Joe W.
About me
| Joe W. | |
| Physics | |
| Physics | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Alcuin | |
| 2011 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Executive | |
| EY | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Finance and consultancy | |
| 2011 |
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A day in the life of a Executive in the United Kingdom
My career history
I have worked at EY since I graduated, firstly taking a position as an Associate in the Audit service line. I have since advanced to the Executive level, leading 10-15 juniors on clients and working directly with the Partners at EY and the senior management at my clients.
Courses taken since graduation
ICAS - Chartered Accountancy
Where I hope to be in 5 years
My intention is to work towards the Partnership, the highest level at EY and the owners of the firm. I have already progressed quickly into a managerial role, and I have been lucky enough to build a strong network of mentors and supporters at the firm that I will continue to use to develop my skills. It is possible to develop your long-term career plan quite quickly at EY.
My advice to students considering work
Start looking early, but don't narrow your options too much. If possible get a summer internship at the end of your first year. Most students don't think about their career until their second year or last summer vacation, but it is important to gain some experience to help guide your decisions.
Also, take every opportunity to meet employers. Many representatives are graduates of York. At events, I am just as keen to give back to students as I am to recruit the best, and I am always impressed by students who make an effort to talk to me, so take the opportunity to ask your questions.
Accountancy is increasing its graduate intakes, but a Big 4 firm like EY is always competitive. Get involved early, meet us at events and try and get an internship if you can. But York is a strong University and we have a number of high-performing York alumni at EY, so don't ever assume you can't make it!
My advice about working in my industry
Accountancy is increasing its graduate intakes, but a Big 4 firm like EY is always competitive. Get involved early, meet us at events and try and get an internship if you can. But York is a strong University and we have a number of high-performing York alumni at EY, so don't ever assume you can't make it!
What I do
As an Assurance Executive, the basic part of my job is working with clients to ensure that their financial reporting is an honest representation of a client's business. One of the misconceptions of audit is that it is largely adding and ticking numbers, however on a day-to-day basis my job consists of speaking to clients, training juniors, and drafting reports for my seniors. I spend quite a lot of time discussing judgemental factors, and meeting with clients to understand how they run their business and advising them on how their thought processes can be improved.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Extracurricular skills:
I use a combination of analytical, people and project management skills. I developed the analytical skills through my Physics degree, allowing me to identify trends and anomalies in data, vital skills for an auditor.
I manage and coach a number of junior staff on my teams, as well as build relationships with the client staff. Through this I have developed strong people skills, supported by managers who have greater experience in this.
Project management skills are also important as I work with several clients on several teams at the same time. This is a skill I initially developed in my degree, but the experience gained at EY has helped me significantly improve my skills in this department.
What I like most
I love the variety and the people exposure. I work with several different clients and am never in one place for long. I work with a lot of different teams, so you are always meeting new EY people, and I spend about 70% of my time at client sites so I am always working with the client personnel. I speak daily with everybody from the client junior staff to their board of directors, and get to meet people with a vast range of experience, and I think this opportunity is rare for a new graduate. Not many newer graduates get to speak to the CFO of FTSE100 companies on a daily basis!
I also enjoy the speed of development and progression. At EY you can be promoted every 1/2 years and the expectation is for you to make Senior Manager within 7-8 years of joining the firm. You can very quickly take a lot of responsibility.
What I like least
Perhaps that junior members of staff at clients assume that you are there to check up on them as an auditor, and think that you are there to find their mistakes. This can sometimes to them being less than helpful until they understand you are there to work with them.
Next steps...
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