Lewis Phillips

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Placement: Ernst & Young

My primary role was to work within the ‘Financial Services’ industry (Insurance/Banking/Asset Management) in the field of audit. Over the course of the year I was assigned to three major projects within insurance, a couple of major entities (Aon and Acromas) as well as a specialist Lloyd’s Syndicate.

We essentially had to go into these clients of ours to determine/understand the day-to-day processes they carried out, assess the level of assurance this gave us, and from both of these prerequisites test a number of aspects designed to flag up any significant areas of concern that required further investigation from either ourselves or other sectors of Ernst & Young.

As time went on, I decided to gain experience in one of these other sectors: FAAS (Financial Accounting Advisory Services). The project I worked on was to do with the remediation of PPI claims at Barclays in Canary Wharf; which on the whole was centred on reviewing the legitimacy of previously settled cases to provide the FSA with assurance that they had been dealt with appropriately.

One of the highlights during my time at Ernst & Young was the direct contact I was able to have with the Lloyd’s Insurance Market. Working on one of the Lloyd’s Syndicates allowed me to gain an insight into its inner workings, in areas which are usually kept under wraps from the public eye, and to liaise with a number of highly experienced individuals within underwriting. Having looked at things from the perspective of an auditor for many months, it was intriguing to be able to see how it looks from a different angle, which triggered an interest in the field of ‘Risk,’ in turn creating the basis of the initial thoughts surrounding my dissertation.