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Nathan Farquharson (he/him) is in his third year of Accounting and Financial Management (AFM), minoring in Economics and specializing in Business Analytics. He gives us a glimpse of working at one of the Big Four accounting firms and the importance of networking as a co-op student.

Nathan's co-op journey:

Work terms one and two: As a staff accountant at in their audit practice, Nathan reviewed financial statements and company reports. Working with data further piqued his interest in accounting and data analysis.

Q&A with Nathan:

What has been the most rewarding thing about your co-op experience?

“I really enjoyed working with everybody at KPMG. Everyone was so nice and supportive in the workplace and they’re great people outside of work as well. So, it really helped me enjoy my time there and made the transition to working on my co-op term much easier.”

“I’ve only ever done part-time jobs in high school, so this was the first time I was in a full-time corporate role which was definitely very interesting. My co-workers and being able to get out into the workforce early were the two most rewarding aspects of co-op.”

What’s the work culture like at KPMG?

“The culture was great, and we participated in a lot of activities that allowed me to meet and connect with everyone. We had a soccer team which played every Monday, which allowed me to meet everyone at the firm and was my favorite part of working there!"

"They’re also very flexible with the location.You can decide where you want to work and we worked two days on average out of the office. It was a flexible, hybrid environment."

"Sometimes we would work out of our clients’ office spaces and sometimes in our own office in Hamilton, but if I couldn't go into the office during a particular week then that was never a problem."

What do you like about accounting?

“I like how the numbers tell a story. I've been doing it since grade 10 and there's a lot of information to be found in your financial statements and all your data. You can understand what's going on at a company or what somebody's doing based on their financial statements and accounting.”

“Getting a good understanding of the business from a financial perspective and being able to relate the finances to real-world scenarios is interesting. Working back from that is like saying “Oh, this is what we can see in the statements which means this is what’s happening in the business right now” is appealing to me. It's like a little puzzle that you're trying to figure out, especially in auditing. You're looking to confirm facts in the financials and so it's like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

What’s one challenge you’ve faced during your co-op?

“It was a little bit of a culture shock, for sure. In school you're only responsible for yourself and your own work for the most part, outside of group projects. As soon as you get to co-op, everyone's relying on you because you are part of the team.”

“So, transitioning from the mindset of doing things on my own time to dedicating time towards tasks and learning to be reliant on other people was challenging.”

What advice do you have for students seeking a co-op at KPMG?

What’s next for you?

“Professionally, my next co-op term is in January, so I have some time to figure out what I’m doing for that, which is nice.” “Personally, I am going to Netherlands on an exchange term in September, which I’m very excited about. I’m going to be studying economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam, which is very cool.”