Senior Associate Review

I work on engagement teams in order to carry out external audits of privately owned companies, usually based in the local area surrounding the office, but in a range of industries. Within the team, I will be assigned particular balances within the client's accounts (e.g. Cash, Debtors, Revenue etc.), to test and ensure they show a true and fair view in the company's financial statements.

When I started the job I had no prior experience of working in audit whatsoever - the only relevant experience that I had was an Accounting degree - however everyone was taught the basics from the very beginning, with a lot of learning/training taking place on the job, therefore I have learnt a lot. I have also had opportunity to develope communication, team working, leadership, presenting skills etc.

I do enjoy it for the most part. The work can be challenging and at times you're very time pressured therefore have to work long hours, and always use free time to study for exams. However, I have made great friends with the other people in my year group, and everybody at the firm is very nice.

It's very well-structured, as there are hundreds of people across the UK's different offices who join the programme each year and follow the same structure. You have bookings of 'college' study for exams, and then client work is booked into your schedule around that, and all booking are made long in advance (about a year).

You receive a lot of support and I feel very well-supported. Before you even join, you are assigned a 'Buddy', being somebody in the year above you in your current programme, and you can ask them any questions that you have about the programme and use them as a point of contact when you join. You're also assigned a 'Coach', who is a Manager in your office who you have regular catch ups with, and you can raise any problems that you have with your portfolio, workload, exams, wellbeing etc.

As soon as you begin, you're assigned a 'Talent Coach' from Kaplan, who you then have video calls with every six weeks to discuss your progress in work and also in exams, and you can raise qualification questions and issues to them, and they make sure you're on track with all deadlines. Your Deloitte Coach also joins every other meeting with the Talent Coach.

The exams that you study for are obviously highly relevant for the work that we carry out in audit, in particular the Financial Accounting and Assurance exams, and your exams increase in complexity as your work does, so they go hand in hand very well, and you're able to put what you learn into practice.

Yes - you're very much encouraged to put yourself forward for activities outside of your main job role, in order to be rewarded bonuses. You can organise social activities, run events for the new joiners when the next intake start, take part in recruitment events with schools/universities. There are of course many social events to take part in too.

Yes

Although it's challenging, I think that this job has really pushed me out of my comfort zone and therefore has made me improve greatly in soft skills as well as technical knowledge, in a short space of time. Everyone that they hire is so friendly and nice, so I've met lots of great people. It's also definitely worth it for the qualification, as you're extremely employable once you've qualified at a top Accounting firm.

Be confident, friendly, upbeat and chatty in the interview, as they will be looking for people like this. From new joiners, they're looking for soft skills just as much/even more than actual, relevant experience/knowledge, so before the interview think of examples in previous jobs/uni where you've demonstrated team working, working under pressure, leadership, problem solving, communication etc. Try applying for some of the work experience schemes before applying for the graduate scheme, as these can fast track you onto the grad scheme before you've even left university.