Trainee Associate Review

I am a trainee tax associate at PwC. I work in a largely non-client facing team who carry out research and publications on trends we are seeing in public tax figures from financial accounts and how large companies are communicating their tax affairs.

Yes a lot of new skills! I have developed analytical and technical IT skills. I have been given responsibility to take part in internal and client conversations and presentations which have developed my communication skills. I have worked towards my tax exams which have provided me with a completely new knowledge base.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my programme. The company culture is great - everyone is friendly through all the grades and there is a good social life as you form friendships with peers and team members. I also have a lot of experience working with colleagues from other PwC offices around the world which provides great insight and variation.

My team have been great at showing they value my contribution. They give me a lot of responsibility but with necessary support and I have never been the apprentice that does things such as photo copy or get coffee all day! There is an annual moderation process in place that recognises your contribution and feedback is encouraged across the firm.

The programme is fairly well structured. There is plenty of communication around your exams and study, and a number of mock exams to get you used to the format and conditions of the exams. In terms of day-to-day structuring of the course, communication of next milestones varies between teams (large teams with more apprentices tend to be more efficient and structured in this sense) but everyone knows the key information when they need to.

Kaplan have been really good providing support through the exam training. The course is quite intensive with 7 days (1 paper to sit) exam training in your first year and around 14 in the second (2 papers to sit) but the tutors tend to give out their personal contact details and stress that you can contact with queries around the material at any time and they will do their best to help.

PwC give you one day a month to work towards the diploma part of the course and paid leave on your days at college and the days in the week leading up to your exam (maximum of two days). I feel maybe the balance would benefit from leaning more towards the exams as currently most people take annual leave to study for these, but the starting annual leave (25 days) is good and there is an option under salary sacrifice to increase this to 40, which helps in this sense.

The salary and benefits are extremely good for a school leaver. Both get reviewed annually as part of the moderation process and you see a steady increase whilst you are training, instead of staying at one level.

There is a big charity culture at PwC and everyone is given one day a year to spend helping a charitable cause. There are also many sports/hobby groups that are easy to find and a number of socials (e.g. Christmas, annual team 'away day')

Yes

I think PwC is a great company to work for given its position in the market. It is a great employer and continues to dominate The Times' graduate employee of the year. This programme is an especially good alternative to university if you are sure that accountancy is the career for you, as you earn a good salary, gain experience and avoid university debt.

To let your personality come across - everyone I meet here goes completely against that 'boring accountant' stereotype! There are also lots of great discussion boards on the web from people who have gone through the application processes of school leaver schemes which helped me a lot when I was applying.