, which is probably due to it being a large company, so lots of feedback needs to be written.

Most organisation is dependant on yourself and your own research, no programme is setup when you join.

Helpful advise is normally given immediately by anyone you ask of it, including more senior managers.

GT try to install independence and you normally are not given help/advise until you ask for it, but if you do the response is usually really helpful.

Travel is paid for by the company and I personally live at home so I don't have much in terms of outgoing costs, and the salary for school leavers is standard and inline with other employers in same market.

There is a social club that meets up every month as well as random other events throughout the year, which you are notified about regularly.

Yes

It may be tough at times, but the training and experience is of a very high quality and it helps you quickly learn the job role. It is a great leap into your respective field and a great kick-start to your career- plus you finish in the same place as people who go to university and incurred none of the debt.

Be yourself and try your best, and you will soon feel as part of the Grant Thornton team with a network of colleagues who will help you through the different stages of your career.