Associate Review

I worked in audit, specifically the banking and capital markets (B&CM) business area. The resourcing team will allocate you to an audit team based on resourcing needs. Generally, B&CM has long-term engagements (3+ months) so you are able to build a relationship with your team over that time. You will be responsible for an area of an audit (or supporting a senior associate with an area) and must coordinate with your team daily (e.g. through the team meetings). You may also have to communicate with the client (the company you are auditing), such as explaining the status or progress and what is outstanding from them. There are also many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of your audit position, such as joining committees of PwC clubs (e.g. sports and wellness committee, new joiners committee). Once you have been at the company for a year, you can become a buddy to new joiners of the firm and help them fit in.

For this role Excel skills and keyboard shortcuts are important especially for efficiency, so this is a key skill I have developed. Also, softer skills such as communication, project management and time management. You have to be proactive in reaching out to managers for help, particularly if you are working from home. My confidence has grown a lot, particularly with speaking to more senior people.

The programme is definitely challenging, but it will provide you with a lot of skills and knowledge. The flexible working policies allow us to have a good work-life balance, and office days are discussed within individual teams and are not set by the firm. This flexibility allows me to enjoy the programme much more than if I was in the office 5 days a week.

The programme is a good blend of audit work and college work. Exams are spread throughout the apprenticeship (you do the certificate level ones in the first few months, and the rest are spread out in 6 month intervals). We also have audit specific training throughout the apprenticeship which provides us with general knowledge of how audits work.

Each employee will have a career coach who they can have regular catch-ups with regarding work, exams, and how they are feeling. You can go to your career coach if you have any personal circumstances that may impact your work. Furthermore, you are assigned a buddy (someone who is 6 months to a year ahead of you) who you can chat to informally and ask any questions you have, no matter how silly you think they are.

Our training provider is Kaplan. They provide a lot of support out of hours, with tutors willing to answer questions privately after class or in the lunch break. You can ask questions online by emailing or using the live chat, and Kaplan will get back to you on a timely basis, meaning we don't have to wait days for a response.

Most exam are applicable to our role, whether for business acumen and understanding, or for gaining accounting knowledge that is clearly important for audit. I also took a banking-specific exam (business planning: banking) which gave me a lot of knowledge for the B&CM audit. After this exam, I found myself understanding all of the banking jargon much better!

In my area, there is a society called Birmingham Chartered Accountants Student Society (BCASS), who organise events for ACA students across the West Midlands (from all accounting corporations). This allows us to professionally network. There are lots of sports teams at PwC that you can join (e.g. tennis, netball) and also social groups.

Yes

PwC is a brilliant place to start your career journey as a chartered accountant. The balance of work and study allows you to develop both your practical work experience and your technical knowledge in parallel. Both of which, interlink. There are many opportunities to socialise outside of your work role and make new friends, especially if you are new to the area.

Know your "Why PwC?" and "Why audit?" and "Why choose me?". Have real-life examples of developing/using a skill such as communication and teamwork. Practice answering these out loud and even record yourself doing it so you can see where to improve. In the group activity, make sure to involve quieter team members and contribute to the team.