Trainee Tax Advisor Review

I am currently a trainee tax advisor working towards become a certified tax advisor in the next 5 years. Generally my day to day tasks vary widely, ranging from compliance tasks such as VAT return & reviews to more advisory work where I will research the answer and ask my colleagues. I have worked on a few projects, ranging from gathering statistics for clients to researching information from oversea offices for the client to put to use, all of which are extremely interesting. Internally, a lot of my work revolves around preparing documents for the clients, research for specific parts over a project, setting up client acceptance and records on an internal system and reviewing/submitting VAT returns for clients. At this stage I do not have a lot of external interactions, it is more once every now and again I will speak to clients. Although, this has been happening a lot more recently as i get involved in projects further. If I am to speak to a client it is generally regarding a query we have about their workings or if we require further information.

I've most definately been learning a lot of tax knowledge from my time here at EY. This includes attending several internal training courses which are generaly held once per month at least. I have also learnt a lot from on the job training where I have just picked up knowledge, which is a great way to learn. I have also been to college for 2 weeks to begin my study for my professional qualifications. At this point I have been studying for the Certificate in Finance and Business (CFAB).

The work here at EY is great, purely because it is all so varied. As a lot of the team know I have came straight from sixth form they try to involve me in projects where I will learn a lot of tax/VAT knowledge, which as i previously stated is a great way to learn. I have been placed with a great team. Around 35/40 people are in my team but we are split into 5 groups for different types of VAT issues. The team i sit with are all great, super helpful and really friendly, which makes work a lot more enjoyable. This leads onto the company culture, everyone here is always extremely happy to help and they will always spare their time to help, so if you have any questions with a piece of work everyone no matter what level (senior, manager, senior manager, director or partner) will all be willing to help out. The programme has most definately met my expectations and more. The work, the people and the company culture have made me enjoy working far more than I originally thought.

There is constant appreciation from all levels of people here at EY. If you have done something really well people will always praise you, which is a great motivational method. Even if something is done wrong, colleagues will just explain what has been done wrong and how to improve. Furthermore, I failed an exam but EY made sure to offer as much support as possible, setting up private tutoring sessions for me and all others, making it seem they really do want us to stay and do as well as we can.

The programme is structure really well in the lead up to the start and all throughout the programme. We were informed constantly we will be having an induction & training sometime around the end of September/start of October and a few weeks prior to the time we were provided with all the needed instructions. The exam training team provide a lot of support, allowing you to go to private tutoring sessions if needed and studying sessions after college. I was also provided with a personal councillor when I joined the firm. My councillor is a manager within my team, so if there was any problems I can always ask him as he is involved in similar work.

The training provider offered a lot of help to all school leavers. While at college the teachers stayed late until around 7PM most days, which allowed us to stay late and go over any problems we had or didnt understand if needed. Also, if we failed an exam a 1 on 1 session was provided to everyone who failed which was a great help.

My team were always supportive if I failed an exam, provided tips and offereing to share their knowledge if I would ever need. The HR team would always contact you to ask when you would like a resit of an exam, which is great as you can plan out how much time you need to revise.

The salary provided is great, the only hinderence is the cost of travelling to London on a daily basis. This can prove rather expensive, but it is my greatest expense by a large amount, and the salary we have takes into account the expensive travelling so i still have a lot left over including this. Working in London Bridge is not so expensive either, as there are several supermarkets nearby to go to for lunch.

There are always events being held in the EY office in London, and there are noticies all around the offices if any one wants to attend them. Each team holds individual events as well which is a great way to enjoy your teams company in a non work environment. Every now and then a few options to go on secondment arise. These are great opporunities for all EY employees and they are all highly reccommended. Leisure/sports clubs are on most nights at EY, and there is a great variety available. Also, with the office located in London, there is a wide range of sporting areas not far away.

Yes

My main reason I would reccommed EY to a friend is due to the people here. As everyone is friendly, kind and caring it makes work far more enjoyable.

During the interviews, do not be nervous as no matter who you will be interviewed by everyone will be extremely nice and understanding. The assessment day comes around really quick, but once you are there it is all explained in depth and a enough time is given for each section. Do not be worried about your interview length either, mine was only a short amount of time and so was others, whereas some people had very long interviews.