Audit Trainee Review

Carry out tasks of an auditor involving testing of several types of FSA e.g Payroll, Overheads and Intangible assets. Complete working papers for the FSA. Constantly involved with 3rd parties i.e clients, banks and HMRC. The work can sometimes be easy if lucky e.g ticking whether invoices match to journals posted.

Definitely developed professional behaviour and research. Before going on to a client call a lot of research must be done. Also developed time management as work sometimes needs to be done within strict deadlines.

The programme itself is enjoyable in terms of the peers and clients you meet but the work can a lot of times be repetitive and bland but once you get the jist of it, it becomes second nature. Pay is good so not complaining

The programme is structured as there being 6 certificate exams in the first year and 3 each year for the next 3 years. The training provider keeps in touch through out but not very easily approachable once you finish your classes. The programme was definitely hit by COVID as the internal qualifications team is working from home, therefore being a little harder to get in touch with.

Due to COVID support for exams as well as training for work has been hit strongly. Several teams are harder to reach and seniors expect you to know a fair amount of things, even though you have only been there for a few months. Usually, when working in the office the new joiners learn very quickly as the people who need to help you are in close proximity. You can still call them through teams when working from home, but how many calls can a person make in a day.

Training provider have been helpful and their classes are mostly fabulous. Sometimes the material provided on their website for revision can sometimes be wrong. They did listen and fix most of the issues. The only downside is that they are not easily approachable after you have finished your classes. There is no chat forum just email which can take several days to get a reply.

Not much. Most of the training is provided with regards to work is by the company itself. After an exam though, you definitely start to understand more of the work you do but that’s more of an ICAEW thing than the training provider

Yes one of the best things about this job are the people. There are lots of charity and social events but they have definitely been affected by COVID. Regardless of the virus the firm has not stopped hosting the session online.

Yes

BDO is a great place to work. The people especially are ready to help you whenever and in whatever way they can. Occasionally you can get a rude senior but in audit you don’t tend to stay on the same client with the senior long at all. The teams keep changing. A lot of the things that make BDO great however, have been affected by the virus, yet it keeps working effectively to try and ensure those aspects are addressed. You are expected to work long hours however, you do occasionally get times when you’re free or the work load isn’t much.

Make sure you use the star technique when about to do an interview. Make sure you research a lot about the role, especially if you have a friend that works for an accounting firm. Ask them what their day to day job is. That question always comes up. Keep yourself relaxed it ain’t the end of the world if you don’t get in. If you do get in; before you start, make sure you get all the going out and relaxing out of your system and prepare yourself for a long and tiring journey that definitely is worth it in the end. Remember you can chase your dreams after you get the degree or qualification. You need something to fall back on if things don’t work out for a while. Make it something nice to fall back on. Keep on keeping on.