Gavan - Tax and Legal services

After college, I trained as a Solicitor in a top 5 Legal firm and qualified in February 2003. In addition to my Legal studies I completed the AITI exams after which I spent 6 months working in the Funds department then moved to the Tax department, where I worked for nearly 2 years. It was after taking time out to travel and study, I decided I needed new challenges to further progress my career as a tax professional.

I had always thought of PricewaterhouseCoopers as an accounting firm and had not considered that they would recruit people without an accounting qualification. However, after speaking to a number of people involved in Irish business and friends working in PricewaterhouseCoopers, I realised that the tax department included people from all backgrounds and that there could be a suitable position for me.

Going through the recruitment process I was impressed by the size of the organisation, the clients and its reputation in the market place as the leading Irish tax practice. In addition friends who worked here and people who did business with PricewaterhouseCoopers were very encouraging, so when I got the offer I was delighted to take on the new role and I joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2006

I was surprised by the level of importance PricewaterhouseCoopers affords to training; as well as regular practice area updates, there is a focus on personal management skills and we regularly attend management training courses held over a few days each year. I recently attended an International Tax Planning course in Hungary with staff from other PricewaterhouseCoopers offices around Europe.

The clients I work with include a number of large banks and financial institutions. My work involves a mixture of tax compliance and consultancy which includes advising on the Irish tax issues for mergers and acquisitions, liquidations and structures for investment into Ireland and Europe. In addition to this I work as part of the China desk which deals with tax queries from Chinese companies looking at Ireland as a location for investment and we also advise Irish companies looking to invest in China. It is challenging but I enjoy the work. I am getting great experience in a number of different areas and I interact with clients on a regular basis.

The work ethic in PricewaterhouseCoopers is very motivating; there is a strong emphasis on work/life balance. There is a great team ethos and a good social aspect here as well. I enjoy what I do and I am very happy working here. The career path is structured and achievable; I feel that my prospects for the future here are very good.