Wesley Crawford, Tax Specialist, PwC

What does your job involve?

I have three main areas of activity, the first being tax compliance, which involves analysing a set of accounts in order to determine the tax deductable income and expenditure to arrive at the final corporation tax liability. Tax consulting involves analysing a set of circumstances as presented by the client in order to produce a tax efficient solution to their set of circumstances. The third area is R&D tax credit, which involves reviewing R&D questionnaires as received from the client and going onsite to undertake interviews with the R&D tax team.

What traits make you successful in your job?

All my work is on a team based approach and team members range from tax assistants to tax partners. I recommend you be an open minded, honest and confident team player. In this regard you’ll add to the value of the client and the project.

What was your pathway to your job?

I looked to PWC mainly because they’re a multi-national company operating across many sectors and countries, which I thought would be good for career progression. I recommend achieving a 2/1 in your undergrad degree as this seems to be a base requirement for many top employers. In the interview progress you must be open minded and honest but above all just relax and be yourself. The interviewer is simply trying to establish whether you can work as part of their team.

Do you have any advice for students?

Never be afraid to ask a question. Your team members are there to support you and they will respect you more for asking a silly question rather than not asking it and then making a mistake.