Trainee Business Adviser Review

I work in BDO Drive solutions, which is our business services and accounting sector. I give advice to clients on how to help their business grown and also help to prepare their financial year-end accounts. As well as this, I help out in outsourcing and accounts for audit, doing a range of things such as; processing sales and purchase invoices, setting up payment runs, analysing and updating statutory accounts, preparing management accounts, bank reconciliations.

Throughout my training, I have been studying level 3 AAT in accounting and I will shortly be moving on to the Level 4. I am looking forward to this as it will be more of a challenge and I will start to learn the technically more tricky things than I have already. As well as this, my personal skills have developed. My communication skills has definitely increased as I now talk to more colleagues as well as clients than I previously did, and I now know how to read people and assess how would be the appropriate way to speak to someone. I have also done a few internal courses, to understand the firm as a whole and also to fully understand the software that we use within the firm.

I really enjoy my programme. Everyone at BDO has been so genuinely kind and caring towards me and will always help me when needed at work or with my studies. I enjoy my time at work and feel that I am always learning something knew.

I feel very valued by BDO. Where I have done tasks/projects for certain managers, I have not only gained support but also been given praise when things have gone right and to plan. I have really appreciated this as it has given me a confidence boost. I was also nominated for an instant reward which was really nice and made me feel like part of the team. The more I progress in BDO, the more tasks and responsibility I am given and this makes me feel very valued.

The programme itself was well structured to a degree. My induction was planned well and was at the right time as I had this before I started working in the office. I then had my welcome training pretty quickly after starting which helped me quite a lot. However, some of my studying hasn't been the most organised and I have not always been signed up for the right courses when I should have been and have to wait quite a while to get any help from Professional qualifications. Having said that, I have now almost completed 3 units of my level 3 and will very shortly be moving on to my level 4.

I have a lot of support from Kaplan, who provide me with the study resources and the teaching also. There is a talent coach assigned to each student which helps to track my progress in my apprenticeship and help with any problems I may have study-wise.

My line manager has regular catch up meeting with me to assess my progress and to help me in any areas I feel like I could improve on. This is really helpful as it isn't always easy to find the time to talk about any issues you may be having. I have a lot of support from my colleagues as well, who will help me with any work issues I have or any queries regarding my work at college.

My salary is very good for costs. I am able to afford to drive my car and park at work, I also am able to pay rent (I live at home but pay money to my parents), buy food and other necessities and still have disposable income to be able to buy things that I want to buy. The benefits are also really handy as I am able to take holiday when I need it and also get a lot of discounts on a number of shops.

There are a number of opportunities that I can take up outside of work to help me with my job - such as social events and charity events. At BDO, we tend to do welcome drinks, leaving drinks, birthday drinks and payday drinks (as well as the usual Christmas and Summer party). This really helps to build up a better relationship with my other colleagues and I can find a common ground to be able to talk about at work. There is also the opportunity to do charity and community work if you want to volunteer and there are also a number of days that BDO plans as well.

Yes

I have really enjoyed my experience at BDO so far - everyone here has been so supportive and helpful and have really made the experience better. I have enjoyed this job more than any where I have previously worked and look forward to my future and growing and developing more in the firm.

If you are applying to BDO - make sure you prepare for the video interview and also the face-to-face interview by reading up about the company and the part of the company you will be working for (Audit, BDS, Tax etc). During the interview process, just make sure that you are 100% yourself and let your personality shine through, as individuality is really important at BDO.