Assistant Tax Advisor Review

As part of the financial services tax team, I assist with corporation tax: compliance, advisory and audit work for some of the firms largest financial services clients. In a day-to-day basis, this involves preparing work for manager/senior manager review, including both documentational and analysis work. As I am now in my third year, I have started to perform the first review of more junior levels ones.

I have developed a number of different skills during my apprenticeship, both in terms of education through ICAS: self-studying, balancing working & studying and the technical learning that we provided by the firm throughout our training contract. Soft skills include: presentational, client skills through meeting experience and public speaking. I have also had the chance build up my work coaching skills as new school leavers join the process. Through client work, I have also been able to build up a technical knowledge of the industry.

I have really enjoyed the EY school leaver programme, we get a really grounding for our career by working on a wide variety of clients both large multinationals and smaller advisory work. EY is also a very social company, there's a real emphasis of building up relationships with your peer group which is encouraging.

Very. There's a clear structure of exams, so we all know what stage we should be at and it helps for planning client work. The exams are more spread out than for the graduate route, this helps us building our knowledge on the key accounting concepts. There`s is also in-house training each year for both tax technical and soft skills, this ensure you constantly feel like you are progressing.

There is a really good support network within EY, you are assigned a buddy when you join who is someone in the year above. They are on hand for day-to-day questions when you join and help make your first few weeks in the office easier. We are also assigned a counsellor who you meet with every couple of months to discuss career goals & feedback.

So far my experience with ICAS has been very positive. Our learning is a mix of distance learning, which is taught through pre-recorded lecture and interactive learning and classroom block learning. All of the tutors have been on-hand for any questions I am unsure on, either by holding revision classes in the classroom, or via email if the teaching is completed online.

I have felt that the ICAS qualification has helped me increase my understanding of client work and vica-versa. The content we learn In class is put into real-world situation through my work and it helps provide an overview of the process. The qualification is very broad and covers all areas of financial services.

There is a huge amount of extra-curricular activities to be involved in, this includes both sports clubs including football & hockey, as well as social committees. The firm runs regular office/nationwide network events which gives you the opportunity to get to know people outside your team/service line, there is also the opportunity to take part in networking events with other firms.

Yes

I think EY is a great place to begin (and continue) your career. You have the opportunity/support to take on chartered accountancy and tax qualifications, plus in-house training through established providers, which alongside the career mentoring ensures that you are constantly developing. There is also a great team atmosphere within the firm, with a real emphasis on people, which makes it easy to build up your network and to feel valued. You also have the opportunity to work on a breadth of different clients and with senior members of the firm.

I would do as much research on the process/firm as possible. This will stand you in good stead for each stage, and will give you an insight into working for the firm. Try and thinking of the questions you will likely be asked during the process and think of your responses.