Tax intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship right from the beginning! We started off with a week long induction, 3 days in a stunning hotel in Windsor and 2 days in the local offices, both of which were absolutely amazing and got an insight of the company's values and work ethic. The next 5 weeks in the local office went by so quickly as I was busy all day working on projects with my Buddy and managers. I got quite a bit of responsibility from the get go and got exposure to various teams and departments.

Everybody treated me as if I'd been in the company for ages and no one really made you feel like an 'intern'. They trusted me with loads of work and also invited me to social events which made me feel really welcomed by the team. I felt really valued as a team member, even when I was just shadowing projects.

No one expects you to know everything about your line of service so it was easy for me to ask questions without hesitating. Whenever I needed slightly more time to complete a task my colleagues would take time out of their diary and organise a catch up session where I could go over anything I had doubts in. They really emphasise on the support, learning and development at PwC!

On most days I had around 4 tasks to complete which kept me busy throughout the day, bearing in mind I could still take an hour off for lunch! Some days were quieter where I'd find myself having time to complete e-learns and researching on prospective projects. The first 2 days were busy installing software and speaking to IT.

Considering I was an intern for just 6 weeks, I was given a lot of responsibility! I was also able to attend a client meeting and participate in a conference call. My colleagues really trusted me with managing a lot of work and responsibility. Even though there were a few projects where I couldn't give much input as I'm not qualified yet, I was allowed to shadow them and still learnt so much.

Although my degree is not of accounting/finance in nature, I have learnt a lot that I can carry forward such as excel skills, communication, time management, professional development and basic accounting knowledge! I was exposed to accounting software for tax and took me a while to learn but I can now say I am confident in preparing a tax computation with little to no guidance.

The general atmosphere was relaxed, everyone would be chatting between tasks and catching up from the weekend and it was friendly. The office is an open plan setting so it's very easy to speak to anyone when you need some help and also there is no specific seating places so you could get to know as many people as you wanted because you could move around.

The internship was really well organised, from the residential induction in Windsor, the local office induction and the actual program itself. Each intern was designated specific jobs and the teams took into consideration the extra member when delegating work. However, there were a few issues in which jobs were completed quicker than expected or there was no work for interns to do on the job when it came time to do so which resulted in us just being given random tasks but this did not happen too often.

PwC is very passionate about investing in their staff. For example, every member of staff gets a laptop upon joining the firm and employees can then use this to access a wide range of training resources such as e-learns and compliance training to make sure that all of the staff and PwC are competent in the jobs that they do.

PwC is without a doubt an excellent place to work. It is consistently ranked first place in the times graduate employers list and it is clear to see why it is very easy to fit in at the firm and it is definitely the people that work there that make it a great place to be. Everybody is so supportive and willing to help you reach your goals. Definitely a good place to work. They also pay for your graduate qualification and it's like getting two degrees!

In my office (Glasgow), there were 6 assurance interns and I was the only one in tax but that didn't stop us from going out to celebrate birthdays, go to the pub, quiz nights etc. PwC also organised a horse races night for us where we could go see the Hamilton races and was great fun!

The cost of living in Glasgow is relatively lower compared to London. I was able to get a bus pass for the 5 week placement for around £50 and that included unlimited bus travel - even on the weekends. However, it is also very variable and depends on what you want to do. For example Glasgow has a large population of students so there are lots of clubs and bars that cater towards a more student type budget. Although, if you don't plan well you can easily spend way more so it really depends on how determined you are to save money or not.

Glasgow has an incredible nightlife. There is always something to do every night so it inst difficult to find anywhere. Glasgow has a lot of clubs that are catered to a student lifestyle so it can be very cheap to go out. It also has lots of bars occasional festivals so there's definitely a wide range of events to suit any personality.

As an intern I didn't have many opportunities to join clubs/ societies at work.