Assurance Associate Review

The exact work varies from day-to-day, but the overall aim of audit is to test the areas within a company's financial statements. As a first year, this mostly involves setting up workpapers, performing testing and can involve speaking to the client's management for documentation or further explanation. You work closest with seniors and can often be helping them with starting workpapers/forms or performing simpler tasks like taking the minutes for a meeting.

I've worked on a variety of clients and have learnt a lot very quickly about how to perform the work and the reasoning behind it. As my knowledge has progressed I've become more confident in communicating with both my seniors and with the client through calls and emails. I'm also receiving training a few weeks through the year and taking exams to work towards becoming a Chartered Accountant with the ICAEW. EY also frequently runs internal events on developing skills to deliver better quality work, knowledge and using tools.

I'm enjoying it a lot, I think the style and challenge of the work suits me and everyone within my teams has been friendly and approachable so I'm able to ask for help when I need it. A lot of my experience so far has been virtual but EY are beginning to offer more in person events and my teams have been aiming to meet in office a couple days a week so there is more in person interaction. There is also a lot of contacts for you if you need to discuss issues with work, health, college, etc. (e.g: Counsellor, buddy, apprenticeship coach)

The induction was clear and helpful and there is a site with a range of internal training so you have initial knowledge of how to do audit work, regulatory requirements and how to use the EY tools (and new courses are assigned regularly so you stay up to date). You have regular meetings with your counsellor (e.g: once every month) so you can talk about how you are progressing and there are reviews of your progress as an apprentice and as an employee so you can give personal feedback and see what your seniors and managers think about your strengths and weaknesses and aim to improve each time. The work I have been assigned has been appropriately challenging and everyone has been willing to walk me through the tasks required. Teams work a lot together and talk through issues so it isn't too intimidating to go to someone higher to ask for help. I think the biggest issue I've found is that college is only a few days for a course and then a couple weeks until the exam (for the few that I've taken so far) and the only time you have to revise is after work. You can talk to your teams and let them know that you have to prioritize revising so you need to finish work promptly, but there is still work that you need to complete within your deadline. I had a course to revise for during a sign off week and had to work late every night for a couple weeks to finish tasks and therefore struggled a lot with having enough time to do everything.

In terms of day to day work, you do have a lot of contacts (as mentioned above) and they are always accessible through emails or teams and are always willing to help and listen to your problems. I haven't accessed much but there are regular meetings and they will provide you with links and resources, although it does depend on the person, for example my Counsellor is often busy so I need to approach them to remind them, although I don't think that's a big problem. There's also a lot of internal tools and it's easy to search and find the support you need. For college, however, I think EY is pretty hands-off from the training and don't give much support. For example, when you fail an exam there is very little support from EY in terms of time or further resources to help you pass, it's left to you to learn with the resources from the training provider. You have a meeting to discuss why you failed but it's just to fill out a form and then it's back to you to do better.

My provider is First Intuition. The tutors so far have been very open and friendly and you have their email so at any point during of after the course you can directly contact them for help and they record every day of the course so you can go back over it. They have an online website where they provide a workbook (which you also receive as a physical copy) and question bank for every course, alongside recorded explanations for chapters and specific questions. There's also mini section quizzes and mock exams. After your first fail on a course, they hold a revision session and go over the areas most people struggled with. However, again the courses are held over a very short period and some content you have to cover yourself before it begins because they don't have enough time to cover it and they don't have a lot of time to revisit anything someone's struggled with. I also think as the course has had to be delivered online they can't tell when someone's having issues unless they say so the pace of teaching is fast. They don't have any more resources to provide if you fail and don't get in contact further than the revision session.

So far, the training I've training I've received for my qualification hasn't been very helpful for me understanding how to do my day to day work, that's been mostly through internal training and doing the job, however, it is increasing my understanding of the balances in general and I can see it becoming more useful as I go further into detail and progress in my role.

There hasn't been lots so far but EY has been keen to increase the amount of events as it becomes safer to meet in person again and there's been a mix of office, team and apprenticeship events. There's also lots of networks you can easily join and volunteering opportunities.

Yes

The culture at EY means that you're in teams where people are willing to talk and listen and it's not too intimidating to ask for help and there's lots of opportunities to progress your knowledge and you can see how you are being given more complicated tasks. It's definitely hard and you need to be dedicated to manage the work and revising, especially during busy times, but I find the work very interesting.

There is a lot of new information to take in and beginning a profession can be very stressful, but there is support easily accessible and don't be afraid to ask a member of your team or a mentor for help. I would also recommend going into the office and not turning down opportunities to connect with other apprentices and graduates so you have a network or you can feel a bit isolated, especially since most of your teams will be older than you. It's important to manage your work and revision and make sure your teams know when you have training and be sure to speak up if you feel overwhelmed. Also, keep tabs on yourself and don't be afraid to take a break and use your free time to step away from work completely and relax.