Corporate Assistant Review

I audit the annual accounts of companies in the financial services sector. This involves checking the financial statements for material misstatements to gain reasonable assurance that they are true and fair. Day to day this involves working in a team and breaking down the financial statements into areas which we try to gain evidence for. My areas of responsibility have included working on salaries, cash at bank, PPE, intangibles, and expenses. I have sometimes worked on site at the client's office.

I have often been given responsibility on audit engagements, for instance the manager will usually explain the key parts to the task if I haven't done it before, and then I will gather the information/ evidence for the financial statement area from the client and present this in a working paper. On client's site I was given lots of responsibility to deal with the client face to face.

My communication skills (oral and written) have greatly improved, alongside my professionalism and confidence. My knowledge of how a business operates has vastly improved.

I received lots of support and guidance throughout the placement. This included many training days to learn technical and soft skills. I was also given a mentor who was a second year in the company, as well as a line manager. In addition, the ethos at Forvis Mazars is to help each other out and so generally in the office, people in my team have often offered support and guidance and helped with any issues I have had.

The company culture is very people orientated. The atmosphere is extremely friendly, and it's a genuinely lovely company to work for. Everyone helps each other out and there's a great team spirit. People are understanding and the result is getting the best out of their staff.

I have absolutely loved working at Forvis Mazars, I think the company is outstanding, and if I ever go into Audit in the future I hope to work for them. The job itself can be slightly boring (as Audit often is) but the opportunity to study your first year of the ACA exams is amazing and something I've really enjoyed. I have felt valued as a placement student and have been given the same responsibilities and opportunities as the graduates have. I would certainly recommend this placement/ company if you are wanting to study the ACA exams.

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