Audit Trainee Review

My role as an audit trainee on an assurance engagement involves performing testing to gain assurance over internal controls and figures in the financial statements as well as analysing financial statements, attending internal and client meetings, reviewing and senioring more junior staff. There is also a level of training completed throughout the role.

I have learnt several skills and behaviors through the school leaver programme at BDO. To begin, the audit trainees train with BPP professional education to gain the CFAB and ACA qualifications. These consist of a series of exams (15 in total). There are also several internal trainings and informal training via coaching from seniors/managers.

I really enjoy the programme as it allows me to gain a lot of exposure to clients and progress in my career. The team are very supportive and a very nice atmosphere to work in. BDO take pride in their people and so the company culture is among the best.

My programme is very well structured. It is detailed from the first day of joining when you are expected to sit exams and qualify etc. Each employee has a people manager and a buddy who offer support throughout the whole programme and take on somewhat of a mentoring role to the employee.

BDO provide a lot of support for several different things. There are always people available and each employee is assigned a buddy and a people manager who offer support and advice. As a whole, the organisation offers wellbeing support through employee assistance programmes, health care apps and also have several groups set up to address and support those in minority.

There is a lot of support from the training provider. They have an online portal which is available all the time and has online videos which can be watched at anytime. There are also the live classroom lessons. They also have a client contact team who are available to answer questions.

My qualification definitely helps me to perform better in my role as it has allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of accounting which I can apply to my role as Audit trainee. We also spend time learning about skills and behaviours and are assessed on these which again helps in practice.

There are lots of different opportunities at BDO to get involved with extra-curricular activities. Each year, there is a social budget given to each team so that socials can be organised as well as Christmas parties. Due to COVID 19 most teams run frequent virtual events. There are also several committees/societies that one can be involved within, such as wellbeing, BAME, pet society, software/IT champions etc.

Yes

I would reccomend BDO to a friend as despite being a national firm, they are very personable and employees are not regarded as 'just another number'. There is a really great culture and everyone I have worked with has been very approachable, supportive and understanding. BDO offers great oppurtunities career wise also.

I would advise those applying to BDO to do some research on the company particularly around the core values as these are very important. I would encourage people to be vocal in assessment centres and be themselves. BDO is a people company, and being yourself is the most important thing.