Summer Internship at PwC – An opportunity of a lifetime

This past Summer was an amazing one to say the least as Moneka and I got to work at PwC in the Audit & Assurance Group (AAG). Our time at PwC was spent learning & developing ourselves, taking on challenging work, making a lot of new friends, meeting with PwC staff and executives, as well as having loads of fun on PwC’s Summer Friday Sessions! In this blog, we will cover our experiences at PwC and hopefully give you a better perspective of what a Summer term at PwC looks like.

Ammar’s Experience:
 
I worked out of the Metro North Office, located right outside Finch station and I was a part of a PwC’s Private Company Services (PCS) Group (my decision). I got to work on a diverse set of clients ranging from Not-for-Profits to Private companies during my term and I have to say, I enjoyed every bit of it.

Right off the bat, it was clear that the firm really values your development as a professional. All the interns went through 2 weeks of Assurance 1 which is a program that provides adequate training to get you started, even if you have never taken an Audit class ever before! Although you would have went through training before you started on your first client, you`re never expected to know everything and you have the freedom to ask as many questions to your Senior on the job as you want to.

What`s unique about PCS is that you`re usually part of smaller teams (the biggest team I was on was 4 people, 2 of us were summer students). Since the teams are smaller, there`s a high chance that even as an Intern, you will be working on certain areas of the file which you would not get a chance to work on if you are on a much larger client with a huge team – not that Interns on larger clients don`t get to do work, it just has a different dynamic to it. You also get the chance to work closely with the top executives at the client. For example, I was interacting with the Controller at one of my clients on a daily basis. The experience really helps build your confidence and in a way, pushes you to really learn what kind of work you`re doing and why you`re doing it. As an added bonus, if you do a good job, your Senior might give you some Acclaim points which you can later redeem for some nice little gifts for yourself (I got a watch!).

My experience was diverse in the sense that I got to work on different types of jobs – year-end, interim, pension audit – and I got to work out of all 3 offices (Mississauga, Metro North, Downtown). I appreciated this opportunity because it allowed me to get a feel of every office and although the PwC culture remains intact across all offices, there is a different tone to each office and whichever office you`d like to work from boils down to your personal preference.

As Moneka mentions in her post, at PwC you`re assigned a Coach who is typically an Experienced Senior Associate from your office. Your Coach is your go-to person if you have anything you`d like to discuss such as your goals, what kind of clients and industries you`re interested in etc. My Coach was amazing because he always kept in touch with me and never hesitated to meet with me if I had any questions or concerns. Moneka also touches on my favourite part of our Summer Internship experience – Summer Friday Sessions. At these sessions, the Interns really came together as one big family and it was great to see everyone bond as we took part in various fun activities over the course of the summer – including winning the Big 4 Ultimate Frisbee Tournament for the 3rd time in a row!
            
As I`ve already mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at PwC and it was definitely one of the best Summers I`ve ever had from a career perspective and also a social perspective. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to Moneka or myself and we`d be happy to talk to you!

Moneka’s Experience:

It is sufficient to say that this summer at PwC has been an incredible, once in a lifetime opportunity. From the Friday sessions to the great clients and the constant coaching and the great friends I met, I have gained significant new experiences and knowledge this summer.

I mainly worked on clients in the TICE (Technology, Information, Communications and Entertainment) industry under the Auditing and Assurance Group (AAG). The clients I worked on ranged from small emerging clients to larger clients of PwC. I truly learnt a lot about what difficulties companies in the growth stage of their business face versus what obstacles larger companies may face. What enriched my client experience more was the constant coaching that I received from other seniors/managers on that job through PwC’s teach-don’t-tell teaching style. This teaching style has aided me in getting out of my comfort zone by trying to find answers on my own and by giving me the right amount of space and independence to understand which accounting procedures are appropriate to conduct at a specific point in time. I even got to meet the Jonas Brothers while working on a client that owned radio stations! Picture is shown below. I also got to play hockey at Yonge-Dundas Square with other fellow PwC-ers with the CEO of ING Group for a charity called FiveHole for food. Opportunities are boundless at PwC .

At PwC, every person gets a coach that is a certified CA- the coaches guide their coachees through decisions regarding career moves, client work and the constant development in their performance. My coach has guided me all throughout the summer and helped answer any questions or concerns I may have had which definitely enriched my summer experience more.

But what really makes PwC summer internship program different than the programs in the other firms is the Friday Sessions and the firm culture! Friday sessions usually consist of an informational an educational portion in morning such as Public Speaking Workshop and an Industry Panel consisting of partners and associates of various levels at the firm that share their experiences which is followed by a Q & A session. After the morning portion and post-lunch, we are usually able to change into more casual attire in preparation for the activities planned for that day. Examples of Friday sessions include going sailing at the Harbor Front, the ultimate Frisbee tournament against the Big 5 accounting firms, and karaoke at the 3 Brewers.
   
 I can easily say that I have had the best time this summer at PwC; I met some incredible people, gained significant new knowledge and took a step in the right direction in my career. If you are interested in applying for a job at PwC, I highly recommend it! It will be a decision I know you won’t regret.