BDO Audit Summer School Review

For this role I am an auditor on the summer school programme at BDO. My daily tasks mainly include testing various parts of a clients system and checks. I may also do system checks or accounts checks. Internally I could interact with anyone onsite with me, whether that be a first year school leaver or a partner. Externally I have interacted with many of the client staff. I am responsible for all the work that I do throughout the placement. BDO like to give their employee's lots of responsibilities early on in their careers. During the 2 weeks that I spend on the project I will be part of 2 audits at 2 different companies. Everyday I travel to client site and complete the tests that are assigned for me. If I finish with these I pick up the pieces on what needs to be done or I start on accounts checls.

On this programme I have developed some of the initial skills required to become a school leaver at BDO. I also developed plenty of soft skills during the 2 week course, relating to communication and IT skills especially.

The work was absolutely excellent. With BDO you are thrown right in at the deep end and given as much responsibility as you can handle first up. The work therefore is the same as what a school leaver is doing. The team are really helpful, they have helped me with any issues that I have had across the programme. The summer school exceeded all of my expectations, relating to the work, the team and the company and I enjoyed every moment.

The appreciation from the seniors on both of my jobs over the last 2 weeks has been incredible. Throughout the entire time onsite the seniors have told me that they really value and appreciate the work that I have been doing. I also feel valued as the company threw me straight into an audit straight away.

There was an induction to the programme and and this was really well organised however there was really limited training. However the level of support provided by the team and mentors outweighed this massively. The programme was really well organised as a whole and the team delegated tasks absolutely perfectly.

I received plenty of support from my advisor and my mentor. This was really helpful however the most helpful support came from the onsite senior as well as the rest of the team onsite. The general attitude of the team towards helping me out with any problems was second to non.

I received plenty of support from the employer as the HR team were constantly in contact with mandatory things that I needed to do as well as helping me with any other issues. My mentor was able to help me when I had an issue with expenses and this was quickly resolved. The entire team at BDO are very friendly and care about everything we do.

The package accounted for the travel expenses perfectly once the issue regarding the expenses was sorted out. The way the expenses work was properly explained at the beginning of the application however this was quickly resolved once on the programme.

Throughout the 2 week programme I was invited to several company events and company activities. This really made me feel like I was a part of the company.

Yes

The company made me feel really welcome and it was the perfect induction to the school leaver programme. I think that anyone wanting to be an accounting, especially at BDO, should go onto this programme.

Be honest through the application process and the interviews. Do your research before going into any interviews or assessment days.