Analyst Review

As a Restructuring Analyst I primarily carry out all of the day to day tasks on a business administration, including but not limited to accounting, stakeholder communication, case management, and liaising with more senior colleagues across the firm as needed. I also assist senior team members (Directors/Partners) on an ad hoc basis with business development work - i.e. doing research reports on various target businesses.

From Day One I was thrown in on the deep end on several live workstreams and shown the ropes by a more experienced colleague on the team. Outside of my ACA/L7 apprenticeship, which focuses mainly on technical ability and development, I feel like my communication (written and verbal) has improved immensely. For instance, I regularly call/email/post out official letters to stakeholders, which requires me to a) understand what I'm talking about b) convey it in a concise but comprehensive manner.

On the whole I've really enjoyed my time so far, and it has been very much as I expected - if anything, less pressured and stressful as I was prepared for. My favourite aspect has been my team. Though I haven't met 90% of them in person, they've always been very welcoming and fun to be around in social calls, whilst also being really helpful and informative in a more work focused context.

There are several 'layers' and groups of support with regards to training. We have peer support groups made up of cohorts ahead of us, as well as dedicated apprenticeship coaches, a buddy, a counsellor etc. And our training provider for ACA, has been consistently really good with teaching/materials and communicating key dates/information onto us.

The job is inherently higher pressure, but managers and other senior team members are usually accommodative and flexible when it comes to out of work issues or commitments (i.e. doctor appointment, leaving work slightly early to visit parents). We each get a counsellor at ~manager level to guide and mentor us with our careers too, which is very helpful as they always have a more matured and experienced perspective in helping us resolve problems or queries at work.

Our provider gives out excellent study workbooks and course materials which are easier to follow than the actual ones from ICAEW, which are extremely detailed and long winded for revision purposes. The tutors are excellent at teaching material during the course, and they also provide a range of other contact means should we require extra support or help in the run up to an exam.

While I'm only on exam 2/15 so far, I've felt like the ACA has already filled in some big fundamentals in my knowledge, which I have been able to apply at work. Most pertinently would be the first exam "Accounting (AC)" which, while a very steep learning curve, gives a really solid grounding in general accounting principles and regulations that are encountered daily at work.

COVID has put practically everything physical on hold, ordinarily there are regular activities and opportunities to socialise. Additionally, there is a big emphasis on different communities/networks for various people (i.e. Women, ethnic groups, religions), enabling people of practically any background to find and interact with similar people. One other point worth mentioning is that every employee is given a couple of days a year off work in order to pursue a charitable cause (time to do a sponsored climb, run etc)

Yes

It's been an excellent opportunity to learn and set the foundations for my future career, with a very clear and well compensated promotion/development structure. Aside from this, I've really enjoyed the work itself, as I find it to be meaningful and intellectually stimulating - something which I've found to be a very large (and welcome!) change from school/6th form.

EY itself gives fairly comprehensive guides and advice on what to expect as you progress through the application. My biggest tip, once passing the non verbal online tests and progressing to the assessment stages where you have to talk (i.e. interview/assessment day/calls), is to be confident. Several times I can remember messing up an answer or stumbling over my words to someone, but I managed to recover the situation with confidence, such as by cracking a little joke after.