Assistant Tax Advisor Review

On a day-to-day basis, I am assisting on various client engagements helping in different ways, such as with compliance work or tax audit reporting. This can include working with excel, updating or writing reports, working with different tech tools, referencing documents, sending emails or having meetings, both internally or with the client. As the assistant, I tend to prepare the documents which then get sent to a senior colleague for reviews, the size of the engagement team can vary so you can be assisting with different senior members at a time.

My ability on excel has developed, as well as being able to use tools on Word which are more relevant for writing reports and including stats/ numbers in the document. I have used multiple different more specialised tax or accounting tech tools. I have developed my ability to write professional emails, and the appropriate ways to communicate within a team but also with the client. I have developed my time management, as you are working with different teams at the same time and therefore have to manage your time appropriately.

Yes, I was given a lot of responsibility, as a placement student you are treated by both colleagues and the company in a way equivalent to any new joiner. I was given training to take some Chartered Accounting exams, and went on courses regularly to learn relevant tax experience, so I was expected to apply this knowledge. I worked alongside graduates and was considered that level when partaking in any work tasks, this meant that I was trusted to complete my work and was valued within my team.

I received a lot of support through different counselling and buddy systems the company has in place. This means that there are different people that you can go to for different needs, such as work related queries, team allocations, personal matters and career progression talks. There was also support for different learning abilities and they arranged external coaching and support to meet my personal needs. There was also a very open and welcoming environment around different mental health conversations.

The company culture focuses on completing tasks as a team, understanding the varying strengths and supporting eachother throughout. The general atmosphere in my team specifically was extremely welcoming, where no matter the level of seniority many people were always happy to help in both technical and general work matters. I felt very comfortable asking for help or expressing that I didn't understand something. There were also regular meetings where you could express if you had too much or too little work, and help spread it across other people of your level.

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement, I worked with lovely people who I intend on staying in contact with. I was impressed by the culture of the organisation when it came to employee support and progressive conversations, I understand that in the last few years it has really tried to prioritise and improve upon this. With the current flexibility, I was able to work from home up to 3 days a week, which was great as I didn't have to commute everyday, as well they provided equipment so that you are able to do so (I requested an office chair and monitor).

Yes

I would advise they consider the service line they are applying to, do some research into the type of client work you want to contribute to and the options for training and development which would interest you. Express any concerns or needs, and ask relevant questions.