Assistant Audit Senior Review

As an audit senior, I spend my time split between auditing my clients accounts, and having calls with the client to discuss audit matters. Auditing accounts involves looking at a clients financial statements, and obtaining evidence for the figures they have inputted. While audit can be technical, a lot of my time is invested in communication, be it with my team or with the client.

As an apprentice there are times where I both work and study. While these can be challenging times, it develops the essential skill of time management and makes you more efficient so you have time to work and study productively. At work, my communication skills have developed significantly, and with this my confidence has improved compared to when I left school.

I enjoy the course. You get real life experience in industry, working with widely-known clients and develop skills at a fast pace. College breaks up the year of work, and is a nice opportunity to meet people outside of your department. I enjoy the course but it should be noted that it can be demanding, especially during busy season where work hours are longer, and when both studying and working. However, these times are manageable as you go through them with your cohort, and it gives invaluable experience as someone new to the business.

With the ICAEW exams, you find that you only do a few exams in the first year, and over time you take on exams more frequently and will sit two at a time. However, EY gives study time to go to college which breaks up the year. It is a good balance of work and study.

EY offers many means of support. You are allocated a counsellor when you join, who is there to support you with general matters and professional matters like choosing clients to work on if you specifically want to work on something. I would say the best support is through your cohort - one of the best things about joining a large firm like EY is that you join with many other people so you can experience the course together.

Kaplan is a great training provider, which has great tutors who I have found always to be very helpful if you have queries. They provide useful resources like study modules which summarise the content in each chapter, as well as online assessments. The most useful support is through feedback on practice questions and mock exams which are useful indicators of how your studies are going.

The ACA qualification is specifically for accounting, but provides so many other skills that it is widely recognised in most businesses. As an auditor, the qualification has helped me understand a lot about accounting and audit, as well as understanding how businesses are run. The qualification is one which I believe would be beneficial for most careers as it provides many skills in addition to understanding accounting.

I joined the social committee in my department. This involves arrange fun social events to bring everyone together to have a break from audit and network. I also attend the badminton club for EY, which has given me the opportunity to meet people across different departments and to enjoy a sport I had not played for a long time.

Yes

EY is a global business which offers many opportunities. As an apprentice with no experience in business, it is remarkable how much you learn through this apprenticeship course. It is now a four year course (reduced from 4 1/2 only recently as the apprenticeship team recognised that we wanted a shorter course), in which you gain a masters-equivalent qualification and essentially 4 years of industry experience which is invaluable from a company like EY. There is no doubt that the course can be demanding, this is a challenging industry and on top of work you have to revise. Despite this I will always recommend this apprenticeship, as I believe it gives the best start to your career and gives you the flexibility to maintain a job with EY at the end of the course.

When applying, be sure to do your research into what department you would like to join. Apply as soon as you can as once the slots are filled they will close applications. EY is very much interesting in how you will fit in the business, so you should be honest in your interviews and do not assume that if you find one area of the application process difficult that you will not get in. For those who are interest I highly recommend looking into the apprenticeship schemes.