Corporate Assistant Review

Requesting documents from the client and analysing the documents in a variety of ways to identify whether the documents contain any material misstatements. There is a lot of team calls and calls with the client, to query anything that seems out of the ordinary. And a lot of using Excel.

I have learnt a lot of analytical skills, especially with use of different formulae in Excel. I have improved my team working skills, as well as my communication skills, when talking to the client team. I have particularly improved my problem solving skills when completing trying to work out how to complete working papers.

At times, especially during January, the job felt quite stressful, with the hard deadlines. However, I have found the job quite enriching with lots of variety every day. There is also lots of opportunity for personal and academic development with the ACA qualification alongside the course. I have quite enjoyed learning the material for my qualification.

It is very well structured, with lots of available support. I wish they provided us with some more time to study, as it can feel very intense learning the content while working, however they have allowed us to take control to an extent for when to take exams, which has helped a lot with the stress.

I have a very supportive line manager, who often catches up with me to see how I am doing. Received a lot of support from my job teams too, especially during the busy season. My coworkers have made me feel very welcome too, and there is a nice culture in the firm.

BPP have been very supportive. The recorded videos have been extremely useful in learning the content. I have also found the classroom study days very useful. They have a lot of material to help you practice the questions on the online hub, which has helped me get through the exams so far.

The qualification so far has been very useful in developing my background knowledge in auditing and many other areas of accounting, such as taxation. It has also helped me develop other important skills for the job, such as time pressure, problem solving skills, and analytics skills, through answering many questions.

Lots of different clubs and societies available to take part in, such as rock climbing, languages and tennis. They also host a number of different socials throughout the year, as well as have the occasional special event that takes place within the office. There haven't been any professional networking events I have been aware of.

Yes

Because there has been a high level of support going through the apprenticeship thus far, and I have already developed a number of different skills. The qualification is tough, but there has been a lot of support so far helping me through it. The employees are very friendly and supportive.

Know beforehand that at times it is going to feel very tough, and at the start, very overwhelming. You get thrown straight into the deep end with audit work, which will feel challenging at first, but stick with it and you will get through. It is very different to university studying alongside a job too.