My name is Grace (third-year BSc International Business, Finance and Economics student), and I completed my placement year as a Consultant in Risk Assurance at a company called RSM UK, where I was based in Spinningfields, Manchester. 

My expectations of a placement year did not align with reality; the hard and soft skills that I have developed and the professional growth that I have experienced and have carried into my final year at university, have made my experience incredibly valuable. I assumed I would be delegated tasks and shadowing. However, I was presented with opportunities to lead projects and have autonomy over my work, which has been incredibly rewarding.

My experience in the workplace has allowed me to develop in my ability to communicate in situations where individuals may clash or have different opinions. This has aided me massively and allowed me to flourish in my third year when completing modules involving collaborative group projects.

As a result of my experience, and the ability to empirically apply concepts that I had learnt in theory, I now understand the taught ideas more clearly. The specific modules from the IBFE programme that I have utilised in real-life situations include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Intermediate Management Accounting - The examinations for both semesters one and two contained a section in which we were required to ‘advise management’, which supported me in how, during my placement, I did exactly that. Additionally, the course content and an exam question included the different approaches to budgets. I was able to directly draw upon my knowledge of budgets from this course when completing a budgetary control review. Applying this to a real organisation has embedded my understanding and put me in great stead for my final year.
• Mergers and Acquisitions – When writing client reports in my placement position, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) played a huge role in the context of my report and the approach I would take in advising the client. Reflecting on second-year material and using this in practice allowed me to develop my understanding of M&A to take forward into my final year.
• Financial Reporting – I regularly reviewed financial statements in my role and the financial reporting module provided me with a sound understanding of financial statements such as balance sheets and income statements, and how to interpret these. Now in my final year at university, I am extremely comfortable with financial reporting having seen it in practice, which I have taken into my third year.

I found my placement year incredibly valuable. It enables you to fully understand what the working world is like, utilise and better understand how university concepts are applied in real situations, build your network, earn a salary and, most importantly, develop your time management and prioritisation. I have been fortunate enough to be offered a graduate role at my placement firm, which has also provided me with job security and I’m now able to concentrate on my final-year workload, rather than the tedious job application process. My placement firm also offered me a part-time position during my third year at university, which is flexible to my university schedule and allows me to work from home. Additionally, the recruitment processes for placement roles are the same as the graduate process, so the exposure to CV writing, psychometric testing and interviewing is a great insight into what to expect in the future. I have thoroughly enjoyed undertaking my placement year and would advise anyone in their second year of IBFE to complete one.

Written by Grace, current BSc IBFE student at AMBS

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