Audit Associate Review

I am an audit associate working in the public sector audit department. Generally day to day I complete various areas of testing for our clients such as creditors, debtors, income and payroll. I work in a team of at least 4 people with an in charge, manager, RI and myself.

I have learnt various new skills whilst working in this role. Not only have I developed my technical competence in the work I am completing through my college studies, but I have also developed my communication skills by speaking with clients and my team members, as well as team work skills as I am always working as part of a team.

I thoroughly enjoy my apprenticeship programme. As a part of my team, we have various socials where we all get together every couple of months and we also have office based socials. In addition to this we are given 6 corporate and social responsibility days a year to use doing various charity work.

I think the programme is well organised. We have set times for college as well as allocated training days in order to complete any additional mandatory training I need to complete. We have tuition, consolidation and revision periods of study leave in order to prepare for any exams. We also have audit training that we complete in stages throughout the apprenticeship.

I think i am well supported by my employer. We are assigned a performance manager and a buddy when first joining the department as a first point of contact for all of my queries or issues. Aside from this, I also feel supported my the whole department in terms of taking time to complete my studies or assisting me with any questions.

I think we receive a lot of support from BPP. Throughout the tuition, consolidation and revision phases of our college time we are well supported, and also throughout the time between these stages. We have access to the hub for any queries and we can also email our tutors. We have various steps to complete on the hub which ensure we stay on track.

The exams I am currently completing help me to perform better in my role as they are quite relevant to audit - one being AA and the other FAR. AA involves a lot of the procedures and risk assessment I work on day to day and FAR has educated me on the IFRS standards that our testing is based on.

We have a Chartered Accountants Students Society that arrange monthly events for us to get involved with in Leeds as well as 2 balls each year. There are many networks within the firm for various interests including sports. We have department socials every couple of months with the whole team.

Yes

I would recommend KPMG to a friend because my experience here has been positive. I feel as though I have learnt a lot and I am supported in my role. The people within the firm are a pleasure to work with and I think there are good opportunities for career progression within the firm.

Advice I would give to others applying to KPMG is to read through KPMGs values and do some general research of the company before the interview. Consider some situations where you have demonstrated these core values to discuss in your interview. Be prepared to work hard and under pressure, as well as balancing study time and work.