Assurance Associate Review

We work with a variety of clients and essentially go through all of their financial data and test that it is true and fair. This can include a variety of tests but a brief example would be checking that a sale that they recorded in the year is backed up by an invoice which confirms that the value / VAT / date it was recorded is correct.

So many new skills. Most of them building professional relationships with people as this was my first ever full time job and working with people outside my circle and essentially building a trust so that we can both get what we want. In addition to that Microsoft excel as a whole, massively helpful tool and most of my day to day work is spent on it so I can do many more things at a more efficient pace that when I first joined.

It's safe to say it has it's ups and downs. I enjoy the responsibility you are given right from the get go and that definitely does not change. You are put in charge of an area in a team and your job is to complete that area entirely with help of course and working with such high profile clients as well. However on the flip side. in the bulk of it I find it extremely difficult to have much of a life. The job can get extremely busy (12 hour days), in addition to then trying to keep up with exams and revision which for the most part we are not given time for study leave. We get time to learn it e.g. college however after that it's pretty much on our own time. It adds up and can be extremely overwhelming.

Extremely well. You get a timetable of what clients you are on for a week at a time or when your college / exams are and can even keep track of what exams are next. Like I said previously however, some study leave would be nice to relieve the pressure a bit so that we aren't craving some free time.

Relatively enough. We get as much coaching as we need for each specific area despite everyone being extremely busy. It's a very learn as you go basis which of course is the whole point of an apprenticeship. You work with a varied amount of managers / seniors who coach you and you learn who suits what style of work you have which can be a good and bad thing.

Again a lot in terms of general materials. Not so much personal help but once we learn the areas its really down to us to nail the knowledge on our own so that's understandable. We receive a complete hard copy study manual with a complete question bank to practice from the official exam board. Along side this we also have a complete learning environment for practice mocks or more questions and even digital versions of the materials.

Some what. Most of the time its actually the other way around. Where what we learn on the job actually aids in our understanding of the exams and learning, which of course is a positive. But they go hand in hand where once we officially learn something its nice to then be able to take it in practice.

Varies from office to office so I can only speak of what we get here in the North West. There is a lot of socialising (albeit COVID-19 etc). In Liverpool it is obviously a smaller office compared to the rest of the UK which is actually nice because there can be a lot of events that are arranged such as trips to the pub, 5 a side football, bingo, charity runs and hikes etc. As much as we need for our jobs.

Yes

Its a very 65/35 I would say. My personal experience has been extremely up and down so can only talk from my end. If you keep on top of your work and exams I think anyone will enjoy the opportunity to learn an awful lot and work with clients which you can only really dream of. However can find yourself spiralling if you fall behind and you just have to power through it as hard as you can where the job is extremely demanding.

Ask as many questions as you want about the job, have experience in working in a team because the job is solely that. Building relationships, working towards common goals as a team as when you start enjoying those parts the job becomes easier. If you are one to enjoy a challenge and be tested then this is absolutely for you as the better parts of me have been tested and have progressed massively due to it.