Alumna Donata

Could you please describe your daily work and responsibilities?

I am assisting in different type of audits throughout the year. Majority of the work consists of basic statutory audits, but in addition there are different type of engagements such as project audits and internal projects. The responsibilities depend a lot on the size and complexity of the engagement. For smaller clients I usually do majority of the audit and for bigger engagements there are usually teams where people have different responsibilities such as one person being responsible for the payroll audit, one for the fixed asset additions and few people are more focused on revenue and so on.

Donata Nissim

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Could you please tell us about your career?

During my last spring in University I started to work in BDO as an audit associate, which is a mid-size audit company. I worked there for half years before changing to PwC. BDO was more focused on smaller clients and I wanted to have more diversity in my audit portfolio. I have learned a lot during my first year in PwC and now I am coaching many of the firstyear associates to do the same tasks I was doing last year at the same time moving to more demanding tasks myself. 

How do you think your studies at the program has contributed to your career or your daily work?

The advanced accounting courses during the first half year of the master studies are very informative and useful for people seeking future career in accounting. For me the advanced auditing was very helpful since we had very good case studies and guest lecturers from EY and the course gave a very good insight of the actual work of auditor. 

What did you like best with your studies here at the program and living in Umeå?

I think Umeå is a very beautiful and lively city with lots of things to do despite its small size. There are lots of students in the city and events for getting to know each other. The study program was very clear and the descriptions of the courses were aligning with the actual content of the course. Majority of the lecturers were really good and the general atmosphere was very warm and welcoming in the University.

Do you have any advice you would like to give to current students or future students?

For current and future students studying in the masters program of accounting my advice would be to try to get work experience already during your studies. Umeå University offers the possibility for master students to do advanced internship during a semester that is rewarded with 15 study points. This requires the students to find the internship place themselves, but is definitely worth the trouble. There are numerous of trainee places for students to apply for and they give the students a practical view of what accounting is in real life. 

Donata Nissim

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