Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughtout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click here to read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

Week three and we’re already halfway through our placement. It’s difficult to believe how quickly it’s going and how much I’ve learnt already. I am now able to complete tax returns without constantly asking questions and I can promise you they are much more interesting than they sound!

I’m not sure what it is about the word “tax” which inspires such feelings of dread but I think for most people, until recently myself included, it stems from a general lack of understanding and many well-rooted stereotypes. Tax is confusing and ultimately means you end up with less money – so why would you want to spend your career in it?

During my interviews for this internship I picked “I am attracted to tax because of its problem-solving nature” as the reason behind my choice. But let’s face it, all I really knew about it was what I’d read on the website so this was more of a vague hope than a fact! Three weeks in though and I’m pleasantly surprised to discover that I was right.

Once you begin to understand the rules, laws and technical terms underpinning the tax system the confusion starts to disappear and the true challenge lies in the specifics of each individual case. Figuring out how to deal with a particular piece of information really is a bit like solving a puzzle… And whilst taxes do mean you end up with less money the role of a tax accountant is to help people keep their tax liability to a minimum.

Anyway, that’s enough about tax! What else have I been up to this week? As promised there was more fundraising. The “Guess how many sweets in the jar” competition proved popular with GT staff and gave us a great excuse to meet some of the staff working in different departments around the office – the Euston office is spread over 8 floors so there were plenty to meet!

On Thursday we headed to the London Eye with our managers then to a nearby bar for more networking. Thankfully the rain held off so we had some great views of the city. We even spotted the GT offices!

More fun to come next week as our DIY and gardening skills will be put to the test for our Corporate Responsibilty Day…

Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughtout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click here to read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

Well, I did it. I completed the JP Morgan Challenge, all 3.5 miles of it! The interns’ times ranged from 27 to 43 minutes… I’ll leave you to guess where I came! The evening was actually surprisingly good fun, there was a real sense of team spirit and Battersea Park made a great setting. Lots of aching legs the next day though…

The rest of the week was filled with fund-raising, as we will be taking part in a Corporate Responsibility Day (renovating a local primary school’s playground) and need money to buy brushes, paint, a bench etc. So, one evening this week we all headed round to the halls where two of the interns are staying and commenced our epic cake bake! We managed to raise almost £200 but we have ambitious plans for this playground so there will be more fund-raising to come next week.

Last week was also the first of our “Lunch and Learn” sessions. This one was all about audit. Representatives from audit came and talked to us about their experiences of Grant Thornton and answered any questions we had about audit. This was a good week for lunches as we also had the Graduate lunch. This enabled us to find out about the structure of the graduate programme at GT, how we would go about applying and which areas/offices we can apply to. There are loads of options so it’s great that we have the “Lunch and Learn” meetings to help us narrow it down.

Next week we have a “Lunch and Learn” – this time on tax, more fund-raising for the CR day and on Thursday we’re off to the London Eye for the “Meet the Managers” event! Looks like another busy week – this is becoming a bit of a theme. I will make sure I find time to write my next blog though and tell you all about it!

Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughtout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click here to read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

Name: Lucy Hardman

Age: 21

University: Bristol University

Course: Physics with a year in France

Company: Grant Thornton

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p style=”text-align: justify;”>Job Title: Tax Intern

“Hi! My name’s Lucy and I’m currently completing a 6-week summer internship at Grant Thornton’s London office. I am about to go into my final year studying physics at Bristol and last year I spent a year studying in Grenoble in the French Alps. Over the next few weeks I hope to give you an insight into life as an intern at GT!

So, I’m one week in to my six-week internship at Grant Thornton and so far I’m loving it. The work is much more interesting than I had expected, the people are really welcoming and the other interns seem like a great group. Pretty good start considering how reluctant I was to give up my summer holiday which I normally reserve for travelling, seeing friends and sleeping!

When I decided to start applying for internships I was still out in France on my year abroad. The first couple of stages of the application process (the application form and the online tests) were fine but once I got through to the telephone interview stage I realised that I was going to have to find out a bit more about this company so that I could really stand out.

Unfortunately, since I was living in France it wasn’t as easy as dropping into a careers event or popping down to the nearest GT office to see if I could ask a few questions! Luckily GT had recently started their live online chats enabling you to ask direct questions to recent grads or a member of the HR team. This allowed me to find out more about the company and learn about their secondment programmes which allow you to spend 6 months working in another country – something which was obviously of interest to me!

I got through the telephone interview onto the final stage of the application – the Assessment Centre. This consists of a group task, a tour of the offices, lunch with a recent recruit and a face-to-face interview. The day was pretty tiring but luckily it went ok so here I am!

Now for the first week. It would be impossible to include everything I’ve done so I will just try and give a few highlights.

The first day was pretty packed. We met so many different people from the other interns right up to the Head of Tax. We also met our buddies, who would be our first-point of contact if we had any questions. There were various talks about the company, health and safety and IT.

Finally, we took part in a scavenger hunt, which felt as though we were completing a task on the Apprentice!

The rest of the week was spent working in my department – Private Client and Entrepreneurial tax. The work has been varied; I’ve been corresponding with clients, learning how to use the compliance software, completing my first tax return and I was even allowed to attend a client meeting. Although it has been a shock to the system working nine ‘til half five every day I have been kept very busy so time has flown.

Our first networking event was a trip with our buddies to the Trocadero centre for bowling and dodgems! Despite my obvious lack of skill when it comes to bowling, this was a great night out with plenty of food and drinks.

Next week includes our first “Lunch and Learn” session where we get to find out more about working in Audit and the JP Morgan Chase Challenge. A huge charity run (or walk, in my case!) that takes place in Battersea Park. I’ll let you know how I get on!”