Non Big 4 Accounting Summer Internships

Hildago

I'm a 2nd year student in a four year Commerce International course so I'm hoping to do some sort of accounting internship this summer. I will apply to all of the Big 4 firms but I know that they have a very rigorous screening and interview process so I want a back up, if possible. Are there any other large accountancy firms who have summer internship programmes? I've never heard of any and I've visited various websites but can only find info on graduate internships.

Any information is really appreciated!

moleary20

Hildago wrote: »

I'm a 2nd year student in a four year Commerce International course so I'm hoping to do some sort of accounting internship this summer. I will apply to all of the Big 4 firms but I know that they have a very rigorous screening and interview process so I want a back up, if possible. Are there any other large accountancy firms who have summer internship programmes? I've never heard of any and I've visited various websites but can only find info on graduate internships.

Any information is really appreciated!

i did an internship in a big 4 firm last year, and from what i can recall the applications didnt open until after xmas, wasnt interviewed until march, i would imagine smaller firms are the same.

definitely aim for the big 4 first anyway!!

Dellboy2007

Try the Big 10 firms, including the likes of Grant Thornton, BDO, Mazars, FGS, etc.

rockman15

Hildago wrote: »

I'm a 2nd year student in a four year Commerce International course so I'm hoping to do some sort of accounting internship this summer. I will apply to all of the Big 4 firms but I know that they have a very rigorous screening and interview process so I want a back up, if possible. Are there any other large accountancy firms who have summer internship programmes? I've never heard of any and I've visited various websites but can only find info on graduate internships.

Any information is really appreciated!

this is a bit of a long post OP but I was in your shoes in 2006.
First off, good for you looking in second year!! Its a good decision.

As someone who also did a Comm Intl i can tell you its difficult to get anyone to even look at you for a third year internship. The problem being twofold:

(i) you will be living in a different country for the year you are abroad. It is hard to get back from wherever it is you will be based at short notice (costs of flights etc). usually you willl be given two weeks to 10 days notice of an interview. There maybe two if not three rounds of face to faces and maybe a preliminary phone based one. I personally spent the guts of 900 quid coming back and forth between dublin, london and where I was based. only one company refunded my flights. In addition your college start and end dates will generally not be inline with your Irish ones. My own ran until July. Therefore you wont be able to start with the other interns, reducing your own benefit of the experience and the benefit the firm gets from you. The employer will be looking at your CV and see's B.Comm Intl and the logical process is that they figure out if your in the country or not. While longer term its obviously a bonus to have the language/erasmus experience, for internships before your final year its not ideal.

(ii) you are on erasmus and its unreal craic and you wont want to think about the real world. Believe me.

My suggestion to you is this: contact the firms you want to work for and ask them what the policy is regarding 2nd years coming in. I've never heard of 2nd of 4 year students being accepted, but this may have changed since i did internships etc. After this, have a chat with your programme co-ordinator in yourcollege and see if they can give you an idea on end dates of the erasmus programme so you can start planning potential start end dates. Its very important you explain to them why as otherwise, from my own experience you can give yourself a bad image with programme co-ordinator.

If you can get in as a 2nd year grand. If not, i would suggest looking at non big four firms, not even GrantThornton, Mazars, BDO etc. Smaller firms who would be more likely to give you hands on work and have less rigid programmes, if they even run programmes. What I can say is, you're clearly motivated to get something if you're thinking about it now and that stands to you in the selection process. At this point in your CV padding etc any accounting/firm experience is good experience as you'll get a reference at the very least out of it and will look great going into a Big4 firm as a third year.

again sorry for the length of this but if you have any questions you can PM me and I'll try to help if I can.

moleary20

when i did my internship i was almost the only one going into final year, wouldnt worry about this at all!

cant emphasise how much this opportunity is worth pursuing, it will open so many doors for you.