I applied during the milkround in September of my final year in college. This is probably the most common way to apply for any of the Big 4 firms.
Completed 1 to 2 interviews with each firm, ranging from very formal to informal in nature. The interview process is an ideal way for you to meet and talk to individuals working in practice.
Describe a typical day?
A normal day usually involves either working in the office or onsite with a client. This might include:
Reviewing work; this involves checking the work of other team members to ensure that their work has been completed correctly.
Planning up coming audits, including agreeing fees, reporting timelines, selecting the audit team, discussing the overall clients business since the previous years audit etc.
Preparing and reviewing statutory accounts, these are the Profit & Loss accounts, Balance Sheets upon which Deloitte report and form an opinion over.
Basically no two days are the same in Deloitte!
What are the main tasks and responsibilities?
Apart from auditing, which involves testing account balances (revenue, administration expenses, debtors, creditors etc) to ensure that they are not materially mis-stated (Accounting speak for wrong!), my main tasks/responsibilities also include:
Facilitating and coaching other team members
Client management; this includes arranging the timing of their audit, managing their expectations of the service they expect from Deloitte etc.
Team management
Reviewing work of others
Audit planning
What are the main challenges?
Every client you are assigned to is a new challenge; whether it is a new area to audit, new technical issues you have to research or a new client they all pose different challenges.
Working on a number of clients at any one time means you must be able to prioritise your work and manage your time effectively and efficiently to ensure deadlines are met.
People management and awareness of the differing abilities of other team members to ensure that each team member receives the appropriate level of on the job coaching required to complete their sections.
What's cool?
The people that work within Deloitte and the people I get to meet on my client assignments. This is a great job if you like meeting new people and learning from their experiences. I get to meet people from some of the largest companies in Ireland!
The people you work with are around the same age and background and starting in the firm is like an extension to college! Deloitte has a very active sports and social committee that organises events for us on an ongoing basis, such as our most recent summer party (with Mundy, Sharon Shannon and Neil Delamere!) and the summer “Eliminator” Sports events, Halloween and summer BBQ parties and of course the black tie Christmas Party, which was held in the Guinness Storehouse last year!
What's not so cool?
Sometimes the hours worked can be long, especially from January to April. However the overtime during the summer months tends not to be as intense.
Deadlines for reporting clients can be tight.
What particular skills do you bring to your workplace?
Job and people management, including training others both in the job and through formal training courses.
Fostering a spirit of team work among others.
Technical knowledge, including application of specific accounting standards to complex accounting issues.
