Working At EY

First, a brief introduction of myself.
Just like any other lost high school student, I chose the bachelor business economics because it was quite known that there are broad career opportunities after you completed this study. After completing the bachelor, I chose to follow the master accountancy to gain more knowledge about a new field of ​​interest of mine: the audit/control practices. In addition to this, it appealed to me to work at a bigfour accounting firm in the future. During this master I attended an in-house day of every bigfour firm. With that being said, I experienced the in-house day at EY as the best one. As a result, I managed to be hired for a thesis internship at EY Eindhoven. I had a nice, pleasant and educational experience at this thesis internship. Afterwards, this formed a fair reason for me to start my career at EY. On the day of writing this article, November 20, 2019, EY Eindhoven is dealing with a 23-year-old starting accountant named Robin Hu.

A day at EY is different for each colleague and mainly depends on the client you are working on. For example, you may have to go to a client with the team to carry out the control. Besides this, you can also work with the team at an EY location if it is not necessary to work at the client. This occurs, for example, when all required documents and information have been received from the client.
For me, the day looks slightly different than for most accountants at EY. So far, I have only been working with one client, the largest client at EY Eindhoven. Due to the fact that it is a big client, this requires some time and it also explains why I have only had one client so far. It is important to mention that I requested this prior to my start at EY. I saw that this was possible and saw it as a challenge for myself, to start with the largest client.
My team and I mainly work from the EY Eindhoven office. It is a large team and most colleagues are already quite experienced. Because of the fact that we are often together as a team, we have the opportunity to discuss a lot with each other and to support each other well.
Although my work is fairly new to me, my more experienced colleagues help me a lot to carry out all my tasks. At the same time, I learn a lot about the field and about the client with the help of my supporting and supervising experienced colleagues. They believe that it is important for me to learn a lot and that I also develop myself.

To EY, the development of its employees is extremely important. EY offers me many opportunities to develop myself as a person, for example the time EY offers us to study. Each person is also assigned a coach and a confidant. These people support me with the work-study-life balance and any problems that I experience both in business and in my private life. Moreover, informal and formal courses are given internally at EY to help you with your development, such as accounting courses and work-life balance courses.

“I don’t really see working at EY as “working”, but more as an experience to develop myself as a person and an accountant, and to have fun and work hard together with my colleagues at the same time.”

EY has a lot to offer, but what do I think of EY?
It will probably sound very cliché, but in the end it’s all about the pleasant atmosphere ad culture within EY. The bigfour firms offer almost similar conditions, but the atmosphere and culture can be very different between these firms.
The atmosphere and culture that I have been able to experience at EY (Eindhoven) is open, warm and informal.
I am very happy with all the colleagues I have met so far. It is also often very pleasant and fun at EY, and everyone is willing to help each other. After all, we all work together. Furthermore, we also work very hard at EY and there is also space to do this. EY organizes periodic events where we get to know each other as colleagues in a different way. I have experienced these events very positively. Finally, I want to mention that you do not notice much of a hierarchy, which I also like. Whether you talk to a manager or a partner, you do not notice a certain dominant attitude.

Finally, I want to give some advice to the students.
-Start with or keep connecting with new people. This helps you a lot to ultimately find your optimum workplace. Moreover, it is always nice to meet new people and to share things.
-Participate in events that are organized by both Asset and the accounting firms. Try to be as diverse as possible and to visit as many events as possible. Of course, this takes some time, so it is recommended to compile a top x list of offices that appeal to you the most.
-If this article doesn’t provide enough information about my experiences at EY, don’t hesitate to contact me via LinkedIn!
-Don’t rush through your studies! Enjoy your student time and think about taking a little longer on your studies because you will be working enough soon. This comes from someone who has completed his master in one year.