Assistant Manager - Kevin Fairclough

Well, it turns out that accounting isn’t that boring after all. Although those considering audit might want to take a careful look at what’s involved.

Accountancy was cited by almost everyone as a brilliant place to get a solid understanding of business and many people exploit the training as a springboard into other careers both within finance and more broadly (such as management consultancy). This makes it a pretty good option for those who aren’t entirely sure which direction to take but who want a solid qualification from which to build.

The exact qualification you sign-up to will depend on what interests you and what slant you want your training to have. Typically at the big 4 you’ll be going for the ACA, which probably has the edge in terms of prestige. If you’re interested in being an accountant within a business then you’ll be heading in the direction of CIMA. Public service has its own specialised training and that’s CIPFA.

Something that may seem a little counter intuitive is that you don’t actually have to be a math geek to be successful in this industry. Whilst it might help for more specialized areas such as tax and actuarial work, most people we spoke to didn’t have a clue what the whole top row of a calculator does!

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Kevin Fairclough and I am an Assistant Manager in KPMG's Internal Audit services department.

What attracted you to this career?

I guess the main reason I chose to go down the route of internal audit as a career path was the opportunity to add value to clients and to help them achieve their objectives.  I was also attracted by the opportunities to work with a wide variety of clients and people and also to be given the opportunity to be getting involved in a wide variety of work, which internal audit certainly allows you do to.

At university I studied for a degree in economics, and whilst I was doing this degree, it covered a number of accountancy and business related modules. After university when I completed my degree, I decided to go for a career which would allow me to a post graduate qualification in accountancy.

What does your job involve?

Internal audit provides comfort to clients that their systems are operating effectively and as they would expect them to be.

Interviewer: And what kind of Systems?

These systems can range from anything from their purchasing system to their sales system to their staff expense system, it can in fact be any system that we can be asked to look at and provide that comfort that their systems are operating effectively and expected.

What's the difference between audit and internal audit?

The difference between audit and internal audit is that audit is generally focused on the company's finance statements and that they show a true and fair view.  Internal audit focus on the internal systems and controls and whether they operate effectively and as expected.  We provide assurance to the board of our clients that those systems are operating effectively and we will report to management.

What do you do on a typical day?

My job involves undertaking internal audit assignments at a clients site and on a day to day basis this will involve me spending a period of time at the clients taking a number of interviews with key staff and reviewing various pieces of documentation and undertaking the required internal audit testing and then from that we would make recommendations which we will report back to the client in the form of a report.

Describe the process of your work?

In simple terms internal audit is in two stages, we will be asked to go in to provide comfort to a client's board or the committee that their systems are operating as they should. The second element to it, whilst we are undertaking this review, is to actually look at their existing systems and see whether the way they are supposed to be operating is in fact in line with best practice and at this stage we make recommendations as to how the client can improve their systems to make it more effective or efficient.

Internal auditors don't have to have a detailed knowledge of every clients’ systems and they just have the internal audit knowledge which they can apply to any system which they are asked to evaluate and review.

What are the best bits about your job?

The best bits to this job are the sheer variety, every day is often different every job is different and the great thing about working in internal audit is it gives you an opportunity to meet with a wide range of different people and also work at a wide range of different clients which makes working in internal audit very enjoyable.

What are the worst bits about your job?

I guess the most challenging part of the job is the travel involved and often some of the clients you are sent to work at can be quite far away so this can involve quite a bit of travel.  But as I said before, this can also be one of the enjoyable things in working in internal audit, the opportunity to travel to new places, whether that be local or at the other end of the country or even abroad.

Internal audit is independent and we provide an independent opinion on the system which we have been asked to review.  We make recommendations which can be accepted by management but there are occasions where management do not accept these recommendations.  What we do in that instance, whilst it can be quite annoying, we try to explain the reasons behind the recommendations and the value which can be added from implementing those recommendations. But there are always occasions where the client choose not to accept the recommendations which we have made.

What has been your greatest achievement?

My greatest achievement is the completion of my professional accounting qualification and this was three years of hard work and it was a fantastic achievement to complete this qualification first time and now that I have completed this qualification this has opened a number of doors for me within KPMG and also in the wider sense it has now provided me with a number of opportunities to progress my career.

Any regrets?

If I was to start my career again, one thing I would do differently is to get involved in more extra curricular activities during my time at university and this is essential to enhance your CV and make you stand out in front of other graduates because the graduate mark at the moment is extremely competitive and any unique selling points which you may have will only increase your chances of getting the job which you want.

What is the pay like and are there any perks?

Pay at KPMG is very competitive compared to similar firms and also industry.  There are also a number of benefits which come with working for KPMG, these include the pension scheme, the bonus scheme and also the lunch allowances.

