Review Accountancy Week 2019

In September 2019, the Risk Accountancy Week took place. During this three-day inhouse tour, 25 top cv-selected students visited six top accountancy firms in Amsterdam. 

Day 1

On Sunday evening a group of 25 highly motivated Accountancy students travelled to Amsterdam for a three day inhouse tour at six of the biggest accounting companies. The group consisted almost entirely of Master and third year Bachelor Accountancy students. The first visit of the tour was at BDO in Amstelveen. The monday morning started with a interactive game to explore the building of BDO and meet the employees. After that, we discussed an interesting case and there was also room for questions to a BDO partner. At the end of the morning we had an informal lunch with several auditors and recruiters. After the very successful morning we went on to the next firm, Deloitte. We started the afternoon with a introducing round, where we got to know each other better through funny facts. Then, we played the gossip game, where we had to tell a story with 100 words and then repeat it to a teammate outside the room. The last team player had to try telling the original story. Deloitte also gave us time to ask our questions to their partner, who gave us great experiences. After the game we got a tour through the beautiful building. In the evening we ended the day with a walking dinner.

Day 2

We started the day with visiting EY. At EY, we had a company presentation and a case. The case was about soft skills. We had to prepare a conservation with the controller of the company. With this conservation, we wanted to collect information about a debtor list. It was really interesting to do a case like this. At university, you only learn the theory, but to train soft skills is also really important if you are an accountant. We finished the morning with a lunch at EY. In the midday, we went to Mazars. We did here a case about a hotel and we had a discussion about things that happen in the accountancy profession. At the end of the midday, we went speed dating with accountants from several functions. This was a really nice way to ask all your questions and hear everyone’s experience at Mazars. We ended the day with some drinks and snacks.

Dag 3

Today, we started our day at KPMG. We were warmly welcomed with tea, coffee and delicacies and recruiter Halima gave a short introduction about the company KPMG. We were then put to work in groups on an original case in which we had to convince a potential customer to choose KPMG as their accountant. Afterwards, each group was allowed to present their case, which led to interesting and creative outcomes. After another well-prepared lunch, we continued our way to PwC.
Here, we were also well received by recruiter Rihaam. After a brief introduction and company tour, we were again presented with a case. This time we had to search for risks and associated controls in a fictional company. The team that had performed the best received a music box as a gift. To close on these three fun and educational days, PwC took us out to dinner in the city center of Amsterdam, and with well-filled stomachs we finally took the train back to Groningen. In short, a fantastic experience which is highly recommended for anyone with ambitions in accountancy.

Are you interested to organize the Accountancy Week next year? Contact us at intern@riskgroningen.nl!