Corporate Tax Associate Review

I prepare corporation tax returns for companies of various sizes, as well as pieces of advisory work and technical research. On an average day, I may start preparing one tax computation and sending it for manager review, then I may have to call HMRC to chase up a company's repayment (they can be quite slow!), then after lunch I may have to submit a tax return to HMRC that has been approved by the client. I also spend a large amount of my time at college studying for the ACCA qualification!

I have learnt lots of new skills! My interpersonal skills have definitely improved as I have to deal with people every day. My tax technical knowledge is also growing as we have regular team training sessions to discuss technical points in the legislation that may affect the comps. Also by doing the ACCA qualification I am getting a broader knowledge in all round accountancy.

Fairly, the work can be monotonous at times and it is up to manager discretion how much advisory work you get to help with or meetings you get to attend. I enjoy going to our training centre Bradenham though, which is a manor house in High Wycombe where most of our internal training is held. If you do ATTA/CTA, all of your training will be here which is really helpful as it avoids the commute each day giving more time for revision.

I am grateful I get to work from home when needed due to the agile working policy, however due to not being given a pay rise last year I do feel underpaid for my level of experience and how far through the exams I am. Overall I don't feel particularly valued and sometimes think if I didn't show up one day would anybody actually notice until deadlines get missed.

The programme/course is well structured. However towards the end it becomes less structured as you get to know what you're doing and managing your own exam bookings etc. There are 2 appraisals each year where you sit down with your line manager, which are important because these affect whether you get a pay rise or not. Training both internal and external is spread over the entire programme, and (in theory) when you finish your training you get promoted.

We study with Kaplan and overall I feel well supported. Some tutors are amazing and can't do enough to help you, whereas some you sort of fell like you have to teach yourself when you get home! There are regular mock exams which is good to see your progress and areas you need to work on. I do feel that too much content is being crammed in to each college day though as a good 1/3 of the course usually ends up being home study.

A decent amount. We do get to work from home now and then due to the agile working policy, however despite them trying to integrate a more flexible culture there is still a bit of tutting and eye rolling when some packs up before 5:30, even if they've been in since 7:30 am. We get 1 day study leave for each exam which is helpful, however don't expect to have many holidays whilst you are training as most annual leave is needed to just study for exams!

Fairly well... though I haven't had a pay rise for a while now which is bad when I did well in my performance review and then GT and publicising how they are putting extra money in the salary pot this year. I don't think my salary reflects that I have been here nearly 4 years now and already have one qualification under my belt.

Yes - there is an active social club which organises various events, including open bars, trips to the theatre, snowdome, wine tasting etc. Each team often goes out for team drinks and there are always starter/leaver lunches to attend. There is also an annual GT football tournament which takes place in a different city every year and that is always very popular.

No

Good training programme but not the firm to be at to progress your career in the early stages. There have been cases of people who although fully qualified have not been promoted when they should have been until staff morale seriously drops, then magically there are 5 promotions announced. A colleague who started the same time as me who left to join a big 4 firm due to not being given a promotion is now an assistant manager (due to be manager this summer) whilst I (any many other colleagues) am still an associate...

Make sure you get your application in early as places fill up on a first come first served basis. They are not expecting you to have loads of technical knowledge already, they just want people who are interested and keen to learn! I knew next to nothing about tax when I had my interview with the team partner, however I asked lots of questions about topical tax issues in the news trying to understand them and I think that showed willingness.