There are three reasons why the work you do with clients is the most important aspect of your training contract.
Firstly, the qualification you get after three years will be exactly the same as thousands of others get that year. What will make you different is the work experience you have built up.
Secondly, you will learn more from colleagues and clients while actually doing the job than you ever will at college, so plenty of varied work experience will help you pass the exams as well as develop you professionally.
Thirdly, there is the simple fact that you will spend more time in your first three years on client work than you will on anything else, so choosing a firm with an interesting and varied client base is crucial.
Most trainees within the general business group start off by working on the audits of companies. An audit is basically an examination of a company’s accounts in order to provide assurance to the owners that they are ‘true and fair’. The main areas of a set of accounts are a balance sheet (showing assets and liabilities) and a profit and loss account (income and expenditure).
A new trainee might typically start off by spending a couple of days doing a fixed assets section of the file. This involves checking valuations, discussing depreciation and drafting the relevant part of the accounts.
Your performance on assignments is monitored and you will receive structured written feedback after each one. There are also formal reviews every six months to make sure you are developing the skills and knowledge you need.
Before long, your experience will stretch beyond the technical areas of an audit into managing the assignment – supervising other staff, reporting progress to the lead partner and liaising with the client. You will also be expected to start using your client knowledge and contacts to identify areas where the firm can provide additional services to improve the client’s business.
The tremendous variety of clients at Moore Stephens in terms of size, industry sector and expectation translates directly into incredibly varied work experience. Over the course of your first three years you will have worked on more clients from more industry sectors than many other firms can offer.