Olaf Wozniak
An interesting fact about myself
I can play the first solo in Welcome Home (sanitarium) by Metallica on guitar.
What attracted me to a career in accounting?
I always felt an ease of looking at numbers and trying to figure out how to do things methodically, as I think most things with numbers and maths is if you remember the way that something is done step by step, then you can pretty much rinse and repeat with that method, and in A level for accounting it did very much feel like that, so I thought why not try this as a career.
How did you find the interview process with Crowe? Was there anything that stood out?
I really did like it, it wasn’t prolonged like all the other ‘bigger’ firms that I applied for, a simple 4/5 stage process and I was hired within a month. What stood out to me is how fast and smooth the entire process was for applying and the whole interviews themselves, I didn’t have to sit and wait for someone to accept or deny me as replies were simple, fast, and straight to the point.
What do you enjoy the most about working at Crowe?
I think the people, everyone’s very nice and everyone gets along, I also like the trust that there is in employees, there’s no one standing over me and my computer watching making sure I’m not fussing about , and even though I’m not it’s still nice that that doesn’t happen , and also there’s no going through all the hassle of saying when you came in and when you got out, once again there’s that nice trust element there that you will come in and leave after you’ve done your hours.
What does a typical day involve?
So at work I’ll usually come in at 8am , then start on any work that I was doing yesterday, for example today I am rolling forward comparative figures on excel to get started on year end accounts for a client, and this is the first step, next step will be importing the trial balance, and then checking where each transaction went, whether it’s correct, what the PAYE and NI was for wages etc. and then that will need to be sent to a manager after I’m done with the job , which will probably take about a week.
What was your biggest challenge when adjusting into your new role after leaving College?
My biggest challenge adjusting from college was how a lot of things are different at college accounting vs. ‘real life’ accounting, for example wages control accounts exist and we must account for VAT etc., however obviously all this knowledge comes with time so it will all be fine. Apart from that I would say it’s the hours, they may feel long at first but once you get into the work properly and start doing work, then it goes by way faster than what it seems to be.
What advice would you give to any other School Leavers considering a career in accounting?
My advice to a school leaver would be to make sure that if you consider a career in accounting, to make sure you remain resilient and ready to learn, as there will be so many mistakes that you will make during work that you will learn from, and so many new pieces of information that you will learn, so you have to make sure that you are ready to soak up all the new knowledge you’re going to gain In this job.
