Finance Apprentice Review

My role involves working between two teams: A reporting and forecasting team, and an accounting team. For the reporting and forecasting team I aid with different aspects of reporting on our monthly, quarterly and yearly performance for 14 countries in Europe, and forecasting for the future. For the accounting team, I work with 5 countries in Europe, mainly focused on accounting for travel expenses and leasing.

Many IT skills, including Excel, and software's we use such as Movex and ARM. Developed my communication skills, particularly with digital communication such as emails and Teams. Developed Time Management skills due their being very busy periods in my role, such as Month-end which is very busy for the accounting side. Learnt a lot about the world of finance that I work in, as my knowledge was limited before.

I thoroughly enjoy my programme, the course I do at college (AAT) is very interesting and relevant to my day-to-day role. The office is a great space to work in, and my colleagues and manager have all been very helpful as I have been learning. I am excited to continue and see what the programme still has to offer.

Due to the nature of my role being split between two teams, i was concerned that it wouldn't organised in a fashion to allow me to quickly learn both aspects of my job. However, it was very well organised and I soon realised it was structured in a way to allow me to learn as much as possible in a minimal amount of time.

I receive a lot of support from everyone I work with, and both my colleagues and manager are always there if I have any questions or concerns - I have weekly 1 to 1 meetings with my manager to go over this. Cummins as a company is also very supportive, offering lots of new starter initiatives, and trying to get you as involved as possible.

I attend college once a week for a full day of face to face lessons with a teacher, allowing us all to efficiently work towards passing our exams. There is also an apprenticeship mentor that I have meetings with every 10 weeks to make sure everything is going well, both in college and work.

The qualification I am working towards achieving is AAT level 2 this year, moving onto level 3 and 4 as I progress. The knowledge I receive through my qualification is related to task I carry out everyday in my role, allowing me to both perform and understand what I am doing better.

There are lots of new starter initiatives that allow new starters to network with each other, talk about their roles and how they are finding them. There are also social events that teams carry out such as going out for a meal at Christmas, or participating in a sport. Cummins also has a program called EEEC which allows employees to go out and help in the local community with a variety of different things.

Yes

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time so far and believe that the setup Cummins has, and the type of people that work there, couldn't be replicated by other companies. Everyone is very supportive, creating a very safe atmosphere, allowing apprentices to flourish and develop quickly. The qualification directly correlates to your work, and the inside your role the work is very interesting.

Go for it! Don't worry about it being such a large company, as that may seem daunting at first, as everyone works so hard together to achieve company goals. Also, just try your best, if you try your best it will not unnoticed and you will be rewarded and suddenly realise how much you have developed as an employee, becoming a valuable asset.