My Accounting Flying Start experience
Khallum has recently graduated from the Accounting Flying Start programme at Newcastle University, and over the last three years has been part of the Birmingham Audit team during his placements. Following his graduation he’s now re-joined his team as a Senior Associate and has completed all 15 ACA exams.
“When beginning my first placement in my second year of university, my mentor said to never be afraid to ask questions. Not only does it show an active interest to learn more about the reasons why audit work is being conducted it also gives you the opportunity to see how processes are carried out.
One of my favourite client projects involved working on the financial statements for a global banking group. With the confidence to ask questions about what I was seeing and doing, I quickly developed my business acumen and technical capabilities as I was required to understand the accounting processes to ensure they were in line with requirements.”
Khallum would describe himself as motivated, ambitious and adventurous, and over the last few years, alongside his university studies he plays in an 8-a-side football team. Even during his work placements at PwC he still made sure he switched off from work and took to the pitch.
Being from Wolverhampton, he’s also a keen Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter!
Alongside studying his accounting exams at university and on placement, Khallum was supported by our external exam providers, giving him access to all the learning materials he’d need to do well in his exams. As part of our Flying Start Degree programmes, you’ll not only have support from your university mentors, but career coaches within PwC and external exam providers too.
But working in Audit isn’t all about numbers. Building and maintaining client relationships is incredibly important, and we recognise that many of our Flying Start joiners will start their career with no prior work experience. It’s why we give all our people the opportunity to learn from others and be present during client engagements from the beginning.
“A key part of working in Audit is creating a relationship with the client, but sometimes some client contacts can be difficult to work with whether that’s due to geographical reasons or incredibly busy diaries. During my time on placements, I worked with a few challenging individuals, which made getting evidence for samples and any additional follow up difficult. But I overcame this through being patient and regular gentle reminders of upcoming deadlines, then when necessary, discussing with managers and senior managers any delays which were holding up important steps in our Audit.
Creating these relationships and therefore a trust between you and the client is really important and is a skill which can’t be learnt through textbooks.”
Making a difference is really important to Khallum, whether that’s through the Audit work he does, or through his volunteering at St. George’s House Charity, who seek to support and empower marginalised men in Wolverhampton. He helps improve their computer skills and become more confident in their own abilities.
Over the course of Khallum’s three placements in Audit, he’s been really impressed with how his teams really pull together when it gets busy. The concept of ‘busy season’ was new to him when he first started and although he recognises there are very busy weeks during the year, he’s also had a lot of support not just from PwC colleagues, but also recognition from clients of the hard work he’s put in.
“One of my biggest surprises really was how incredible the team relationships in Audit are. We work together and collaborate to ensure the completion of audits in line with deadlines set and there’s a clear agenda to ensure the wellbeing of everyone on the team. I’ve even organised an ice breaker quiz for 30+ people on my team when we started working with a new client. It really helped us get to know one another as the project was scheduled to last a few months.”
During his degree, Khallum’s confidence has really grown, and when asked what other skills he believes have played a part in him developing as an Auditor he highlighted scepticism and IT understanding.
“Scepticism throughout all my audit work has allowed me to adequately go back to the client and request additional information to ensure assurance over the accounts. In some instances this has led to errors being identified which proved vital for later reviews.
Finally, the technology we use at PwC has played a big part in my learning. I’ve worked with a global bank with clients based around the world (North America, Europe, Hong Kong SAR) and I was part of the team which introduced a new method of working with these contacts across the continents. Every process was quicker, more efficient and gave both us and the clients additional transparency within the audit process. I think you need to be open to learning new technology when you join PwC as there’s so much to learn and use.”
As Khallum looks to the future and the start of his qualified career within Audit, he’s already gained a lot of exposure to clients, audit methodologies and built his own confidence… all before he’s even graduated! We welcome Khallum into the Birmingham office as a full time Senior Associate this autumn and wish him all the best with his career.
If you’re interested in our Flying Start Degree programmes and how our paid work placements alongside university study could work for you, click here to find out more.
