Working at PwC as a Spring Intern

As most Economics majors would know, acquiring spring internships can be a stressful and hectic process, with separate applications to every company, plus assessments and online interviews, it can really take a toll. However, it can be really useful to learn more about different internships, since these jobs involve so many diverse departments. These companies are all different, with various departments, work cultures and requirements and there is something new to learn from each of them. Since spring internships are short and only usually cover one specific department, it can be useful to know about other ones. This article is about my experience working as a Spring Intern at PwC, a well-known Big 4.

These companies are all different, with various departments, work cultures and requirements and there is something new to learn from each of them

This internship was hybrid, with one day virtual, and two days on-site, in my case London. I quite liked this format, the first virtual day prepared us for the upcoming days and what to expect and acclimatised us to the company before we stepped in.

The next two days were quite hectic but immensely helpful in understanding what you actually do in a company. I was an intern in the Assurance department and we were to be with our buddy, a current employee, for the next two days. Shadowing an employee proved to be a good learning experience. The offices were huge (with a stellar view of London from the terrace) and the workspaces were social and varied, with collaborative and quiet ones (and most crucially, an abundant supply of coffee).

For the first task, we were asked to prepare a company analysis for the current clients, this involved analysing the financial statements, news reports and the environment in which the company was based. Then we sat in an actual client meeting, which was one of the highlights of my experience. Audit proved to be a more team-work intensive job than I had previously thought. For the first few years, you will work with one client for around a month, visiting their offices quite frequently as well. Reviewing and preparing a profile for the company is where the teamwork comes in, with different people researching and analysing different aspects of the company. The client meeting serves as a briefing of sorts for the work that has been done, and suggestions from the client to PwC about what more to do and vice versa. Naturally, Audit is a line which is heavily accounting based and a really interesting thing that PwC does is provide CA training to their Audit employees. This training is a certification to become a chartered accountant and spans three years, and from what the employees said, it can be quite an intensive balancing of work and studies. However, despite this, they said it was a highly coveted one and even though it involved more work, it was worth it in the end.

Naturally, Audit is a line which is heavily accounting based and a really interesting thing that PwC does is provide CA training to their Audit employees

Besides this, we were allowed to log into the PwC platform and access its resources, particularly a platform called Vantage. Vantage is the company’s training platform with resources to learn about virtually anything you need on the job, and we spent a lot of the day learning about technical stuff like data entry and advanced Excel. We also had a meeting with the senior managers, with employees asking them questions and interviewing them. Since spring internships are usually a pathway to obtaining a summer internship, we were asked to submit a self-reflection diary, with questions around our experience. Candidates are judged on this and their performance throughout these days. It is worthwhile to note that PwC places high value on feedback and its merits.

Overall, the experience was nice, though I wish it had been longer. Despite being in the audit department, we were able to talk to many people from other departments too so it was very holistic and gave me a real idea of what it is like to work in a company.