Tax intern Review

I really enjoyed being part of the six week summer internship programme at EY. I was exposed to many different aspects of working in the business tax services department. From making sure projects stay within budget to attending client meetings with partners and other senior team members. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, and always happy to help.

I was completing work that would be expected of a graduate at EY, so felt very valued by my colleagues as i was contributing to actual client projects. My colleagues were always happy to explain anything I didn't understand or to just give me an insight into what kind of work they were doing.

Upon joining EY, I was assigned a counsellor and during the first week I met with her to discuss what I wanted to get out of the internship and to set goals to complete. We met again halfway through to discuss the progress I had made on meeting my goals and to see if any changes were needed. Then we met again at the end of my internship to reflect on my time at EY.

Summer isn't really the busiest time of the year for the tax department and hence there were a couple of times where I didn't have much to do apart from basic admin jobs, however for the majority of the time I was kept pretty busy with various tasks for different members of the team.

Honestly, it is quite difficult to give much responsibility to interns in the tax department, as a lot of the work being carried out requires a lot of technical tax knowledge. Therefore the responsibility given to us was limited. However, the team tried to involve us as much as possible, even if it was just sitting in on a client meeting or call to get a better understanding of the industry.

To be honest, I don't think the skills that I developed during my internship will help me much in my degree, as I don't take any tax related modules. However, after I graduate I intend to qualify as a chartered accountant, so I think they will definitely come in handy at some point in the future.

The general atmosphere in the office was very friendly. The hot desking system meant that I got to spend time around many different members of the team, from colleagues on the graduate scheme to senior managers. This allowed me to gain an idea of the responsibility given to different team members and allowed me a greater insight into the different aspects of business tax.

I think the internship was very well organised. I don't think this was the case in all departments but in tax I was assigned to a different team member for each day of the internship. On my first day I was given a timetable detailing which days would be spent with who so that I knew who to ask for work. I thought this was extremely helpful as it allowed me to work with everyone in the team and on a variety of different clients/projects.

EY invested a lot of time in training us. We had several introductory sessions to help us get used to the different tools used at EY. We also had weekly 'lunch and learn' sessions on various topics such as career paths at EY and exam training on the graduate scheme. These were very informative sessions and it was interesting to hear from EY staff in other department talk about how their careers have developed. We also had the chance to attend a partner breakfast which was basically an informal chat with two partners. This was great as we got to spend an hour chatting to them about their careers and how they ended up as partners at EY.

Future employment prospects within EY are very appealing. The training and support provided to those on the graduate scheme seems excellent and all of the graduates I have spoken to only have positive feedback about their time at EY so far. Upon gaining the chartered accountancy qualification, there are also many secondment opportunities, from switching departments with your office, to spending time working in the tax office in New York.

There was quite a good social scene amongst fellow interns, most of us were based in the office for the duration of the internship so we had lunch together most days. There weren't many social events organised by EY so it's really down to you to organise social activities during the internship. However, the EY SIP team did organise a final event on the last day where all of the interns met up in London for the day and there were various activities such as bowling and virtual cricket.

Bristol is a fairly expensive city to live and socialise in. However, I was lucky enough to be able to live at home during my internship so this saved me quite a lot in living costs. Travel expenses were very reasonable and any travel that wasn't part of your daily commute i.e. travel to client sites or to other EY offices can all be claimed back as expenses which is great as you don't end up out of pocket.

The nightlife in Bristol is great, there are many different bars, pubs and clubs in the city centre, definitely something for everyone.

Not really, although some of the interns in the audit department participated in a CSR day where they went to a local school to volunteer for the day.