KPMG
15 opportunities
Australia
Graduate stories
Kelsey Liu (External Audit team in the Audit division)
“Audit has such strong processes that it’s a brilliant choice for starting your career”
What I loved when I started as a graduate (and still love 2.5 years later!) is that every audit follows a clear procedure. Early in your career, it’s hard to know where to start and exactly what to do but audit has such strong processes. I’ve had the chance to learn how different sections of an audit file work and how they fit into the bigger picture. Now that I’m an assistant manager, I lead on smaller audits so that experience of all the different sections means I can support all my colleagues with their work. It’s a great feeling to help my team.
My team is such an important part of the work. I’ve been focused on property and real estate audits, and part of our job is doing site visits – seeing capital expenditure projects like an office building renovation or an indoor urban farm in real life and speaking to my clients to understand their business processes really solidified my understanding of the numbers we’re working on. It was also great to do those business trips with my team and build a relationship with them.
Accounting was always what I wanted to do and I paired my Commerce degree with a Masters in Business Analytics and Big Data. My advice for students thinking about whether Audit is right for them is to give it a go and remember that everyone will know you’re learning – it’s perfectly set up to build your skills with an experienced and friendly team around you to help you learn.
Emily Gadzev, Tax Rotation Program in the Tax Division.
“Landing a role in the tax team has allowed me to pursue my passion for both law and commerce”
At uni, I enjoyed applying my analytical mind in pursuit of my Law degree and developing my commercial and financial acumen through my Commerce degree. From the very beginning of my uni studies, I knew my ideal career would be one that would allow me to pursue my passion for both. My journey with KPMG began in my pre-penultimate year when I joined the KPMG Foundations program, a one day event where I learned more about the firm, the areas of work and the culture. I was then fast-tracked for an interview for the KPMG Vacationer program. My interview was for a career path I hadn’t previously considered as I was still early in my degree - Tax. At the end of the Vacationer program, I was directly offered a graduate role, which took the pressure off needing to secure a graduate role during my final year at uni - it was all sorted in the first semester!
Tax has been such a great area to work in - it combines my degrees perfectly. From day one I've been involved in real client work, advising clients on a diverse range of tax issues. I get to apply my legal research skills and understanding of the law to write client advice. It's great to do this real work alongside a wonderful and friendly team who are more than happy to share their knowledge base and expertise with me.
Britt Cox (Transformational Change team in the Consulting division and 4x Olympian and World Champion)
"Focussing on my favourite subjects at uni and my strengths is how I found an exciting new career."
When I decided to retire from my career as a professional mogul skier, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I'd been studying for my Bachelor of Communications (PR and Journalism) at Griffith University, and I spoke to my university coordinator for help finding a new road. Going into the discussion with her, I did some thinking about my strengths and what I enjoyed most in my degree. A strength of mine is problem solving, which I think comes from my time as an athlete where I had to focus on areas I could make an impact. My favourite subjects were crisis communication and organisational psychology. Her suggestion was to try consulting, so I could work on problem solving in these areas across different industries and with other specialisations.
That's exactly what's happened so far in my graduate year; I've already worked with several different clients and with other specialist teams at KPMG. It has been a great introduction into transformational change with a brilliant team who support me. We all bring different strengths and it really does feel like no matter what level you're at, you have an important part to play.
My advice to students who are thinking about where to next is to seek out people who already work in the area or areas you're interested in. Ask them targeted questions about their day-to-day - what's required, the challenges, the wins they've had and for examples. Those examples can help you see if their work is something that you can see yourself being excited by.
Su Paranamanage, Business Tax Advisory team in the Enterprise division
“Take the leap!”
I wasn't sure how I'd go moving to Townsville for uni. I'm from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo - a huge, busy city - so moving to a regional city was a big change for me. My brother thought I'd last a year!
I started my Commerce degree and as the time went on, Townsville really grew on me. So much so that as I got closer to the end of my degree, I didn't want to leave!
I took on an Undergraduate role with KPMG while I was still studying and was then offered a graduate role, so I didn’t even need to go job hunting. I really haven’t looked back since then. Getting to work with this team, it's something special. I'm in the Business Tax Advisory team and the opportunities have been so diverse. I've worked on asset management with engineers, with healthcare consultants on a hospital project, just to name a few. It has been great to try lots of different things and stay in Townsville.
Everything is within 20 minutes when you live in Townsville, so my commute is very easy which means I have lots more time for my hobbies and study - I've been working towards my Chartered Accountant certification through KPMG and I’ve already completed half of it. Having that extra time has really made a difference!
It has been a great start to my career - a supportive team and interesting work, all right here in my new home.