Flying Start Degree programme - FS3 - London Review

In my role, I was tasked with the responsibilities of an AS2 in the Banking and Capital Markets team, during this, I was expected to help with US Reporting deadlines for my client and UK reporting deadlines too, this involved extensive testing and over certain FSLI items with day to day activities varying on priority.

I believe my answer is yes and no for this. Yes, because I have a better understanding of what evidence we need as auditors to now be comfortable over the accounts and the different methods we as auditors use to do this. But also no, as a lot of the work involved monotonous tasks, I also believe the short period over placement limits the amount of time you have to develop different skills.

I enjoyed the teams I have worked with and the exposure to working with clients for someone of a below graduate level. However, the work can be boring at times and the pressure of working in busy season sometimes isn't the most pleasant. I can say that the people I have been able to work with have always been very helpful.

Typically, if it wasn't for COVID-19. The programme is very well structured, with accommodation provided for each placement. However, on the final placement, I felt let down by the programme. Personally, I was forced to rent as I could not return home and because I said for my final placement I wanted to be put in accommodation, I wasn't entitled for an allowance this time to compensate which disappointed me.

Considering the answer to the previous question, I believe I wasn't financially supported enough as the allowance and accommodation option was taken away from me on my final placement. Over the first two placements, I would of said it was well organised and support was sufficient. But I didn't feel the attitude towards our revocation of the allowance was fair.

This relates mostly to the university. For most of the exams/qualifications. I felt the teachers supported me well enough and helped me to pass through very well. However, for my tax exams, one of them being the hardest of the whole scheme, the teaching was below standard and students are not well supported enough, often with email questions being ignored.

The placements do provide a great area for development for young people to get exposure of working in the real world. I feel this has allowed me to grow better as a person, as well as apply the studying I have done while at university. It has also helped me understand my personal goals at an earlier age which I believe to be very useful for my career

The university of course provides opportunity for me to join societies and sports teams, in which I was able to join both of. This was good, however, due to the constant moving between placement and university it meant you had to compromise on them both when you moved away. This being said, I still managed to balance both and enjoyed my extra-curricular time at university. The PwC team I worked with also always tried to organise events which was nice

Yes

I would recommend working at PwC, as I think it allows you to learn fast and understand what you want from work as well as providing great exposure to the working world. I would say at times it can be very mentally tough due to the long hours required during busy season, but working here has allowed me to learn a lot in a short space of time which I think has been worth it.

I would recommend you research which area you want to work in, as I believe everyone in the firm has such different experiences depending on where you work. See which area of work/department suits your interests/career goals and then ensure you are knowledgeable about that area during the application stages.