Industry Tax Practice Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship. As I was in a regional office in the Tax department, I was able to work in a variety of tax areas. As well as this, I was able to visit other offices for different training activities and to shadow a partner in the legal team.

My colleagues were very welcoming and I was able to form good relationships with them all. Whenever I needed work to do or needed some help, it was easy to either chat to them or send them a message, and they were always happy to assist. Everyone was friendly and easy to talk to.

My career coach and other team members always gave me good support and made me feel welcome. I often went to my career coach for help as she was very approachable and could always help out with any problems I came across. Really liked the career coach/buddy system and felt it helped me settle it and do my work.

The only downside of tax, particularly in a regional office and over summer, is that on a few days of my internship I was not very busy and would just have to work through some tax materials rather than complete actual work. The days I was busy were great, but some days did drag a little.

For some tasks I was given a lot of responsibility over them and could lead the task - with this I was able to write up scope and fee proposals, to be checked by colleagues, and lead the odd call. Usually I shadowed or just helped with tasks however, so I had limited responsibility.

I definitely learned a lot more about tax and I was able to complete a lot of lectures on Tax Tolley. Training into tax comps and other areas also made me feel more prepared to go into accounting for the future. The training was helpful and worthwhile for future work.

The general atmosphere was positive, if a little quiet on some days (which is fair enough given that it was the summer holidays and some associates were at college). The whole tax team sat together so it was easy to chat to colleagues. I was able to go on the tax team away day, where we went to laser tag which was good fun. On fridays we often went to lunch together which was also a nice way to get to know everyone.

The internship was organised fairly well. The first few days were on an induction residential in Windsor which was very helpful, with the remaining time spent mostly in the Milton Keynes office where I was based. However, as I had a few days where I had little work to do, I feel that the internship could be organised slightly better on the side of the office itself.

The company invested a lot into my personal training and development. The training days spent in Windsor, training days in the office in Derby, training materials once I started and also providing me with a laptop and phone to help with my work. I felt that the internship was a 5-week interview and that PwC genuinely wanted to take on the interns and offer them grad jobs at the end.

The future employment prospects are very appealing for PwC. If I take on the grad job that I was offered, within three years of working for PwC I will be a chartered accountant. There's also the opportunity to move to different offices/lines of services, so there's a variety of job prospects for the future.

I made friends during the induction residential with interns who would be working across the UK, and I will definitely keep in contact with a lot them. However, in my office I was the only intern in tax and the other two interns worked in audit so I didn't form much of a relationship with them.

I already live in Milton Keynes which is why I decided to do my placement there, for the convenience. Socialising is good as the office is next to the city centre and there are many restaurants, pubs and other options. There's also a variety of options for lunch, etc. The living is fairly expensive as we're near London, so it depends where you choose to live.

The nightlife is fairly good in Milton Keynes. There is the hub which has a variety of cocktail bars, a Popworld in the theatre district, and a club a short taxi ride away from the centre. There's a decent amount of pubs, and whetherspoons for a cheaper option, so the nightlife is okay.

There were - my team had an away day at a laser tag place, which was a lot of fun, followed by dinner. Also, we often went for lunch on Friday afternoons together which was good. The last day of my internship was the sports day and AGM which was good fun as well.