Vanessa was born in Germany, where she studied International Business Management with a focus on Finance. She chose to join us not only because she wanted to work in audit, but because she’d also heard about the diversity of our people.
“I joined KPMG on the Audit Empowered Programme. Essentially, that means I go to work every day and, in amongst that, I study. The ultimate aim is to become a qualified accountant. You can opt for the Intensive Programme too, which is where you go to college to study intensively for the first year instead.
What I most enjoy about my programme is that it's varied. Every day is different. When I go to work, I never know exactly what I’ll do. I also like that I'm learning so much every day. It's sometimes overwhelming, but it challenges me in a good way.
“The training here is so broad. Outside of Audit, I’ve been able to learn about the banking industry, building societies, insurance and everything about the financial sector. It’s really useful and I’ve definitely grown in confidence.”
For me, the most exciting experience so far has been working on an audit from start to finish. It was a great opportunity to learn, and really get to grips with what was going on and what everyone does. And after months of preparation and hard work, it was really fulfilling to see everything come to a close.
Technology is a big focus for our firm, and for Audit. We have some dedicated departments that deal with audit technology. We collaborate with them – they can literally take a whole dataset and evaluate it for us. It’s obviously a big advantage when it comes to ensuring the quality of the audit.
The people here are very friendly. I've not yet met someone who isn’t willing to help or support me. It's very open, and I feel like if I were to have an issue or if I needed to talk, there’s always someone who I could talk to.
I also really like that people here enjoy working together and value the firm. KPMG supports people to be themselves – they really accept you the way you are.”