Auditor Review

Financial auditor - requesting documents, picking samples, speaking with clients, reviewing financial documentation, obtaining explanations, challenging when appropriate. Working on Excel and Word a lot. Working both at client sites and also in our own offices. Moving around several different teams depending on which client you're working on at the time.

So many. I've learnt about how an audit works, how to manage my own calendar and juggle work commitments (and sometimes work on multiple clients). Also, hugely developed my Excel skills and Word skills. I've learnt so much about accounting too and the different ways of applying it.

I have learnt so much about accounting and honestly feel like the on the job experience that I have learnt really could not have been substituted. It's great about being able to learn something via the apprenticeship and then being able to put it into practice in the work environment. The hours can sometimes be hard and demanding, but you get a lot of exposure to many different areas of accountancy and get to work with many different people, so that's a real positive.

The progression at work is really quite standardised whilst you complete the graduate scheme. All being well (i.e. with exams and work performance), you progress up to the next grade on an annual basis. Also, the apprenticeship is really well structured, as you get regular meetings with Kaplan Talent Coaches, who help to show you how to apply the theory of the apprenticeship to the everyday work.

You conduct Kaplan Talent Coach meetings as part of your everyday work (as this is an expectation and is protected time from your everyday work). Also, you get given 2x dedicated days to complete the coursework at the end of the apprenticeship. These dedicated days are in line with when the final assessment questions are released.

Kaplan hold regular Talent Coach catch ups in order to check in and see how you're getting on with your studies and general work. They use this opportunity to discuss with you how you are applying the theory of skills and behaviours to your day-to-day work. They are also very willing to have ad-hoc meetings with you should you want to reach out to them for support.

Yes, it really helps you to consolidate the skills and behaviours that you show and use in your day-to-day role, which you may not even realise you possess or demonstrate. It helps to have a 3rd person's perspective on your work and help you to recognise what you're doing well and what you need to improve on.

Yes, there is a dedicated social committee at each office of PwC. They organise office-wide social events (e.g. go karting, axe throwing, pizza nights, etc). Then there is a budget from PwC which is available for social events for each year group to host annual events. There is also an annual summer ball and Christmas meal for each office. We also have an away day each year which is organised (e.g. at Go Ape, etc) - at these events, we often have an office meeting and then get the opportunity to do some team building activities. There are a lot of social events!

Yes

PwC is a huge firm with lots of opportunities in lots of different departments. There are also opportunities for secondments (either abroad to other PwC offices or to different departments) and also job swap type things. You get a lot of exposure to big clients and a lot of teams in PwC. The hours can be long and the job demanding at times (when deadlines are approaching), but the exposure and experience you get is a strong positive against that downside.

Be mindful that the work can be busy and the hours long (particularly during the audit 'busy season' from January to March each year, or instead during particular client-specific deadlines). However, so long as you're happy to do that, I would definitely recommend the graduate scheme as a great entranceway into the accounting world. I started with no accounting background (as my degree was in science), and I feel like the exams and work experience that you receive is a great way to learn the ropes.