Tax Assistant Review

I work in the tax team and help to carry out analysis of companies and produce reports to send to clients. I interact with the senior members in my team who provide guidance on work and carry out reviews, I then put any required changes through. I spend some time in college or on study leave throughout the year.

I have learnt and developed a lot of skills including: interaction with various people in various professional roles through face-to-face conversations, telephone conversations and emails, I have developed more IT skills in particular on PowerPoint and Excel, tax technical knowledge, business awareness, report writing skills and also personal skills such as organisation.

I enjoy the team that I work in and the work that I am involved in. I am developing a lot of skills in the role that I am in and feel this is very beneficial. I feel the programme offers great prospects for people who do not want to go to university (or can't for whatever reason).

It is a good programme and offers good qualifications and experience for people with no degree. I feel it could be better structured and more aligned with graduates in the latter years, but this is possibly down to it being a new programme. The options to rotate could be broader but this is based on business need.

I receive a lot of support from my team both within a work role and in my studies, they help to push my development. A lot of the tax team help to support me and provide extra help for any exams. We receive a fair amount of study leave, materials, tuition to help towards exams.

We work with both Tolleys and BPP. I feel the support from Tolleys is exceptional, we are provided with good materials, good tutors and the tutors are available to help at any time and give you their contact details for any queries. I feel BPP do try to offer support and the tutors are good, but I feel sometimes they are unorganised (scripts sometimes do not get marked etc.) and the tutors are not contactable personally so sometimes responses to queries are slow.

Particularly towards the end of the programme, the qualifications are more aligned to your role and help to contribute towards in work development. It gives you a broader understanding of the technical areas of your role. The qualifications at the start of the apprenticeship give you a good grounding for the following years/qualifications.

There are lots of professional networking events run by exam bodies, local firms, recruitment firms etc. which are open to attend. There are also lots of extra-curricular activities run by KPMG networks that cover sports, religions, cultures. Several sports events are run throughout the year. We are also encouraged to take part in volunteering events.

Yes

It is a good employer to work for and the qualifications you receive on programmes are good. You receive good support to develop your career and succeed in your studies. It is a good grounding for any other careers too as it is a well recognised firm and the skills you develop are very versatile.

Ensure you have something that helps you to stand out from the other applicants that you can talk about in your interview stages - it helps you to stand out and create a good impression. Make sure you are willing to work hard in studies and work as it is a challenging place to work - especially balancing studies and work at the same time.