Audit Trainee Review

On a day to day basis, I have a set of tasks assigned to me by the assistant manager. At the start of the project, I receive a briefing on the audited entity and have a daily team catch up in the afternoon to update the team on the progress of my tasks.

I've learnt how to communicate in a more professional manner after observing and interacting with clients to obtain the information required whilst auditing. I've also learnt how to manage my time more effectively due to multiple tasks needing to be completed to a tight deadline by keeping a tracker of my work and communicating and updating those around me of daily responsibilities.

I enjoy my programme quite a bit, I think I have learnt much about working in a professional environment as this is my first job and have also learnt a lot about accounting and auditing through practice and exams. The people at my firm and the training providers are also very helpful.

I would say it is fairly structured with quarterly professional qualification catch up calls. However, it can be quite difficult sometimes to reach a member of the professional qualifications team if we have any queries. Therefore, I think sometimes I could benefit from more communication and structure to my programme rather than reminders every so often of tasks to do.

I receive support from my employer if asked. They don't provide any extra study days other than those required for BPP classes so I think it would be beneficial to have more study leave allocated to us so that we have a better chance of passing our exams rather than having to work and then study afterwards for a short period of the day.

I receive lots of support from my training provider, BPP. They have many resources on their online hub and all the tutors are very friendly and helpful and knowledgeable. There are 6-8 steps on the hub where we can practice exam style questions which we then received our answers marked with feedback.

I think my qualification, the course materials I have to learn to pass my exams, I can apply to my job as the knowledge required to pass my exams is the same knowledge required in my day to day job. The extra understanding of why I'm performing tasks to carry out the audit is beneficial and makes me feel like I'm doing something more fulfilling and rewarding.

There is an annual busy season social, the last one was an escape room which was a lot of fun. There is also an annual away day which is like a sports day where everyone in the office can partake and you have the chance to talk to people who aren't in your department too.

Yes

I would recommend BDO to a friend as there is a good culture where everyone gets along and the work life balance for an audit firm is more realistic here than a big 4 audit firm as year end performance reviews place more emphasis on the quality of work you've done rather than the amount of hours you've put in.

I think do your research of BDO and why you would want to be apart of the firm and what values you have that are consistent with BDO's. Also, be yourself and in the interview, have a good set of STAR answers which show how you demonstrate BDO's values.