Higher apprentice Review

Preparation of tax computations and tax returns. Opportunity to learn tax accounting. Back office role but there is some interaction with clients. Great place to start in the tax industry as you work with a variety of teams and touch on a lot of different corporate tax areas. Day to day work can be quite monotonous.

Learnt how to behave in an office environment. Developed my corporate tax knowledge through training programmesas well as other areas of tax through training. Opportunity to really develop knowledge in a wide variety of areas. Also worked towards a diploma which taught me some business elements, not to mention the ACA which has been very beneficial for developing new skills.

The programme has been very enjoyable. I have made a lot of good friends on the same programme but in different years in my office. Also made friends in other teams across the country on training. There is great career progression on the programme too so it is very enjoyable to work towards something with very tangible benefits!

The programme is undertaken by many school leavers across PwC so it has been greatly thought out. Although the structure changes year on year, there is a general theme that 6 exams are set across 2 years which puts you on par with graduates leaving university. The diploma programme is also run alongside and this gives an insight in to the business element of the industry.

There is a lot of support from PwC when first being trained. There are numerous training sessions in all areas and everyone in the team is willing to help out with the training. As for taking time off for exams, PwC give a lot of time off to self study and are very supportive with managing workload.

Not much support after the first exam. We started off with in person sessions which I found very beneficial but after the first one, we moved to online training courses which I did not find as helpful. Also not always having a in-house tutor to ask for help on more tricky materials was not ideal .

Not much better. Out of the first six exams (out of 15), only 1 has been helpful towards my role (the principles of tax module). But even still it has not been hugely helpful as it covered a lot of different sides of tax (only corporate tax section was helpful). That said, a lot of colleagues have said the exams later on do give a much better understanding of the role.

There is a sports and social club in St Albans which do a lot of social activities, and there are frequently after work drinks with the team and the wider office. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to attend professional networking events mainly because of my grade and the back office team I am in.

Yes

Great start to a career and ability to really train on the job and meet some very knowledgeable people. Good work life balance and when studying for exams, every team member is very supportive. Ability to travel across the country as well as other perks of the job such as free Tastecard!

To make sure you know which line of service and department you want to enter. Once you join a line of service it is very hard to swap across and also quite hard to switch teams until you have spent a few years of your career in that team. Other than that, to be relaxed at interview stage and to have a passion for the role you are applying for and an eargerness to learn a lot in a short space of time.