Intern/Trainee Review

Day-to-day you work within an audit team to ensure the clients financial statements portray a true and fair reflection of the company. This means testing certain elements of the financial statements eg; revenue, expenses, loans, property. We are doing this to ensure that nothing has been incorrectly accounted for or missed out intentionally.

Teamwork is an essential skill when working within audit. Normally you are working within a team of people and this will vary dependent on the size of the client. You will always be working for a senior, manager and partner so communication is also essential to ensure the work is on track with what the client and firm expect.

This programme is challenging but enjoyable. You are studying with like minded people who are also aware of the study require to pass chartered exams. The programme is designed in such a way that allows for work and fun as long as you organise your time and study towards your exams.

The programme is very well structured to give us the best exposure possible whilst on placement. The placement takes place in accounting 'busy season' between January and March as this is when most business end takes place. This means we study between September and December and then again on our return to university after Easter and sit summer exams in June like many other university students.

We receive classroom based training before each placement to teach us the skills and knowledge we require for the placement. During each placement we are entrusted with more challenging areas of the financial statements to test, which means progressively, more responsibility. This is achieved through a blend of pre-placement teaching and on-the-job coaching from more senior team members. In terms of support for wellbeing, we are assigned a career coach who checks in on our progress, usually on a monthly basis, and are always on hand for support outside of this. Further, there are numerous Flying Start Champions within the office who are ex-flying starts themselves, who know how it feels to work during ‘busy season’ as a student.

Newcastle University works alongside ICAEW in order for us to be taught in line with ACA chartered accountancy teaching. This is supported through a range of textbooks, study guides and question banks. We then sit the ICAEW exams in our first, second and third years of study meaning when we leave the university we have 12 of the 15 chartered exams required by ICAEW.

Without the accounting modules taken in the first few years of study it would be impossible to understand the processes behind the audit. In particular we take an audit module before the first placement, which gives context to the job role and an insight as to what the role of an auditor entails before we witness this first hand on placement.

As we join the company during 'busy season' there aren't as many social activities as the rest of the year. However, an extra effort is made to keep everyone motivated. There was an online christmas cocktail class, steps challenge, cook-along and takeaway night within the department throughout my placement.

Yes

PwC is a company full of youthful energy and great professional support. As a training company they know exactly what a graduate needs to excel at the beginning of their career. This includes supporting you through relevant professional qualifications providing the necessary study leave, as well as giving opportunity for travel and career progression.

PwC is a company that centres around its people. When interviewing I would just advise you to be yourself and let your personality shine through. Definitely draw on experiences of what you can bring to PwC such as teamwork and creativity. The assessment days are designed to get to know you, so don't be too nervous but also don't be too overbearing.