Company: Grant Thornton

Area: Tax

Upon completing my degree in agricultural science, I found myself at a crossroads as to my future career path: continue with a career in the food and beverage industry, or focus more squarely on the business route.

I started looking into potential future roles which I felt I could see myself in and I could see a common theme appear. The majority of the business leaders in these roles held an accountancy qualification. This coincided with a talk given by the head of tax at Grant Thornton in fourth year in college, on the value that students with a varied, non business-related degree can bring to the firm. My mind was made up.

I undertook a summer internship and on the back of this Grant Thornton sponsored me to attend DCU’s Professional Diploma in Accounting, which helped bridge the gap between ag science and the accounting qualification. Once I had completed this year, I began my graduate training contract and passed both CAP 2s and FAEs first time round.

In terms of the work I do in my tax role, I have been given an incredibly varied experience, spanning corporation tax, innovation taxes and now transactional taxes, which has helped my professional development every bit as much as it has my education.

I now sit on both the agri food and business development groups, which creates an avenue for me to gain strategic experience on top of my tax knowledge.

Direct access to clients and partners is a huge part of the culture and from the first day I stepped foot on the tax floor, I have always been encouraged to contribute at the level I was capable of and not simply looked at as a trainee.

For me, the real difference about Grant Thornton is that I am constantly given opportunities to work in new areas and alongside different business units throughout the firm. There are always great social activities happening and I play five-a-side soccer every week. Between that and the regular team nights out, the social scene here is always lively. CL