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Welcome to the Finance Graduate Blog page!

Feel free to post comments and come back to share more experiences with our finance graduates.

On the road

Posted by Kim on 18 Dec 06

I work in Central Finance as a Financial Analyst and decided to take part in Project Pulse in my first few months of working with the company.  It was a great opportunity to meet people in different roles around the company and see a day in the life of the sales team.  The project involved visiting smaller retail outlets and getting our stock onto their shelves. 

I went to Sutton with the Contract and Sales Devt Manager, as well as my Buddy at the company.  We decided to watch the Contract and Sales Devt Manager first to watch the master at work as it were! Then when we felt confident enough, pushed on by the rest of the team, we took it in turns to approach small outlets and present our sales pitch to them. 

The day really boosted our confidence and was a great laugh! It was good to get out of the office and meet the customers and get a taster of what the sales team experience on a daily basis.  I would definitely do something similar again!

International Audit

Posted by Nicola on 18 Sep 06

Nearly 3 months here at Cadbury Schweppes and my Geordie accent is softening, my use of "canny" and "whey aye man" is diminishing, and people are actually starting to understand me rather than staring blankly when I speak!!  I'm even beginning to see that there is good nightlife other than that of Newcastle (just don't tell anyone I said that!)

So, what have I done in my first 3 months with Group Audit?

Well, surprisingly no travel (except an overnight trip to Sheffield), but even more surprisingly this hasn't bothered me, as I've enjoyed my time here so much (and I've got some good trips coming up!).  Some of the varied things I've done so far include:

  • Taking minutes at the Sarbanes-Oxley weekly meeting (quite scary for someone who hadn't even heard of Sox before that!).
  • Designing posters for our team meeting - yes really, I went home two days in a row with marker pen all over my hands!
  • S404 testing including taking a sample of 30 POs to check they'd been authorised properly (maybe not my most exciting task).
  • Looking at hedging (nothing to do with gardening as I naively thought) as part of a commodities audit.
  • A review of HR and the leaver's process.

Last week, I got the chance to spend a day out in sales.  As someone who previously always saw themselves in the glamorous world of sales and never in the stuffy world of finance (it's only for people who did maths, further maths and then advanced maths at Uni right??), it was a really interesting day and made me realise that:

  1. I'd be rubbish in sales
  2. It's really hard to be nice for a FULL day
  3. Sales is not as glamorous as I first thought (at least not when you first begin)
  4. I actually really like finance!!

Right now I'm finishing my commodities audit and planning my next audit, and first real trip away - a 3 week tour of Central Europe taking in Prague, Budapest, Slovenia, Slovakia and Romania. It's the audit that EVERYONE wanted to do and I've had countless offers of people offering to swap a trip to Nigeria for it, but I figure that after 3 months of being in the UK I deserve to go somewhere exciting!! Before I head off there though, I've got an even more exciting trip back home so I'd better run over to the staff shop and buy up 5 times my weight in chocolate to take up North for friends and family - after 3 months the novelty still hasn't worn off!

Almost there!

Posted by Ben on 11 Sep 06

I passed my final exam and I am now a CIMA passed finalist! - Oh the joy. . . . .

I've done a stupid amount of partying over the last month, and no better place to do so than in Dublin (where I live and work) and Brighton (where most of my friends reside).

Looking back on it all I feel I've deserved the liver-pickling experience that I have just subjected myself to. It's not an easy task, taking and passing 16 exams in 2½ years whilst working full-time and keeping a social life.

Just one more hurdle to go - and by far the most tedious. In order to prove that I am worthy of the title ACMA, I must produce a report, which - very much like a long-winded CV - details the relevant management accounting experience that I have gained over my career (3 years' minimum experience is required).

Now. . . . . . what was I was doing 3 years ago?

If I can give you one piece of advice in this matter. . . . . . . write your experience up as you go along (it will save you one huge headache in the future)

Time - a precious commodity

Posted by Adam on 15 Aug 06

After spending almost a year working in Global Commercial I have a full spectrum of experiences from providing deep insight into international pricing corridors, preparing decks for Chief Exec Committee (CEC) members and trying to get a smaller business unit to accept a £700 recharge.

Things are quite hectic here at the moment. We are currently preparing dialogue decks for the CEC next week so everybody is running around trying to complete their decks. Against this background I am currently working on both our 2007 contract and latest forecast, which have been both very challenging. The main challenges come from trying to find time in people's busy schedules and also managing the time constraints that come from people operating out of differing time zones. Phone calls at 11pm to Australia are never the best! Whilst this does cause some difficulties at times, it does help to grow organisational and communication skills to ensure that the right messages are transferred and received!

I am doubly suffering at the moment as I am moving back to Birmingham at the end of September, so have the task of ensuring that my new house will go through before I move (a couple of weeks on sofas and in spare rooms is not the most appealing of prospects!) Hopefully I can get it all sorted before going on holiday to Egypt mid September........fingers crossed!

No more goat stew*

Posted by Jenny on 15 Aug 06

After two years in Group Audit, a few things I shall (probably) not experience in Supply Chain Finance:

  • Monday morning 6.30am flights
  • Virgin in-flight beauty therapists (head massage - fantastic!)
  • Safaris
  • Nigerian air con (too short to reach the off switch)
  • Sox testing
  • Madrid Friday 1pm finish
  • Madrid traffic at Friday 1pm
  • Trips up Table Mountain
  • Tempos (by far our best product - sorry CTB)
  • French traffic police
  • Attempts to speak Portuguese
  • Attempts to understand Spanish spoken with a Portuguese accent
  • Befriending Mexican street urchins
  • Four-continent conference calls

Updates from mid-September of what I AM experiencing in Sheffield manufacturing...

*I never actually ate goat stew. The concept of vegetarianism was sufficiently understood for me to be given stir fried veg instead. A lucky escape it seems.

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