Corporate Tax Associate Review

I'm a Corporate Tax Associate and I primarily assist or undertake in any projects that the team are currently working on with our clients. Such tasks can range from writing up meeting notes with the client, writing up a section or drafting the deliverable or completing a client tax computation. You may be asked to go to a client meeting yourself, and learn about their business in order to write about it in the deliverable report. You could also looking at tax case law to find similar scenarios to your client and how the situation has been dealt with in the past.

Grant Thornton are great for learning new skills and talent development. New joiners were enrolled on two tax introduction modules which takes us through the basics of tax, and then how to apply these tax rules to decide how a client's scenario would be dealt with. You are exposed a lot to clients, and so you will develop your listening skills when participating in client meetings and being able to take in the details about their processes, and your general understanding of how modern businesses are run. We were also provided with a presentation skills training course, which hugely increased my confidence and delivery giving a presentation

On the whole I found my year to be a fulfilling and productive experience, learning a lot of transferrable skills and gaining contacts along the way. Though there are numerous periods of downtime, when the work does arrive you will be really involved in the projects, doing work that the client will see and will make a tangible difference and this is what separates Grant Thornton from its competition. Its the exposure to new things and willingness to take a risk with new joiners.

A combination of client exposure, numerous training courses and overall welcoming team environment, I feel very valued at Grant Thornton even as a placement student. You are treated as part of the team rather than "the intern", and are given real, client facing jobs to do. I was always thanked by my managers and peers which goes a long way in feeling appreciated.

A welcome week was good to get us excited about the firm we had just joined and learn about the long term vision of the company and its role in the social and business environment. Having all the new joiners together was great to get to know eachother and see peers who were in the same scenario as I was. My placement year was rotational program meaning that after 6 months in one team, we would join another. While this was difficult in that we had to readapt to a new team again, it was a great learning experience for later in life. One thing that could have been better was having work prepared ready for the new joiner to pick up and run with, as the first few weeks without any work to do can be frustrating.

We are all assigned a buddy at the start of our time which is good for having a mentor who has been through the same starting process and can offer advice. My buddy was always happy to help me with my problems, technically or otherwise which really helped me to settle well into the firm.

I received great support from my manager who would make sure I was doing okay and go out of their way to make sure I had enough to be getting on with and I was happy to be there.

For an industrial placement student, my salary is a lot higher than the average. Though I live at home and don't have to pay rent, I can see people possibly struggling on our salary as the job is based in London.

There are periodic social events such as Christmas Ball, Tax and Audit drinks, team socials, quiz nights and benefits like subsidised gym membership. Especially in London, there's a plethora of things to do outside of work.

Yes

It's a great firm to start your career and very much talent orientated, focusing on your personal development and how they can get the best out of new talent.

Learn about all the service lines Grant Thornton offers, as cross service referencing is something that the firm really wants to focus on