Business Apprentice Review

I work in the audit department, working for various different teams to perform the year end audit procedures. This involves collaborating with team members, and individual work (usually within Microsoft Excel) and liaising with contacts at the client company in order to obtain the relevant documents needed to perform the audit.

My technical audit skills have developed hugely (I previously had no experience at all, and hadn't even taken business for GCSE/A Level). This has been developed through my professional qualification. I've also developed my confidence, communication and leadership skills, now that I provide coaching to more junior team members.

I find my programme enjoyable due to the teams that I work with - all my colleagues are hugely supportive, and will ensure you get enough time to study for professional exams. I also enjoy being paid while I study, and the variety that I get between work, internal training and studying at external college.

The programme is structured around the professional qualification, the ACA (ICAEW), and we sit a couple of exams per year - there are 15 in total. There is also a structure to internal training - we usually have up to a week's worth of internal training once we progress upwards each year, plus other relevant on demand training.

We are assigned an apprenticeship coach who checks in with us every so often to check how we are doing - she will answer any questions that I have and just have a supportive chat. We also get lots of support from our teams in the office - there is an unspoken agreement that staff who are studying in college for a period are not to be disturbed during this time.

We have a designated EY point of contact at Kaplan, who will send out emails to motivate us in the run up to exams, and sent out introductory emails at the beginning of each individual course. The tutors are also very supportive, and there is an online support function that can be used for specific questions.

I would not be able to perform at work nearly as well if I did not work through the professional qualification at the same time. The professional qualification covers a wide variety of areas including audit, but also management accounting and tax - this gives an overall picture of different areas within finance which is hugely helpful to overall understanding.

There are several networks at work for various purposes, including diversity and inclusiveness, religion, families etc. There is also a women's network which holds monthly lunch drop ins for networking and mentoring, which is really friendly. There is also a lot of charity and fundraising work that goes on - each year we have a chosen charity to raise money for with social events.

Yes

The overall culture is very supportive and puts employees at the forefront of their priorities. I have felt supported by the company throughout my entire time here; there is also a focus on diversity and inclusivity which means that I work with lots of different people in my teams and makes everyone feel welcome.

Academia is not the most important thing when applying to an EY apprenticeship (minimum grades are required but they are not unattainable; as a scheme it is quite inclusive). Overall, what is important is the assessment centre/ interviews etc, so do your research for these and come prepared - as long as you are polite and personable there should be no reason for a rejection.