Audit Apprentice Review

The role of Audit Apprentice involves a wide variety of tasks depending on the engagement that you are booked to. This really does depend on the entity itself and the industry in which it operates. Usually, as an Audit Apprentice, you are involved in substantive audit testing and assisting in getting the audit over the line.

The atmosphere at KPMG is inclusive and nurturing; everyone encourages each other to achieve their best. Since starting the apprenticeship, I am starting to realise an increase in my knowledge and ability as a result of working on audit engagements as well as thanks to KPMG and my training provider through the completion of exams.

I enjoy the programme very much. There are clear career development opportunities within the local department as well as opportunities within the wider KPMG community in the UK. There is a wide variety of tasks to complete and the clients that you come across make everything worthwhile and very rewarding.

The programme is structured well with communications in respect of next steps. There is training and support with study days allocated to prepare for examinations. There are regular performance reviews with line managers as well as with seniors to ensure that progress is tracked and benchmarked throughout the apprenticeship as a whole.

I receive a great amount of support from my employer. There are regular catch up meetings and calls with my line manager along along with a buddy system whereby I am paired with an audit director/ partner who is able to offer advice and further guidance into career progression and development.

I receive good support from my training provider when working towards my qualification. There are points of contact e.g. tutors that teach the relevant subject although I would have liked them to be more responsive especially in respect of examination queries. On the whole the training provider is good and conforms to the needs and requirements to the apprenticeship body and provide a great deal of resources and support.

The qualification through the training provider helps me to perform better in my role as it allows me to solidify and cement the technical knowledge learned through examinations and apply it into my day to day role such as on audit engagements. The exams and the qualification allow me to understand more about the job and industry I am operating in.

There are a lot of social events such as out of office social events, football leagues as well as professional networking events through Microsoft Teams but also regular monthly department catch up meetings in the office to talk about department performance and department progress. There are also wider support groups available and groups such as Corporate Responsibility.

Yes

The environment, the people and the culture here at KPMG is fantastic. There is an ethos that encourages challenge but also embraces change. The firm encourages and supports everyone to achieve their best and supports career development across all backgrounds and nurtures individuals and people to perform and achieve their very best.

The advice that I would give to others applying to KPMG is to be yourself and to not be concerned if you do not have a prior background or history of a career in accounting or finance. There are support networks available and the training provider and KPMG prepares you for a successful career and you do not need to have a career in accounting in order to be successful within the firm. All comes with time!