Audit Trainee Review

My role at the present moment is to do a mix of studying and auditing. I am studying towards my accountancy qualification, so am taking exams and studying for these exams, mixed in with spending time in a supporting role on audits. I am the most junior member of audits so spend a lot of time collecting samples and completing work papers, liaising with my seniors and management regularly.

I studying quite a few accounting modules at University so had a base knowledge of accounting before starting this role. However, the studying for the ICAEW qualifications has taken this knowledge much further, and my auditing has allowed me to apply this knowledge into real life situations, clients and audits.

I very much enjoy my programme, I have had the chance to work on a variety of projects, being able to work independently on a lot of sections, working them through from start to finish. The culture at BDO is very supportive and I have definitely experienced this so far.

I joined at quite a difficult time, the start date had to be pushed back by almost 3 months but when I did join I felt like they were really prepared for us to begin, with set induction training and projects for us to begin straight away. We have a clear plan going forward for the next 3 years which is very nice to have.

We receive quite a significant of support, we are split into training groups of people who have joined with us, and this allows us to get support from our training group leader. We also have people managers who are solely responsible for our development. This is very good to have as it feels like we always have someone to talk to if we have any issues.

We receive a lot of support from BPP in the form of online tutoring, many online videos and tips, and physical books for our learning. We get regularly emails to ask about our progress. I do feel like we could more easily contact someone specific if we had questions, rather than having to post in an online forum.

The knowledge we learnt through our training provider definitely helps us perform the role better as we learn the technical aspects in a learning environment, and then when it comes to working on jobs I can then much more easily apply this knowledge to each role. My auditing modules have understandably helped the most with my job, with the rest only being able to be applied rarely.

I joined the company in COVID times so the opportunity for social events has been limited, however we have had the opportunity to have online socials where we have had a chance to meet fellow graduates and also people more senior in the company. Some of the social events we have had have been very innovative such as "speed dating" type event.

Yes

I believe the culture of the company is the thing that I would recommend the most to other people. I believe that the supportive friendly culture is a really nice environment to learn my trade in. I would always choose BDO over the big 4 as I believe I get much more support than I would there.

Make sure you sell yourself as a person during the interview process, experience and qualifications are useful and will get you through the doors, but I believe they are looking for people who understand and like the BDO culture. My assessment days were a very positive experience as they made me feel very relaxed so I think it's important for everyone to try and just be themselves.