Tax Associate Review

On a day to day basis, I ensure that company accounts and tax strategies comply with both legal and moral guidelines. I am also in regular contact with members of HMRC, to help get clearance to close companies in liquidation or administration or to help process international treaties for clients.

I have developed a lot of new skills since starting, some of those via my training at college and some via on the job learning. I have been enrolled onto an ATT Tax accounting course which is helping develop my knowledge in a specialist area that isn't covered by mainstream education.

I enjoy my programme as it has allowed me to not only develop and learn skills useful throughout my career, but it has also given me the opportunity to be in a client facing role and attend meetings with senior business members. This is also backed up by a close knit team who regularly organise office social events.

I feel like I have an organised program which allows time to be coached by senior members of staff. This also builds in to a large library of training and development materials all designed to help us pass our exams and achieve the qualifications set out for us in the programme.

I feel like my employer gives me a good level of support and that they want me to achieve my goals and pass my qualifications. The flexible working initiative used also allows me to fit revision in around my day to day work and allows me to fit my daily hours in however it suits me best.

My training provider helps support me by having regular progress exams. They are very quick at marking and returning these to me to ensure I have maximum development time. In addition to this, I can also email my tutor who can arrange 1 to 1 sessions at a time that suits me best to go over any areas of difficulty I may have.

My qualification ties in with my everyday work a lot. The key themes used in my day to day work are also what I learn about in college. This massively aids the learning and development process as it ensures that there is never a time when you are learning conflicting information.

Within my team we have regular socials and lunches which help team building. We also have regular professional networking events where we can speak to members of other service lines and also industry people. Whilst there isn't a lot of extra-curricular organised events (that I am aware of), the internal networking allows you to develop friendships to start these events yourself

Yes

It is a fantastic opportunity to develop both your own skills as a person, but also to achieve a professional standard qualification without going to University. While you will work with Uni graduates including people who join when you do, there is no hierarchy or feeling they are viewed better for having a degree.

When applying for a role with PwC. Make sure to have plenty of things to talk about for where you have to showcase your skills. Also make sure that you can find a balance between being comfortable to speak and contribute to assessment day tasks, without being too overpowering and forceful.