Corporate Tax Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship. I felt valued from the start and was eased into the workload, although this ended up becoming progressively harder in order to stretch me and develop my technical knowledge. The firm culture is fantastic and you really feel like you are part of something bigger and that you can play your part in enabling change for clients. This, excellent professional attitude, combined with the chance to become involved in social events, makes this a very well rounded and enjoyable internship.

I always felt valued by my colleagues and felt that they were on hand to help. I was assigned a 'buddy' which gave me a place to start networking from and I quickly became embedded in the team, I had the opportunity to attend a variety of social events and really got to know the team well. On top of this, I feel like I have made good connections going forward.

My management and supervisors were always on hand to help. Everyone from the assistant managers to the office managing partner were very approachable and always took time out of their days to help me if I ever needed them. Also, they made an effort to engage with me at social events and provide me with valuable career advice that I can apply going forwards.

In the first week, we were busy in the sense that we had constant induction events and conferences etc, one of which was in London. Then, I became busier with real client work and always had enough going on at any one time to keep me occupied. In the odd event that I did not have enough to keep me occupied, several people would quickly find work for me to do and would ensure it was of a suitable but stretching level.

I was pretty much immediately trusted with client confidential information and client work. I was introduced to all of the necessary internal review procedures to ensure that I was prepped adequately for dealing with clients. I was thrown in at the deep end, so to speak, but there is no better way to learn and with plenty of questions along the way, I learnt how to keep up with the work and responsibility and I feel more able to do the work now than ever before,

I have gained a tremendous insight into the world of corporate tax accounting and have not only been able to learn new aspects that I can apply in my university courses but I have also been able to apply existing knowledge in a professional environment. I believe my skills from this internship can assist me greatly not just in my degree moving forward but in my career for the foreseeable future,

The atmosphere is very professional but it is also laid back at the same time in the sense that everyone is very approachable. The atmosphere encourages work ethic and professionalism but also encourages collaboration and teamwork, which makes it easier to conduct your role on a day-to-day basis.

The organisation was fantastic in the sense that I was always busy and was able to explore a wide variety of aspects in the accounting world in the relatively short time period of 6 weeks. I feel more prepared for work now than ever, which is definitely in large part down to the structure of the internship and the hard work of the organisers, who have made sure that time in the 6 weeks was used effectively.

The firm invested a lot of time in me and ensured that I took as long as I needed to get comfortable with the software we use etc. The associates were allowed to help me for as long as was necessary and there was no timeline put on the initial training period, which made it easier to take information in and produce high quality work later on in the internship.

Future prospects are very appealing, as the opportunities are there - you just need to work for them. There are all sorts of age groups in all sorts of roles, which proves that it's never too late (or early!) for a promotion. It's very motivating to see people in such great positions and to hear about how they worked their way up from a junior level.

The social scene was fantastic and it was an immersive one. We frequently went out on team lunches, as well as various events organised by the firm, e.g. the summer garden party. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to participate in socials such as the GT national football tournament, which allowed me to not only have a fun time but network with my colleagues and build rapport.

I travelled from home so the cost of living for me was nil, as I did not live in Birmingham. However, the cost of socialising is much lesser than that of London but still at the same level as that of other major cities in the UK (e.g. Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham etc.).

Birmingham has a vibrant nightlife scene with plenty of venues catered at all different preferences. The prices are similar to that of other major UK cities outside of London and the quality is good too.

We had the opportunity as interns to get involved in national projects such as raising funds for entrepreneurs in third world countries, uploading articles to the trainee blog and presenting to senior members of our office the benefits of shared enterprise and what this means to us.