24-Week Work Attachment at Deloitte

I performed my work attachment at Deloitte & Touche LLP (‘Deloitte’) for a total of 24 weeks from 11^th December 2017 to 25^th May 2018.

I was an audit intern in the General Audit Division of the Audit & Assurance Services, specifically Audit Group B. For Audit Group B which I was assigned to, it mainly specialises in the consumer and industrial products industry, as well as energy and resources industry.

The main challenge I faced was to perform new audit procedures, which I have not done before, accurately and efficiently. I had to ensure that all sections I was in charge were properly completed before the given deadlines. I tried my best on my own and my audit senior was very helpful in teaching me how to fill in the leadsheets and working papers, as well as helping me to understand the reason why these audit procedures have to be performed. If I was still unclear of anything, I asked her the relevant questions immediately to perform these audit procedures. Not only did I learn how to thoroughly complete and test the client’s revenue and expenses, I also learnt how to manage my time more efficiently when handling various audit tasks within the deadlines. In audit, time management skill is very important since we have to be able to juggle different audit tasks, or even different audit engagements, at the same time within the given client deadlines. Hence, I was able to handle all tasks assigned to me on time, as well as helping out the other audit team members on other audit sections. This skill will no doubt be useful in my professional career as an audit associate in the future.

To sum up, this work attachment at Deloitte has definitely benefited me in many ways. By interning at Deloitte for 24 weeks straight, I got to experience what it is like working as an audit professional in the real world during the peak and non-peak periods. Hence, this has provided me with a realistic preview of working in the audit field, allowing me to understand better what is expected of me if I were to embark on a career as an audit professional. I was also exposed to a variety of industries and companies in different audit engagements, hence experiencing a steep learning curve.

Below is my work supervisor's evaluation and testimonial of my performance throughout my 6 months in Deloitte.

Moreover, during my learning journey in Deloitte, I also learnt how to apply accounting and audit concepts taught in Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) when auditing for clients. In school, these concepts are tested in exam questions which are quite straightforward. However, in the real world, though these underlying concepts may not be tested explicitly, they are still important as we must take them into account throughout the whole audit. For example, setting the overall materiality and performance materiality are highly important in any audit engagement since they determine which specific accounts are scoped out or in and the sample size when performing audit procedures such as test of details on revenue.

I also learnt that not only technical skills and knowledge, but also soft skills are highly important in the audit field during my learning journey in Deloitte. Such soft skills include communication skill, teamwork, leadership skill and time management skill. Before my work attachment at Deloitte, I had the misconception that auditors mainly keep to themselves and work alone. However, to my surprise, I found out that auditors usually have to work together as a team and must have good communication skills as well. Not only do they have to communicate within the audit team ranging from interns to partners, but they also have to communicate with the clients directly or via email to liase with them during the whole audit. Furthermore, there is also a change in audit team members as well as clients in different audit engagements. Thus, being a good team player is also very important as an audit professional and I enhanced these soft skills during my work attachment.

Personally, I had met many new friends in Deloitte through Deloitte’s company events and audit engagements. These include other Deloitte interns and full-timers. Deloitte organised a few company events which I participated during my internship. Such company activities include Chinese New Year Celebration Diner, as well as creating a group video for the Christmas Intern Video Contest.

Through this internship, I was able to gain better knowledge of the accounting and audit concepts and apply them in the real world, as well as improve my soft skills which will definitely benefit me in my future career as an audit professional. Hence, this internship has no doubt been fruitful experience for me, both professionally and personally.