Assurance trainees - What do we do?
Our Assurance trainees reveal what they’ve gotten to do as audit and process excellence trainees.
Viivi Takovaara
Associate
Assurance
Every day within audit-services is different and you always learn something new. The size of the client’s organization dictates vastly what you get to do. When you work with smaller organizations you get to do the whole audit process, while as in larger organizations you get to go in depth in individual reviews, all the while receiving help from your colleague.
Although the stereotype of using a lot of Excel is true, auditing is first and foremost a customer service business, where you work a lot both in teams and independently. Hence, having good interpersonal skills and an attention to detail are both characteristics which will make your job easier.
Maija Tunturi
Trainee
Process Excellence
Hi! I am Maija and I joined EY and Process Excellence (PE) team as a trainee in May 2019. We specialize in consulting clients on all kinds of financial processes with an aim to make their processes more efficient. In addition to consulting financial processes (e.g. record-to-report, purchase-to-pay, order-to-cash), our team’s projects may include identifying possibilities for robotization and automation, solving specific financial process related challenges, assessing controls and risks in processes, supporting finance organization changes and other finance operating model changes.
During my first months here, I worked on proposals, client projects as well as some internal work. By internal work, I mean preparations for seminars that we have organized for clients, creating marketing lists, working with internal strategy development programs etc. Client work has included preparing materials for clients, preparing for client workshops and partaking in them.
Regarding the IT systems and tools, in my work, I used PowerPoint, Excel and Word with a new addition of Power BI. At EY, we also have many different IT systems, so I would say that having knowledge and experience how to navigate in ERP and CRM systems is a great advantage. Also, understanding IT systems helps when working on client projects.
Since I started at EY, everybody has been extremely supportive and welcoming. Our PE team is currently 13 people and we are constantly growing. As our team is fairly small there is a lot of teamwork, you get close with your teammates quickly. I would say that important attributes for working at EY and in our team are the abilities to learn and grow and be both self-oriented and detail-oriented. It is also essential to be able to see not just the particulars but also the whole, bigger picture.
There has been a lot to do and learn already in such a short time. At EY, you also have a chance to steer your focus and learning towards matters that you feel interested in. Once you get familiar with the topics we are working with here, you have the flexibility to choose areas you want to focus on and build your own area of expertise.
Topi Peltonen
Manager
Assurance
As a trainee in EY Russia Desk you would work both in assignments of Audit Helsinki as well as assignments of Russia Desk. Audit Helsinki assignments involve assisting the audit team both in the EY office as well as doing audit work at client offices. Working closely with other team members and client personnel requires good interpersonal skills. Smaller engagements offer a wide view of the whole company’s financial statements while larger engagements provide more opportunity for focusing in-depth on a few areas.
Russia Desk assignments involve mostly working at EY office, but some engagements involve travelling to Russia or CIS countries. Russia Desk trainee would work with various review tasks, focusing mainly on external confirmations of some of the most important financial statement items: accounts receivable and cash & bank. This involves helping in sample selection, acquiring materials from clients, sending confirmation requests by email, controlling for answers (via phone and email) from clients’ clients and financial institutions as well as documenting results of confirmation procedures. To succeed in this, an eager working attitude and determination to get the task done despite potential obstacles would greatly help together with language skills.
