Corporate Assistant Review

I work as an audit junior, and my main role is to support my team on the fieldwork side of the audit testing. This would generally involve setting up/ rolling forward working papers, selecting samples, vouching documents, management challenge. I communicate with the client on a regular basis in order to gain a full understanding of the areas I am working on and any issues which need to be tackled.

I have learnt how to balance work and study. This is difficult during busy season, or when exams are due. It is very difficult to remain calm and prioritise correctly when you have different things to be doing all the time. I have learnt to recognise when things are getting on top of me, and when to reach out for support.

I enjoy my programme, but it does come with its challenges. I really enjoy studying and learning new content, but due to my job role not a lot of my exam studies is relevant to the work I do, which can be frustrating. However I recognise that in the long term the qualification will be a lot more relevant. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a job.

The apprenticeship I am on seems to vary between companies in terms of rules for studying, time allowed off etc. That can be really frustrating when you hear about other companies doing the same qualification getting more time off than I am allowed. I was not given a lot of information in regards to the qualification and the different aspects of it when I started.

I do not receive a lot of support from my employer. The relevant team I am supposed to contact are not the best, and often direct me back to my contract (which I had already checked before asking for them to help) There have been a lot of issues with the teams not informing us about certain aspects of the apprenticeship, resulting in a last minute rush to get deadlines in etc.

My training provider supports me very well when I am in college. I got to college for my revision period before the exams. I was not allowed, by my employer, to attend college for most of the exam courses, which was not great, as I think it could have really benefitted me. My training provider has a good selection of resources for me to study from.

Currently I work in audit, and so I have only sat one relevant paper for my role in my qualification so far. Having coming from a different finance background, I think had I stayed in that role I would be more benefited. However, I recognise that the qualification will be more relevant when I move into a role more suitable for myself.

I do not get involved in any extra curricular activities at work. There are a lot of work pressures to do over time, and when you are trying to balance this with studying there is little free time to do anything else. I am aware that other departments (which are smaller than mine) have more emphasis on the social aspect, but that is not something my department does, or advertises that is available.

No

I have struggled with the strain between working and doing my own study, because there is a lot of pressure to do overtime even outside of busy season. Only people who put in loads of extra time get recognition and bonuses, which I do not think is fair. There are multiple restrictions, depending on the job, on when you can have annual leave (even outside of busy season) and this is incredibly stressful as we can no longer rollover unused leave. Hybrid working has been stopped for my department, although other departments still do it so there is a lack of business continuity. Managers show favouritism only to people who do crazy hours, and this can make you feel very uncomfortable when you are working in a team.

I would suggest applying for one of the smaller departments, as I have heard good things about these ones. I would suggest starting in the september intake, purely because I started in the April intake, which was much smaller, and as a result of this we are treated differently in terms of exam sittings and dates, salary and you also do not have the same exposure to the rest of the department as the september intake.