After 4 years of exams and study I have now reached the end of my ICAEW training programme, and I am preparing to finally become a Qualified Chartered Accountant!
Below is what I wrote back in July 2020 about my experience of being a trainee at Crowthers when I was just getting started:
It has been a little over a year now since I first started as a trainee chartered accountant at Crowthers and I can’t quite believe how quickly things have progressed. I can still remember my first day in the Cheltenham office, where I received a very warm welcome from everyone and a nice trip out for lunch! During the first few weeks, I quickly got stuck in to some small accounting jobs, which, being real-life examples, really helped in gaining an understanding of the basics of accounting. My manager and supervisor are very good at assisting me, and have plenty of time to answer all my many questions as a trainee! However, I don’t have to solely rely on my colleagues for training, as I am studying for the ACA qualification at Reed Business School. I attended my first course there back in January which covered modules in Bookkeeping and Accounting. I had been at Crowthers for about 6 months back then, so I had started to pick up quite a lot of the basics concepts, and I found that I already had quite a good understanding of some of the course content. Speaking to trainees at other firms whilst on the course, some of them had only spent a couple of weeks (and sometimes only a few days!) in the office before being sent on their first course, so I was glad for having had time to get some practical experience before starting courses and exams, as it made them far less daunting. I have so far sat three certificate level exams for the ACA and have done well in all three, which I think in part can be attributed to the knowledge and experience I have gained whilst working at Crowthers. As Crowthers is a smaller firm, we get a wide range of clients from small and medium sized businesses, as well as individuals and sole-traders. Having a small, close-knit, accounts team means I get to be involved in a lot of different client work as a trainee, which I think is great for my development and studying, and is one of the things I like most about working at Crowthers. Whilst I’ve heard that trainees at other firms will just be given all the basic and boring things (like filing) to do in their first few years, this is certainly not my experience at Crowther, as I always have some interesting bookkeeping or accounting work to get on with. Over the past few months, I have started taking on some larger jobs, and I am pleased with the progress I seem to have made in such a short amount of time. I am very much looking forward to continuing my training as a trainee at Crowthers, and I am excited to be part of the business as it continues to grow.
Joshua Marsh, Accounts Supervisor- Cheltenham