Kamran Khalid

What inspired you to look at accountancy internships?

I graduated in Economics and completed my Masters at Exeter, and had lots of friends who had done similar degrees and gone into accountancy. To qualify as an accountant, you need to complete a three-year ACA training course, and it is hard to commit to this unless you know what you are getting in to. I also didn’t study many accountancy topics on my economics course, so my internship really helped me understand that it was what I wanted to do as a career and to start my ACA qualification.

Would you recommend doing an internship to others and why?

I am happy I chose to do an internship. They are a good way to get your foot in the door and see different industries. It has been a nice learning curve for me. My internship went so well that I was offered a permanent role and promoted to Assistant. SRLV has also been supporting me through my ACA training, which I started earlier this year.

How did you find your application process and do you have any tips for those applying?

I was interviewed in June 2023 and offered a place on the spot. It was a very quick process, and I started my internship a few weeks later.

If you have an interview, try not to answer the questions by anticipating what the interviewers are looking for. Be yourself and as natural and as honest as possible, and ensure you research and understand the business, the work SRLV does, and its clients.

Alongside passing exams, it also helps to be on LinkedIn. I became aware of the importance of this and what makes a good LinkedIn profile through my university professor. It is a good skill to learn and helps you to be ahead of the game when it comes to job applications, as well as being a useful tool for networking and work in general.

Many of SRLV’s staff are active on LinkedIn, including their HR team, and you can message them directly with any queries you have. I also contacted some of SRLV’s previous interns for advice, who were extremely helpful.

What sort of clients can Interns work with at SRLV?

I work with a variety of clients, including music publishers, record companies/labels, actors, and writers. This has given me an insight into the music, entertainment and sports industries that I’m interested in, which has been rewarding.

When you joined SRLV, was it as you expected?

I knew SRLV was a friendly firm, but I was surprised by just how helpful everyone is here. Whilst I’m supported by two supervising seniors, I can ask anyone in my team for help. Whether it’s the partner, director, manager, assistant manager, or semi-senior, they will all go out of their way to sit down with me to explain things and make them easy to understand.

As well as supporting me with my day-to-day work, my team want to know the areas I’m interested in and will look at ways that I can get this experience. For example, I told my team that I enjoy boxing, both spectating and taking part, so when a boxing client signed to SRLV, I was allowed to work as part of the new client team, which was an amazing insight.

What sort of work are interns expected to do?

New interns start by dealing with simpler day-to-day accounting tasks and go from there. The more your team recognise your capability with tasks, the faster you can progress. If you work hard, you’ll also be given opportunities to learn new things that tie in with your interests.

Compared to when I started, I am much more confident and able to complete tasks efficiently, and my work now covers a number of different areas; from analysing client spending and preparing financial reports to quarterly VAT returns. I am also developing the soft skills needed for accountancy work, such as writing client emails, dealing with client enquiries, and I now help with training our team intern each year.

What do you like most about working at SRLV?

The senior members of my team have more in-depth involvement with clients, but as my experience has grown, I’ve been involved more with client accounts and business management, so I really feel part of a team.

Interns are often copied in on client emails, alongside sending their own client emails. I have a nice set of clients to focus on day-to-day, but I am also working as part of a whole team and handling things like payment runs, which cover everyone’s clients. You get to see the bigger financial picture and use this information to build on your client knowledge, which is very rewarding.