Case studies: Corporate tax compliance assistant: Usman Javed

Usman has a degree in accounting and finance and graduated in 2006. He joined KPMG and currently works as a corporate tax compliance assistant.

I graduated with a first class honours degree in accounting and finance from Birmingham University and immediately joined the tax graduate scheme at KPMG in the same year. I was initially attracted by on-campus marketing and the reputation of KPMG.

The key attraction in choosing to apply and work for KPMG, and in particular the tax department, was the dual qualification scheme. At the time I applied, KMPG were the only Big Four accountancy firm to be offering a dual qualification program; offering the prospect of becoming both a chartered accountant as well as a chartered tax adviser.

Looking forward, this was vital as not only did it avoid being labelled as just a tax specialist, but more importantly, would give me a broader understanding of business issues faced by a firm. As well as the ability to take a step back and think about the wider implications of decisions on a client’s business than simply the tax impact.

I recently received both qualifications and feel that the training I received from KPMG has been excellent, both in terms of exam training courses and practical on the job training. The training from the KPMG Tax Business School has been through a combination of in-house teachers, external contactors and practicing professionals with many years of experience. The variety of resources used has provided valuable knowledge from different perspectives, which is always advantageous.

When I first starting work I was fortunate to be allocated to a team within the corporation tax compliance department which dealt mainly with owner managed business. As the clients were generally smaller in size there was a lot more responsibility given to me early on and I was carrying out client site visits on my own within my first couple of months in the office. The team has recently also taken on larger clients within the department.

My early activities included planning and risk management to get a grounding in the basic internal processes and this quickly moved on to the core activities such as preparing tax computations both for tax provisions for statutory accounts and for submission to HMRC, deferred tax calculation and payment calculations. As I developed my skills and experience I was continually given more wide ranging work including work on larger groups, billing, due diligence work, research into double tax treaties and working on listed clients. All this came with added responsibility and increasing client contact.

The landscape of tax has changed dramatically over the past few years and the initial attraction that I had to the field continues to be the dynamism and constant evolution of the area of tax. My aims for the future are to begin to work on more advisory type projects where it will be possible to further the technical knowledge I learnt during my studies and at the same time develop the softer skills of management as I progress my career.