Trainee Chartered Accountant Review

My role as a first year audit trainee is to provide support for the more senior members of staff: I perform basic audit tests and do a lot of administration tasks for management. I interact with a range of people inside the firm daily, from other first years to partners. As I gain experience, I will have the opportunity to develop and gain more responsibility but as a first year, this is currently limited.

Studying towards the ACA qualification, I have completed my certificate level exams (the first 6) in my first 6 months at the firm. I have picked up quite a lot of knowledge through those, as well as working on different jobs. My excel skills have improved massively which is an essential part to working efficiently.

As a whole, the program has been very positive. At times, the work can be quite manotanous and repetitive, especially as a first year, but as you gain experience you are given the trust to perform more complex (interesting) tasks. The people here are all very welcoming and you will make lots of friends in your group.

I think that so far the program is well structured - I am a school leaver. This means that the course is a bit less intense so the study to free time ratio is a more fair. There is lots of support in place if needed and the firm undergo a fair amount of internal training too.

Everyone is assigned a buddy in the year above who they can go to for help as well as an appraiser who judges their performance and development annually. I haven't got in touch with HR yet so cannot speak on that but everyone is always happy to help if you have any questions or need support with anything.

The training provider runs webinars in the time leading up to exams and also give you a designated tutor for each course that you can turn to for questions. The pre recorded videos that you study can be a bit bleak but they are also helpful to return back to if you don't understand or forget a certain part of the exam spec.

I think that the things I have learned so far from my studies have definitely helped me perform my role more effectively. Some of the things can be irrelevant (most of the law paper for example) but there are certain papers - assurance and accounting - which are fundamental to the day to day role.

TS&W hold tons of social events - ranging from department wide, to year groups, or even the teams you are put in when you start the job. Some examples of these are ski trips, bingo nights, karaoke nights, international football teams, so there is a whole host of things to look forward to outside of working hours.

Yes

The culture here is very positive in my opinion, everyone is extremely friendly and you are able to settle in quickly. I didn't expect the work to be particularly enjoyable - it is work - so I wasn't let down, but if it's in the field that you want to enter (professional services), it is the perfect place to be.

Don't be scared to ask questions - both at interview stage and if you are accepted for a position. It is important to know everything you need to know and you may feel like a burden (I certainly did) but no one minds at all. Just don't force a different personality to try to be accepted and be yourself.