Petr Janečka began his tax career at PwC during his studies at the University of Economics. At the age of just 25, he has a business trip to New York behind him and he is involved in the development of a revolutionary AI tool called Harvey, which is changing the way PwC provides tax services to its clients around the world.
Before we get into your experiences from your business trip to New York, tell us what your journey at PwC has been like.
While I was still a student at the University of Economics, Aleš Reho – who is now my colleague – recruited me into his team as an intern at one of his lectures. And now, more than two and a half years later, I’m currently working full-time. I have always been interested in taxes, mainly because of their substance, but then they started combining that with technology and I started to enjoy that. I was later offered a year-long internship at PwC’s global headquarters, which I accepted.
How can we picture that?
I work remotely with a global team based in the UK. My colleagues are spread out around the world, and we are jointly working on the AI tool Harvey. We are developing it within the whole PwC network of offices and helping to create specialised tax models within it.
The goal is for our offices around the world to be able to use artificial intelligence in the best and most effective way. An advantage is that we have exclusivity in this among the Big Four, which means that only PwC can subsequently offer the Harvey tool to clients.
If you had to explain the Harvey tool to a complete layman, how would you describe it?
Harvey is an AI-based programme that is specially trained on data for lawyers and tax specialists. Imagine it as a legal version of ChatGPT. The user can enter a prompt such as “I need to prepare an opinion for a client on a particular topic”, and thanks to the fact that Harvey is a specialised tool, it provides relevant and precise outputs directly from the legal and tax fields. It is changing the way that outputs for our clients are prepared, but it never takes the place PwC’s experts, who stand behind the correctness of all information provided to the client.
„I never thought that I would see New York on a business trip when I was 25.“
How does it feel to achieve such success at the beginning of your career?
I feel tremendous gratitude. I would have never had such opportunities at a small consulting company. It never would have occurred to me that I would see New York on a business trip when I was 25. I owe a lot of thanks to Martin Diviš, our managing partner, particularly because he’s the reason I got such a chance, and I am grateful for his trust. Without his support, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I also have great support from Tomáš Vlk, who manages technology projects in the tax field, and from Michaela Vraná, our team leader, without whom none of this would be possible.
What did you find most captivating about New York?
It was amazing, from the 9/11 memorial and the Brooklyn Bridge to Dumbo. I really enjoyed the West Side, which has a great atmosphere. And PwC’s New York office – that’s really something to see! The view of the city is simply unforgettable.
How did the working part of your trip go and why New York exactly?
We meet in a different city every quarter and that time it was New York’s turn. We had a meeting room reserved and we worked on a retrospective – what we had done well, what was necessary to improve and what our next strategy would be.
Our team has ten members, and it is truly diverse. I’m the youngest, so I have a great opportunity to learn a lot, which I really like. Another part of our business trip was teambuilding, during which we visited the Museum of Natural History and took part in an interactive game, which I really enjoyed. It was great getting to know my colleagues not only on a professional level, but also personally, away from the screen.
And where will you go next?
Probably Milan, where besides new challenges, I very much look forward to the culinary scene!
Have a look at the offer of vacant positions at PwC.
