Starting my career in audit

On arriving to the office for the first time from university to planning for exams, EY Audit Grad Laura Heneghan shares her experiences.

I came from an accounting background having studied Accounting and Finance in DCU and joined the Financial Services Assurance Graduate Programme in September 2018. I have been working in the Dublin office for a year and am well settled into life at EY.

On first arriving in the office, each new graduate is assigned a buddy to show you around and a counsellor to assist you throughout your time at EY. On top of this, your team will also be there to answer any questions you have so there is no shortage of people to help to adjust to your new role.

I work in wealth and asset management (WAM) team, where my role as an audit associate primarily involves working on the audit of investment funds. During my first year here, I have had the opportunity to work on various different elements of audit, which has assisted in my professional development as an auditor.

As a graduate, you will be required to sit the Chartered Accountant exams. Managing work, lectures and study, as well as finding time to relax can be challenging at first but the exams aren’t as daunting as they first seem. During my first year at EY I sat the CAP2 exams. Some weeks were busy, with work and evening lectures during the week and more lectures during the weekends. Trying to fit in studying on top of this was difficult, especially during the busy season, but EY give you plenty of study leave and run revision lectures to help you prepare for the exams.