Company: KPMG
Date: 2019-01-03
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

Audit Analyst
Pros: 1.)Exposure to high ranking client personnel, including executives
2.)Prestigious name to have on your CV
3.)Work with specialists and practitioners
4.)It is easy to get a promotion
5.)Resources,Constant Training,Subscriptions and research tools,Holidays
Cons: The actual work** - especially in the audit division. You'll be given sections of the balance sheet to investigate and obtain evidence supporting the numbers. Then you'll make photocopies and tie in all of the numbers back to the balance sheet. These numbers have to be referenced on both the balance sheet and evidence and then filed. This process is repeated on every client, and can be boring and repetitive. You'll be doing this for the first three years.
2.)Hours**. One of the arguments for the lower salary than those in investment banking can expect is that you are working fewer hours than someone, in say, M&A. However, it's not always the case. During "busy season" (January - April) you can expect to work from 9am to 8pm, and the occasional weekend. If you are booked on continuous year-end audits, you'll work 9am until 7pm or 8pm every night. Each audit has a deadline, and it is essential that it is met to avoid fines and make sure the client stays happy. This means that you will work whatever hours are needed to make that deadline.
3.)Hierarchy**. The organisational structure is very hierarchical and rigid. At the bottom are the first, second and third year associates, then the executives, assistant managers, managers, senior managers and partners. If you are highly regarded it will take you around 14 years to get to partner level. However, out of an intake of many hundred, only a handful will ever get there.