WHAT MAKES WORKING AT PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS SO APPEALING? ALLISON PLAGER FINDS OUT
I may be shallow, but when I enter the glamorous portals of a major London professional firm, I always feel a tad envious of the people who work there.
These amazing buildings with fantastic atriums and oceans of space are very enticing and lead the outsider to think that they must reflect the quality of work and life led by the employees. A pokey office, with low ceilings and gloomy lighting out in the suburbs just does not have the same attraction.
So what is it really like working at one of those starry firms? Taxation 2 has been finding out why tax professionals might want to consider a move to PricewaterhouseCoopers, currently the largest of the big four firms in the UK.
First of all, to set the scene, here are a few facts and figures about the firm. It was formed by combining Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand in July 1998, and then in 2003 PricewaterhouseCoopers UK took on limited liability partnership status. The global firm now operates across 151 countries with over 163,000 members of staff.
This could be a trifle disconcerting to someone not used to being part of such a large organisation, but in fact, the very size means that the opportunities to diversify or relocate within the firm are excellent.
Join us!
‘The working environment here is second to none’, says PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Jim McKie. And, given that he has been with the firm for 31 years, training first as an auditor before moving into tax, it must be doing something right. Jim has worked his way south, starting in Edinburgh, then moving to Manchester, but is now in London. His lengthy title is ‘chief operating officer and people leader’ for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ tax team, and he is on the hunt for new recruits.
In particular, the firm is looking for senior associates to join it. The tax market has certainly been very tough over the last 18 months, says Jim, with businesses more concerned with their debt position, reducing costs, and generally keeping afloat. Tax issues have definitely taken a back seat, so there has been correspondingly less work for tax professionals to do. However, in the last few months, as the economy has nudged upwards, tax business has begun to grow again and PricewaterhouseCoopers is planning to expand its senior associates ranks to meet demand.
While the firm has kept up its graduate intake over the recession, it takes three years for them to qualify, and of those who did qualify during the economic downturn, some tended to see, say, insolvency as a more promising career than tax. Furthermore, as Jim says, there was no need to recruit newly qualifieds because there were fewer opportunities, but now the tide is turning, and the firm is keen to take on bright young people.
Wide variety
As one would expect, PricewaterhouseCoopers prides itself on its prestigious clients, with the firm advising around 90% of the FTSE 100 companies on some aspect of their tax affairs. So, says Jim, someone coming to work in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ tax department is likely to have an ‘excellent client portfolio’ and be able to immerse themselves in high quality work.
Tax work is growing across the board, but some areas are doing better than others. For example, Jim says ‘corporate tax has picked up – bearing in mind this was probably the worst hit by the recession – especially in London, although the regions are showing positive signs too’. He also mentions the firm’s indirect tax practice as being vibrant, and being one area that suffered least during the economic downturn.
The human resource service practice is also showing strong growth. This department deals with tax in relation to people, Jim explains, for instance, pensions, reward, employment, share schemes and international mobility.
Jim mentions that the firm has a growing practice in sustainability and environmental issues, ie green taxes. Businesses are keen to minimise the impact of environmental taxes and PricewaterhouseCoopers has been at the forefront of developing solutions for clients in this area.
‘There is a great variety of work available within the firm,' says Jim. While there are some massive clients, some assignments will be quite small. The firm also has a considerable number of entrepreneur and private clients. So there is interesting and challenging personal and business tax work available too.
The size of the firm means that individuals can specialise early on in their careers if they want to. Employees have the chance to try all sorts of areas of tax. Jim cites as an example a new partner who is a transfer pricing expert, but who began his career in employment taxes. He grew interested in transfer pricing, and was able to develop his expertise there.
So opportunities are widespread over the various taxes, but what is it like working for such a high-profile firm?
Getting to know you
‘A vital part of tax advisory work is building a long-standing and trusting relationship with the client,' says Jim.
So all employees, from associates upwards, are expected to meet clients. Jim confirms that senior associates would be providing advice to clients, drafting letters and reports, and making contact with the client at an early stage. Compliance is largely dealt with at separate centres throughout the UK, so this is not something they would be expected to do.
Jim emphasises that a good tax adviser needs to understand the client’s business. When it comes to tax, the client looks to the adviser for help and sometimes does not know all the questions to ask – it is therefore incumbent on the adviser to know the client’s business well enough to be aware of the issues that need to be addressed.
Some candidates might be concerned that being part of such a large firm could make it difficult to see a job through. On the contrary, says Jim. The way the firm works, a senior associate has a portfolio of clients who are his or her responsibility, although, naturally, there will be more senior people overseeing each client. They will thus be involved with a tax job from start to finish and not just work on a particular aspect of it.
Onwards and upwards
The sort of people who will do well in PricewaterhouseCoopers are those with ‘enquiring and analytical minds’, says Jim. They have got to be able to get on well with clients and be effective at building long-standing relationships with them. Recruits may come from other big four firms, but are equally likely to come from mid-size practices.
A firm the size of PricewaterhouseCoopers offers excellent training and development opportunities. Senior associates will most likely be newly qualified chartered accountants, and the firm would, if desired, support them through the Chartered Institute of Taxation’s CTA qualification as this is valuable for a tax adviser.
The firm is very keen to develop its employees and help them improve their knowledge and learn new skills, encouraging attendance at courses and seminars.
Another benefit of being part of a large firm is the chance to take an international secondment. The firm has a programme whereby people can be posted overseas to develop expertise there, eg the USA, Europe, the Middle East or Russia. The firm’s global network is impressive and opens up a world of opportunities.
Alternatively, if international travel is not high on your agenda, it could be possible to move around within the UK, as Jim has done.
As to career progression, not everyone wants to be or can be a partner, but regardless of that, Jim confirms that ‘there is a great career for good tax advisers’. For those who do have the lofty heights of partnership in mind, Jim notes that ‘business is growing and the firm is making new partners, as it has done throughout the recession’. So there are good prospects for advancement.
Exciting times
PricewaterhouseCoopers, despite its long history, feels like ‘a vibrant young firm’, says Jim. People who come to the firm have to work hard and be prepared to learn new skills, but they will be doing top quality work for major clients, so will be challenged intellectually and life will definitely be interesting.
The firm has active community and wellbeing programmes, with over 4,500 volunteering during work hours, and funding for sports clubs, people networks and even an annual pantomime, meaning there’s more to life than work at the firm.
Tax is an exciting business, says Jim. ‘We are about to have the first budget from the new coalition government, and dealing with the country’s deficit will inevitably involve tax. So there are bound to be some interesting tax developments in the pipeline, and we are in the front line for translating that for business.’
Overall, working at PricewaterhouseCoopers provides a stimulating environment working with a lot of highly intelligent colleagues and a vast array of quality blue-chip clients.
