Auditor Review

I have been sampling numerous roles across the different departments of BDO and completing the respective tasks I have been assigned within these areas. These assignments often involved handling and synthesizing real client data to meet their requests. The department in which I have the most experience is audit. In this particular role, I attended client meetings, filled out spreadsheets, wrote letters to clients and relayed any relevant feedback to my accountancy team. It was essential that all team members were aware of each other’s progress and status with clients.

During my time as a BDO intern, I have had the opportunity to further enhance my communication and IT skills. Not only has the course tested my current knowledge, but has also provided me with a better understanding of the skills required to be an accountant.

Although the internship has been physically and mentally demanding, I have found my internship at BDO an invaluable experience. I have relished learning about the accounting profession and have become increasingly efficient in my assignments as I became more accustomed to my work environment. However, the most enjoyable part of my time at the company has been working with my colleagues. I have found everyone exceptionally friendly and willing to give his or her time to provide constructive and insightful feedback when necessary.

At no point in my time at BDO have I not felt like a valued member of their company. People around me were happy to tailor their busy work schedules around me and ensure that I was comfortable and kept busy. I was visited by a student recruitment advisor halfway through my first week and was invited to lunch by the branch manager and partner. I found this a particularly nice gesture because it is reassuring to know that there is a connection between the different levels of the company. I would say a couple of times, I was left with little work to do and I felt imposing on my buddy but that is to be somewhat expected as ultimately they have jobs that need to be carried out by a person with the qualified skills.

I felt that my programme was suitably structured for me to get the most out of the time I spent at BDO. Some days were more planned out than others but the majority of the time I knew whom I was seeing, what I was going to be doing, and where I was going to be meeting them. The team-building day in London at the start of the programme was particularly enjoyable and definitely provided the excitement for the rest of the internship. My itinerary consisted of all the accountancy sectors and meetings with various members of the BDO hierarchy. Since I am considering the school leaver programme it was useful to meet up with graduates and school leavers and get their opinions on both programmes.

The amount of support I received largely depended on who I was with and what I was doing. Yet overall, there was always someone on hand to help me with any issues. Every BDO employee I have encountered is extremely patient and kind helping create a very positive working atmosphere.

As mentioned in my previous response, everyone in the office forms a strong support network, even if they don't fully understand each individual problem they will look to help. My colleagues were able to make new tasks seem manageable by providing clear and simple instructions. I found that when I did something new, I would check with my mentor after completing it and he/she would correct me if I had made any mistakes. This allowed me to correct any issues at source and decrease their frequency drastically. I then became more independent and was able to identify past common mistakes or even new mistakes and correct them myself rather than my mentor do it for me. That was probably the best feeling: when I could complete a Bank Reconciliation or Statement document without any need of further assistance.

I was very pleased with the financial aid provided by the company to meet the costs of undertaking the internship. My travel costs were all covered and the fixed salary for the course has allowed me to purchase lunch each day and still have some three quarters left for my savings.

There weren't many opportunities outside of work but I did have lunch with my collegues a few times and that was good because I was able to get to know them on more of a personal level as well feeling more included with the people around me.

Yes

I had three questions before I started this programme: 1. Did I want to do accountancy? 2. Did I want to work for BDO? 3. Did I want to do the summer school or graduate programme? All of my questions were answered from doing this programme, and not only do I have the benefit of my questions being answered, but the experience alone is one of a kind and it can't go wrong, you are going to discover something new. I discovered that I do want to do accountancy, I do want to do it with BDO and I do want to do their Summer School Leaver programme. I have answered these questions through this work experience and if I learnt that I didn't want to do accountancy that would have been just as valuable therefore the programme isn't going to do anyone any harm so that is why I would recommend it.

BDO are a company that are very orientated around teamwork. Therefore, my advice would be to contemplate the work environment in which you best operate in and then decide whether BDO would suit your style. I have had a great experience working as an intern and would definitely recommend people to do the same programme to see whether it would be the right company for them.