Corporate Assistant Review

I work with clients that I have been booked on, providing largely UK statutory audit work. This involves looking at stages of the audit during the planning phase, fieldwork and completion phase. Each phase has different tasks that must be completed that are shaped by the nature of the client.

I have learnt how to practice professional scepticism and built on my communication skills and project management skills. It can be a time pressured job trying to deliver everything on time so it helps with my time management and also organisation skills. My people skills have come in handy as it involves interacting with clients.

It can be quite dry at times given the repetitive nature of some tasks but overall I enjoy working with different clients and going to client sites to see the different ways they work and operate and how we can best design an audit that suits them and the team.

There is a predetermined structure where we are told when we can sit our exams and when to sit them by, however sometimes it doesn't take into account the level of workload we may have. I feel like the balance between work and study should be given more thought.

In terms of training there is not much training as you are expected to learn as you go. When there is training it is quite high level and technical and because things are so fast paced it can be difficult to keep track, but there are lots of people to speak to about it which makes things easier.

I receive enough to do my job, however it is difficult to actually learn new tasks or be trained until they are actually given to you and you need to do them for the first time. There is guidance etc that you are expected to follow but sometimes it is better to have a brief understanding before you attempt a task.

It helps provide the theoretical knowledge for what audit is all about. There was a particular course in my ACA programme called Assurance which was very helpful and relevant to what the audit practice involves and the nature of audit. It brought meaning to my role and it was very helpful.

There are other extra-curricular activies involved in my work, we have culturual and relgious groups which is really nice given the diversity of the workforce and also some other groups for people with hobbies for things like hockey and anime which I thought is really nice and has created an environment where you can get to know others.

Yes

It is a people friendly firm, it prides itself on quality audits and is doing very well in the audit market just now and experiencing a record breaking amount of growth. There is lots of opportunity for the firm and an individual working for the firm to grow, the work jsut needs to be put in.

Please research audit and make sure this is a field for which you are interested in. Audit involves a lot of interaction and working with others, even if it is working from home you are always working in a team so take pride in being a people person and know what the industry is about. Stay up to date as to what is happening and keep learning as you go as it is a profession that evolves constantly.