Hi, I’m Matthew and I am currently a third-year student studying Accounting and Finance at Newcastle University. I am coming to Blu Sky to hopefully put what I am learning at university into practice and gain a better understanding of how a career in this field would be for me.
Day 1
When I first came in, I had a tour of the office space and then met the team, who are all very helpful and inviting.
I then started with Xero training, an online system which is simple and easy to navigate and use.
I then went onto being introduced to Receipt Bank which allows clients to upload images of receipts and invoices which I was then able to use to match the information on them to assign the correct tax codes. I will be starting each day here with work using this software to help one of the pods.
I was also shown the MI system used, which allows the team to present relevant data to the customer in an easy and presentable way.
After working independently for some of the afternoon I was already able to learn new skills which you don’t learn at university and I am excited to see what the next two weeks have in store.
Day 2
I began the day with starting an audit of the Receipt Bank accounts, looking at inefficiencies which could help the team improve the way they use Receipt Bank in the future. This is something which I will be working on during the whole period I am here.
I then spent most of the day going through and producing monthly management information reports for clients under supervision of a team member, I was able to better understand how they are produced and the benefits it can have for the clients.
I also was able to shadow a team member who was producing a company’s year-end account and got to see some of the background work.
Day 3
I started the day working with Receipt Bank to match receipts to the correct tax codes and then published them to be used in Xero, and then added a client’s invoices into Xero. I am starting to become more familiar and comfortable using these systems and can see the benefits they have in allowing accountants to work a lot more efficiently.
The remainder of my morning was spent copying up bank statements into excel format so they could be imported into Xero and used alongside the rest of the information we have on the company.
I then spent the afternoon helping a team member with an Early Year Update, it was interesting to do something I had never heard off and learn more of the practical side of accounting, something you don’t often get taught in university.
Day 4
I started day 4 with Receipt Bank work for one of the pods.
I then went on to using Mydocsafe, which allows the sharing of documents securely with clients. I was checking to see which clients already had portals and which would need a portal created for them. I then proceeded to make the portals for the clients that needed it.
I was also able to sit in on a meeting which involved most of the team. The discussion was on Making Tax Digital and they were talking about the work that would have to be done in preparation for their clients and what would have to be done afterwards instead of the way they would normally file a VAT return.
Day 5
As usual, I started the day with Receipt Bank work for one of the pods, helping them keep on top of their work.
Then I carried on from the previous day, helping with admin work by inviting the clients with portals on Mydocsafe, but who did not have access themselves to be able to access their portal.
I then began the main work on the Receipt Bank audit, looking into how efficiently Blu Sky uses Receipt Bank for each of its clients and where improvements could be made.
To finish the day, there was a whole team meeting where the management team discussed what happened the previous month, what would be happening going forward.
Day 6
Receipt Bank work for one of the pods was my first task, then I finished the morning working in Mydocsafe inviting clients to use their portal and then linking their portal with Glide, an internal CMS and job management system.
I then helped one of the team members work through some tricky financial information that came in from a client.
I finished the day with the Receipt Bank audit which has been a project I have been a part of throughout my experience here.
Day 7
Keeping to routine, I started the day with Receipt Bank work, matching the receipt with the correct tax codes.
Then I uploaded clients P60’s for their employees, to their online portals so they could access them and send them out.
The afternoon was spent gathering some of the information needed to start the tax returns of the directors for some of the clients.
The Receipt Bank audit finished my day.
Day 8
My penultimate day started with the usual Receipt Bank work, then moving on to the audit of the information we have on Receipt Bank.
I also helped to migrate several clients from a payroll software called Moneysoft to Xero. It allows for better integration with the other software used for the clients.
Day 9
For my final day, I began with Receipt Bank work and finished the rest of the day with the Receipt Bank audit work, I have been doing for these couple of weeks.
Final Thoughts
I would like to thank the whole team for this experience and for teaching me, especially with regards to the different software used in practice and how they can be used to create a better service for the clients. I would suggest that anyone looking for work experience in this field to look at Blu Sky as they are able to help you using their expertise, in a very relaxed environment, making it a very enjoyable experience overall.
