Audit associate Review

I work on different engagements each week on different clients. My tasks involve testing items on the financial statements and obtaining supporting evidence for these. I have also been involved in the reporting side of this and tying back the information in the financial statements back to the work that was performed by us.

From my college experience I have learnt the fundamentals of accounting and audit which has been very useful in developing my career. My on the job training has helped me to develop my technical skills and I am now proficient in using excel and other software which I use everyday.

I enjoy learning new things so I enjoy the college aspect of the programme a great deal and feel like I have made good progress. However, the hours are very long in terms of the work and this is lengthened further when exams approach and you have to revise outside of working hours which can be tiring.

The programme is well-structured and there are clear guidelines on what we should be doing each week and how we access our different resources which is helpful. I will say that sometimes there have been last minute changes in the course dates before which has caused some unnecessary administrative stress.

We are given study days by our employer where we can attend college sessions for our ACA qualification as well as exam preparation weeks as our exams approach. However, it sometimes takes a while for members of the employer's exams team to respond to our queries which can be problematic when you need support.

The tutors at Kaplan are really helpful and always give us very useful tips. They understand the content really well and explain things clearly. I find their exam techniques as well very useful as a lot of the exams are very time pressured so it is helpful to know how to approach the exams.

By gaining a general understanding of the fundamentals of accounting I am able to perform my job better and have a better idea of what I am doing which is helpful as I can then perform the work more efficiently and my queries are mainly limited to industry specific questions.

At the moment there are a limited number of activities at our work due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, they recently launched a virtual networking session for the new joiners so we could meet some of the people in our office. I think normally there are a lot of activities that we can take part in and I look forward to these commencing again.

No

I personally would prefer more of a work life balance and I have recently been working many long hours during busy season which has been very tiring and I have also had exams on top of this meaning you get very little free timeto yourself. If you don't mind this then I would recommend PwC.

I would recommend that they fully research the role and what the job entails before applying or speak to people who work there tio get an understanding. I would also try and get a better idea of the exam requirements to know what is expected of you and how you should balance your time between work and study.