Assistant Tax Advisor Review

My main role (after 3 years) is to enter data into spreadsheets on a daily basis. My actual title is Assistant Tax Advisor and I form a part of the Indirect Tax team working with NHS Trusts.

Over the course of the last 2 years I have not developed new or existing skills. This is incredibly frustrating and not beneficial to my career development. The time it has taken to complete 8 exams has also been too long - 3 years. I now have 9 further exs, widely acknowledged as being incredibly difficult with pass rates on average of below 30% nationally to squeeze into 2 years.

Presently I do not enjoy my experience with EY. The work I am completing is not challenging and after 3 years of doing the same role I have stalled and am now looking elsewhere for employment. This is in part due to a sit down with Senior Management to express my frustration and to try and change my role in which I was told that promises would continue to be broken in reference to the development of my career.

Incredibly undervalued. I am not given opportunity to showcase the knowledge and skills I do have nor to develop new skills. Comparing my experience to people who joined the firm after myself in similar roles is difficult as they are involved in more challenging and interesting work simply due to being in a different office with a different subsection of the Indirect Tax team in the North.

When I started I was given a clear road map - 2 years in the NHS team working on basic reviews and then onwards to the more difficult work, gaining more responsibility over the remaining 3 years. It was also set out that the exams would be split evenly over the course of the 5 years so as to make it easier to pass the exams. This too has not happened. To date (3 years) I have done 8 exams. These are the easiest exams I will sit. The remaining 9 exams which are acknowledged to be incredibly challenging with pass rates on average below 30% are to be squeezed into 2 years. This leaves me feeling unsupported and without proper structure for my development.

Kaplan who provide my exam courses provide mixed results. Some lecturers provide fantastic support and others do not help when asking for additional help. I would recommend kaplan as a training provider overall as they have a wealth of online resources to supplement the resources available in the classroom. There are also tutors available online to message for help however this does sometime feel a little like they cut and paste answers and excerpts from previously provided material whereas I may need it explaining a different way.

As I have not developed new skills beyond the first 8-10 months my experience is that support is lacking. I have a councillor within EY, as do all employees, who provides excellent personal support however since people at my level do not have councillors in senior management the influence he can have on my development is limited.

The salary whilst starting very low is now okay. However this is taking into consideration that I do not drive as it is too expensive despite the expectation from senior management that you are able to drive to make trips cheaper for them. This has caused some friction. My salary also does not reflect the number of hours I actually work for them.

There are next to no opportunities to get involved with after work. Whilst EY has a sports and social society it is incredibly focused on London and whereas lots of employers have active sports teams or other clubs, EY in Manchester does not. There is a social element to work however this is only organised by friends together rather than anything formal by EY.

No

The experience is incredibly draining. I work very long hours (50+ a week) and am instructed not to take annual leave between mid April and 7 August. This means I miss the opportunity to take advantage of cheaper holidays for example and essentially miss the opportunity each year for a summer holiday. The workplace is also overly political with a huge sense of favouritism amongst senior management in terms of people getting opportunities. This is not a good environment to work in.

Ensure that you have other options beyond EY. If applying ensure that a part of your contract is able to stipulate that there is a minimum amount of opportunity to take on new work or time to develop. I would also suggest being well prepared to work long hours all year round as this is an expectation required of low level employees.