Joe Flaherty
Degree: Spanish and Russian, University of Bristol
Programme: Group Internal Audit
Unique talent: Can recite “The Lion and Albert” poem
First and foremost, I was attracted to the programme because of the freedom of choice it offered. Group Internal Audit allows graduates to decide which courses and qualifications to take. Despite working in Audit, I didn’t see myself as an Accountant, so I’m pursuing a more general qualification in the Banking and Financial Services industry.
My degree is in Spanish and Russian, and it’s important to me that I get to use my language skills in employment, but I had no other specific requirements. I was looking for a programme that would facilitate as much exposure as possible to as many operations as possible, so I’d be best informed to make a decision as to the direction of my career when the time came. This made RBS the ideal place for me.
My biggest challenge so far was a cross-divisional audit involving the Insurance, Retail and Ulster Bank Group teams. We knew that our final report was going to Sir Fred Goodwin, Group Chief Executive, which made us even more motivated to do an outstanding job.
That said, one of my enjoyable experiences so far was at the Insurance Group’s 5-aside football night. It was decided that that teams should be Grads v Non-Grads, with the Grads running out 9-0 winners!
