How has your career progressed since you joined KPMG?
I originally started with KPMG as a graduate in the audit department. While I enjoyed it, after two years I decided that I wanted to get into Business Advisory (BA). There was an opening in BA, so after I finished the PCE 2 exam I transferred divisions.
The two years I spent auditing complemented the BA role well, it assisted me to understand clients supply and manufacturing chains and identify areas which may require further work in the profit and loss and balance sheet.
I have been on several secondments to local clients including working with a telecommunications firm and a mining company. I found the client secondments extremely valuable in my career development and it helped me to determine what it is that I wanted to do.
Getting a taste of industry for three to six months at a time allowed me to experience the role as a financial accountant and helped me decide that the CA environment was my preference. It also helps to put into perspective what it is that your clients do and gives you a better understanding of the pressures that they are facing.
Being promoted to manager within four years of starting with the firm was a huge achievement for me and proved that your career with the firm is in your hands.
Have you moved around much in your time at KPMG?
I went on secondment to Belgium over the summer of 2006. The secondment program that the firm runs is awesome – it gives you the opportunity to travel while still staying with the firm. The work was very similar, although the clients I was working on were a lot larger than I was used to in NZ.
There were four of us from the Auckland office based in Brussels and we made the most of the weekend by travelling. One of the highlights was been in Dublin on St Patricks day.
What would you say to someone just starting at KPMG?
If you are starting out at KPMG, make the most of the opportunities that are offered. Obviously, there are some great career development opportunities which includes the extensive internal and external training courses – there is no better way to grow your career.
There is no doubt that there will be challenges when you first come on board, while we try and make the transition from university to career easy, there is a lot of learning that happens on the job and the best thing that you can do is to remain positive and do your best.
As a graduate, it isn’t expected that you will know everything and always get it right first time – so be open to making mistakes and asking questions.