Tax Graduate

Michael in Tax

When Michael joined the Tax team in Bristol straight from university, he would not have believed the variety and scope of the client projects he would have worked on over eight years at PwC. Looking back he credits the challenging clients with helping him develop his technical understanding quickly.

"During my first year on-the-job I found it stretching and very technical but over the years I’ve really developed my understanding and knowledge. Even early on in my career (and in just my third year working for a particular client) I became acting Manager. I took ownership for the relationship between a large life insurer based in London and the PwC Tax teams, managing deadlines and first review of all work; a responsibility which I’m still very proud of and was a great learning experience for me."

Since then he has focused on large corporate and international clients (from our Bristol office) where he has recently secured promotion to Senior Manager, following several years of continued investment by the Firm in his development both technically from a tax perspective but also on key interpersonal and leadership skills through various one-day training courses to longer term programmes.

“In particular, I have just completed a ten month programme called the “Emerging Leaders Programme” which has involved a mixture of different experiences including working with trained actors from the Old Vic on presentation and communication, volunteering with the charity “Crisis” including a two day workshop to evolve their Corporate Partnership offering, as well as working with trained facilitators who explore different themes of leadership.

I am also a father of two boys, Wilf (16 months) and Felix (10 weeks) and the Firm has been incredibly supportive in ensuring I have a good work-life balance and the flexibility to work in a hybrid way and flexible hours to accommodate life as a new parent. This has allowed me to be a really hands-on father, involved in all mealtimes, bath and bedtime routine, which is really important to me. To add to this, the stability of the job and knowing that I am trusted to work how I feel best to deliver is one of the best things about working at PwC. My team has also been brilliant at helping to cover both of my periods of leave and then get me back up to speed as quickly as possible.”

He’s no stranger to a challenge either, from working on some of the largest FTSE/NYSE companies to smaller owner-managed businesses right from the Bristol office, Michael admits that some of the work has been really tricky and detailed.

"Working with these clients can be stressful at times but also a real sense of satisfaction once completed, and it makes you learn a lot, very quickly. We have global, complex clients who have ever increasing compliance and regulatory requirements to be met, and the job continues to evolve – so you certainly don’t get bored."