Smith & Williamson
(see also Smith & Williamson Interview Questions)
Smith & Williamson is a top ten accountancy firm that provides investment management, accountancy, tax, corporate and financial advisory services to private clients, corporates, professional practices, and non-profit organisations. The firm's clients are involved in industries such as e-commerce, media, property, manufacturing, and the charity sector.
Smith & Williamson was founded in 1881. The firm has 10 principal offices in the UK and 1,500 employees.
The firm is the principal UK member of Nexia International, a global network of independent accounting and consulting firms. There are 334 offices in 92 countries involved with Nexia International, which gives Smith & Williamson strong links in many major cities around the world.
National Offices
[Edit]London, Belfast, Bristol, Dublin, Glasgow, Guildford, Maidstone, Salisbury, Southampton and Worcester.
S & W tend to recruit graduates into a variety of business areas in 5 of their key offices: Bristol, Guildford, London, Salisbury, and Southampton.
Graduate Jobs
[Edit]Smith & Williamson's minimum academic requirements for graduates are a grade B in GCSE mathematics and english language, 300 UCAS points excluding general studies and a strong second class degree in any discipline.
The firm look for the following key competencies in graduate job candidates: communication skills, problem solving ability, teamwork skills, and ahigh level of commercial awareness.
Now see - Smith & Williamson Graduate Schemes and Smith & Williamson Interview Questions.
Smith & Williamson Application Process
Applying to Smith & Williamson
[Edit]Application Requirements
[Edit]Smith & Williamson are looking for graduates with at least a strong second class degree in any discipline. Candidates should also have at least 300 points from any three A Levels.
There may be some flexibility with regards to academic requirements if extenuating circumstances apply.Work Permits
[Edit]Smith & Williamson do sponsor work permits for international applicants. The firm apply for a work permit on your behalf should you be successful in the recruitment process.
All recruitment activities take place in the UK, which means international applicants will be required to travel to UK offices.Travel Expenses
[Edit]Smith & Williamson Graduate Schemes
Graduate Careers at Smith & Williamson
(see also Smith & Williamson Interview Questions)- Assurance & Business Services
- Corporate Tax
- Forensic Services
- Private Client Tax Services
- Investment Management
Assurance & Business Services
Most of S&W's work in this area involves external audit, along with a range of other business advisory services. As a graduate you’ll work to a large extent on the audit side, which means checking that numbers stack up with fact, and providing advice to your clients.
Corporate Tax
This department help make sure companies are tax efficient through advice and consultancy.
Forensice Services
Four key areas make up the work of Forensic Services: Dispute Resolution, Insurance Services, Investigations and Forensic Technology.
Dispute Resolution deals with business and share valuations, claims for consequential losses, breach of contract and a range of claims from fatal accident to professional negligence.
Insurance Services involves loss of profit claims through fires or other such incidents, risk analysis and advice, and claim support.
Investigations looks into asset tracing, corporate fraud investigations and VAT investigations.
Forensic Technology centres around computer investigations, such as unauthorised system access (hacking), e-discovery, corporate litigation support and fraud and money laundering investigations.
Forensice Services teams are either instructed by lawyers on behalf of their clients or directly by corporates.
Private Client Tax Services
If you work in this line of service you will be helping individuals with their personal tax affairs, their businesses and trusts.
S&W have two main areas within Private Client Tax: compliance and special/advisory. The aim of compliance work is to provide a timely and accurate tax return in which the firm deals with HM Revenue & Customs to meet the legal obligations for the client. Special/advisory work looks at tax liabilities, tax return analysis and drawing together all financial information for overviews of financial position.
Investment Management
S&W's Investment Management service comprises an institutional fund management team, 30 private client teams and an institutional bond sales desk.
The largest part of the business is the private client side, providing predominantly discretionary services to a variety of clients including on and off shore private clients, SIPPS (private pensions), trusts and OEICs.
Training
Graduate trainees on each of the five S&W lines of service will receive internal and external training for three years. During this time, you will also study towards a professional qualification.
If you join Assurance & Business Services, Corporate Tax or Forensic Services divisions, you will study for the ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant) exams. Private Client trainees will work towards the ATT (Association of Tax Technicians) and then CTA (Chartered Tax Adviser) exams. Investment management trainees will study for the IMC (Investment Management Certificate), followed by the SIIM (Securities and Investment Institute Masters) in Wealth Management.
Career Progression
Once you have completed your training and passed your exams, you’ll become an assistant manager. There are then opportunities to move into different areas of the business at S&W and to take secondments both in the UK and abroad.
Now see - Smith & Williamson Interview Questions.
Smith & Williamson Interview Questions
Smith & Williamson Interview Questions
[Edit] (see also Smith & Williamson application process)- Online Application
- Online Assessments
- Telephone interview
- Open Day
- Assessment Day
- Personality test
- Director Interview
Online Application
[Edit]All graduate applicants are required to complete a standardised online application form.
Once you’ve completed your application form, you’ll be contacted by one Smith & Williamson's graduate recruitment team within one week and asked to complete some online tests verbal and numerical reasoning tests.Online Assessments
[Edit]The online assessments will be SHL tests that will test both verbal and numerical reasoning ability.
After successfully completing the online tests, you will either be invited to join the next available assessment day or invited to arrange a telephone interview with a view to inviting you to an assessment day.
Before the assessment day you will be given the opportunity to attend an open day at the firm.Telephone interview
[Edit]The Smith & Williamson telephone interview is a fairly straight forward discussion conversation with a member of the HR team from the firm. This will last about 30 minutes, with time for you to ask questions at the end. The interview is designed to allow Smith & Williamson to find out if you are someone they feel would be suitable to call for an assessment day.
The interview will basically be a competency based interview. It will consist of competency based questions and questions about your education (school and university), career aspirations and why you have chosen to apply to Smith & Williamson and why you have applied to your desired business area.
Previous candidates have been asked the following questions:
- How would you deal with the pressures of study/exams and the working environment?
- What can you tell me about the ACA?
- What challenges are facing businesses at the moment, local and globally?
- Where do you see yourself after training?
- What other areas of accountancy interest you?
Assessment day
[Edit]- group exercise/case study
- lunch (including opportunity to meet other candidates and current graduate trainees)
- numerical and verbal psychometric tests (paper based)
- an in-tray exercise
After the initial company introductions you will be asked to start a group exercise. This will be a case study. You will have five minutes to come up with three business ideas individually before the group exercise starts properly. You will then discuss your ideas as a group, choose one idea and make a business plan. You will be given 20-25 minutes to do this.
You will then have ten minutes to present to the board (which is two interviewers from HR).- :
For the written exercise you will be given three questions and asked to write a two page report. Previous candidate's questions have included:
- Tell us about a company you have worked with in the past (or a company that you know of) and how you would improve their business.
- How would you invest one million pounds?
Personality test
[Edit]Director Interview
[Edit]If you pass the assessment day, you will be invited to attend a director interview with either one or two directors. This interview with last about 60 minutes.
It's worth noting that Smith & Williamson is an Ltd (a limited company with shareholders, although not listed) rather than an LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) so officially there are no partners at the firm, just directors.
Previous candidates who have experienced director interviews at Smith & Williamson have been asked several general questions, such as: "why do you want to work for Smith & Williamson" and "why have you chosen your specific service line (e.g. audit)". After these initial questions partners seem to spend time discussing the firm themselves, particularly its relationship to, and difference from, the big 4.
On their website Smith & Williamson state that they have a "two way" interview process, which may explain why partners talk for a greater amount of time at Smith & Williamson interviews than at other firms.Now see - Smith & Williamson application process.