Elliott D.
About me
| Elliott D. | |
| Economics and Related Studies | |
| Economics & Finance | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Halifax | |
| 2017 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Audit Manager | |
| EY | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Finance and consultancy | |
| Large business (250+ employees) | |
| 2016 |
More about Elliott
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A day in the life of a Audit Manager in the United Kingdom
Variety - working on different client engagements in different sectors, with multiple teams across the world
Briefly describe the organisation you work for
We’re a professional services organisation that helps companies make better decisions about business, finance and technology. We’re a group of over 365,000 talented people spanning the globe in more than 150 countries. Our four main business areas — Assurance, Consulting, Strategy and Transactions, and Tax — transform how businesses work by providing innovative solutions and future-forward ideas.
What do you do?
My 'day-to-day' job is as a Manager in our Assurance practice. Assurance is all about ensuring that financial information that goes out to the markets is accurate, complete, and not hiding a very different story to reality. My day job is very much a project manager role - balancing the expectations and requirements of the Audit Partners, my clients and the team below me, reviewing work completed by the team, coaching and training up those below me, and ensuring the delivery of specialist teams. The most exciting part of the role for me is the variety - working on different client engagements in different sectors, with multiple teams across the world. Every week really is different.
Outside of the 'day job', I have a number of other roles in the firm - I'm the Campus Team Leader for our student attraction activity at the University of York, have the role of Wellbeing Champion for our Yorkshire Assurance business, am part of the Leeds office CSR team, and am a career counsellor to six senior associates.
Reflecting upon your past employment and education, what led you to your current career choice?
Although I studied Economics & Finance at York, I somewhat fell into my role at EY. During my second year at York I was looking at different Summer Internships and heard about the 'Big Four' as being prestigious firms that paid quite well - not even really knowing what audit was at the time I submitted an application and was successful in the application process. After the internship I knew this was something I enjoyed and was good at, so decided to accept the Graduate job offer.
Is your current job sector different from what you thought you would enter when you graduated?
I went into the third year of my degree with a guaranteed graduate job offer, so I did expect to join EY after graduating. However I didn't expect to stay for as long as I have - many people in my industry move on after completing their professional qualification or at some point after that, which I expected to do, but after seven years I'm still here and thoroughly enjoying it.
Describe your most memorable day at work
There's a few that are memorable for different reasons:
1) In 2023 I was able to travel to Poland to meet the Polish client team and Danish/Polish teams that I work work.
2) One of the responsibilities of the first and second year associates is to visit our client sites to perform stock counts. Some of the interesting sites I've been able to visit: a sportscar manufacturer, a sugar factory (got to go inside a huge sugar silo), a defence manufacturer.
3) In June 2024 I was invited down to London to film an interview in our recording studio, discussing managing work-life balance with the head partner for our Europe, Middle East, India & Africa Assurance firms.
4) When I was promoted to Manager in 2023, the firm held a 'New Manager & Senior Manager' training week in Dublin as a celebration of our promotions and to allow us to network with other new Managers from across the UK & Ireland firm.
What extracurricular activities did you undertake at university and what transferable skills did you develop through these?
At University I kept myself very busy with my course and extra-curricular activities. The main ones were:
Listening volunteer and training coordinator for Nightline (confidential nighttime listening service for students) - this experience was the most important to me landing a place on the graduate scheme. Not only did it help me develop my communication skills, I was able to utilise this experience directly in my final interview when I pitched the idea of training all audit professionals in active listening skills as a way to fully understand out clients needs. The people that I met through Nightline are also now very close friends that I still see regularly.
Team leader for Nightsafe in my third year - you'll be glad to know there isn't too many transferrable skills between supporting drunk students on nights out and a professional services role.
I also had brief stints with Halifax Rugby (social player), Halifax College Committee, Hazsoc, and EnigmaSoc, as well as attending the socials for EconSoc.
What top tips do you have for York students preparing for today’s job market and life after graduation?
My main tip both whilst you're still at University and then for when you graduate is to say yes to opportunities, go out and have fun, speak to people, make friends, volunteer or join a club. Not only does it help you become a more rounded and happier person generally in life, it'll also give you things to talk about in interviews. Employers are less and less focused on purely academics and want to hire people who are well rounded and will fit into their teams.
Next steps...
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