Interviewer: Lunch allowances - tell me about them?

Every KPMG employee gets a daily lunch allowance of £2.85 which they can use each day at a KPMG office, if they are working out at a client's site they also get a slightly greater lunch allowance of £4.

How long is a working day and do you have to work out of hours?

The working day is typically 9 to 5 but this, on occasions, can be extended should there be client deadlines which need to be met, again this is down to the individual depending on how much they want to learn and progress their career at KPMG.  There may be occasions when you may be required to come in early or work into the evening to meet a deadline.  Again there may be occasions where you may have to complete a piece of work at the weekend in order to meet a deadline but this is down to the individual and the individual choice as to how ambitious and how fast they want to progress in the organisation.

Is there much in the way of travel?

The level of travel required to do this job depends on the client.  There are some clients who can be very local which you drive to in 10 to 15 minutes.  There are however, some clients which require you to drive for an hour or two or even get a train.  There may be occasions when you may get a job down in London where you get to go away for a week and spend a week in a hotel.  There are also occasional opportunities to go and work at a client in a different country and in that case you will be put up in a hotel for the period of time.

Do you have to be based anywhere in particular?

Internal audit you can generally do in most places across the UK, we have teams in most of the big cities. The way it works is that we would go to where the client is based so it is not too important where you are based in terms of office location, you travel to the client to complete the work.

What is the working environment like?

The working environment at any KPMG office is very enjoyable, the dress code is business casual and this, together with the range of people who work at KPMG, cause it to be an informal and enjoyable atmosphere at KPMG offices. One of the great things about working at KPMG is the opportunity to work with a wide range of people covering all age groups and all genders. For example in one of my previous projects I was on a team with one guy and two girls.

How did you get into your job?

At university I studied an economics degree and I sort of fell into internal audit.  Obviously internal audit, and a career with KPMG, requires you to have a degree but the type of degree which you have qualified in doesn’t matter.  There are people who have studied a wide range of degree courses from pure accounting through to English and history.

I came across to KPMG from a smaller internal audit organisation and the application process which I went through contained a number of stages.  The first stage was the CV application and following on from that was an online numeracy test.  Having passed those two stages, I was then required to complete a case study which required me to complete a client document based on the client information given to me.  Following on from that I had a two stage interview process and the final interview being with a Partner at KPMG.

What are the key skills required for your job?

I think to be successful in internal audit you firstly have to be a good communicator both orally and written.  You also have to have the ability to think outside the box and not just think in black and white because it is really important in order to be able to add value to our clients that we can think outside the box.  In addition to that it is also very important to have a commercial awareness.  

Do you need to be numerate?

No not at all, whilst it would be an advantage to be good at numbers, a lot of the work we do is system related and doesn’t involve having to deal with a large volume of numbers.

What's your top tip for breaking into your industry?

I think my top tip to get into internal audit is to gain as much relevant experience as possible and internships are a great opportunity to be able to spend some time at KPMG to get involved and gain an understanding of the work that we do and also get a foot in the door.

What's the career progress and how quickly can you move up the career ladder?

In internal audit there is a structure as to how you progress your career but it is down to the individual and how proactive they want to be.  They have to identify what they need to do in order to move to the next level and find opportunities to be able to develop those skills, develop those competencies, be able to move up to that next level.

How does the role change over time?

In internal audit, the levels are, starting from the bottom, a consultant, then assistant manager, manager level, senior manager level, director and then finally partner level and obviously the job changes considerably between those levels as you move up the levels of responsibility and client contact you have will increase.

As you progress your career at KPMG and move up those levels the complexity and the level of work you will be involved in will increase.  As you move up you also become more involved in business development and gaining new business for KPMG and the department.

Is there scope for movement during or after this career?

I think working at KPMG and internal audit and also the completion of the professional accountant qualifications, these provide you with a host of transferable skills which you can use to diversify into other KPMG service areas or indeed transfer to industry.  There are numerous employees at KPMG who have even moved across to a different KPMG service or even transferred across to industry and they use those skills which they have picked up over the years at KPMG and during the completion of their professional accounting qualification.

There is opportunity for KPMG internal auditors to be able to transfer to internal audit functions at our clients.  There have been examples where some of our staff have gone on a secondment to a client internal audit function to be able to have people who have gone on to become head of internal audit in other industry organisations.

What are the industry resources that someone interested in joining must know about?

KPMG internal auditors are encouraged to become members of the IIA, which is the Institute of Internal Auditors.  They have a host of materials to its members for example it has a website, it has a monthly internal audit magazine and it also provides a number of training days which its members can go on.

If you weren't in this career, what would you be doing?

If I wasn’t in this career I would hopefully be a professional footballer.  I can dream anyway.