Working in Tax
In addition to our ‘core Tax’ roles, there are a number of alternative Tax programmes that you can join, where you’ll be aligned to an individual team from day one:
- Accounting Services
- Global Fiscal Policy
- Pensions
- Workforce
As part of our Compliance Services (CS) team, Accounting Services provide outsourced accounting services to national and multinational corporations with a focus on helping them remain compliant and providing insights into their operations.
Accounting Services has a varied and prestigious client base and works with various specialists in their own field which, combined with the importance placed on continuous technical training and personal development, provides an excellent opportunity for career development. As part of PwC, one of the largest global accounting firms, Accounting Services offers a challenging and exciting career path. Working within the Compliance Services team, you’ll have the opportunity to work on high profile client assignments alongside staff across the wider Tax practice.
PwC’s Global Fiscal Policy team supports governments and intergovernmental organisations across the spectrum of fiscal policy; providing policy advice, technical assistance and capacity building in the areas of public financial management, tax reform, and governance and transparency.
We work with international organisations, intergovernmental bodies, aid agencies, and directly for ministries of finance and other government departments around the world, advising senior ministers and decision makers on complex issues of huge significance for society. Our team includes public financial management specialists, tax policy experts, economists, accountants, policy advisors, and project managers, many of whom have significant experience working in the public sector and in international contexts. As a member of the team you would be offered the opportunity to work on interesting, challenging and satisfying assignments as part of a fantastic team of people.
Employers and their people need our help to navigate the DC and employee benefits landscape, which is constantly changing. Your knowledge will help high-profile organisations, entrepreneurs and family businesses understand complex rules and make informed decisions of the impacts on their employees. You’ll help clients develop and implement their pension strategy or benefit schemes, design plans to help employees save for retirement and increase levels of engagement and education within their wider employee population.
Working in this team, you’ll study with the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), taking a range of courses that cover the broad spectrum of pensions and benefits. Once you complete your studies you will have achieved a Level 4 diploma in Regulated Financial Planning with the option to continue your studies if appropriate.
We help some of the leading UK and international employers make the most of their biggest asset – their people. It’s such a diverse area, you could work on projects helping business leaders define their HR strategy, through to advising clients on how to improve the effectiveness of their workforce. Or help senior executives understand their global personal tax obligations, to implementing cutting‑edge technology in the HR space. You'll work on projects across all sectors of the economy, providing vital support to clients. And whatever you work on, you'll learn about employment tax risk, employment cost reduction and employer social responsibility.
Learn more about our Workforce business below.
Discover more about the diverse areas of Workforce:
People Consulting
You’ll be aligned to either our HR Tech and Transformation team or our Workforce Strategy and Culture team:
- HR Transformation
- Workforce development
- Organisational design
- Change and Communication
- People in Deals
HR Transformation
You'll work with clients to maximise value by connecting people objectives with their business strategy; working with HR Directors and business leaders we develop highly effective strategies and improved functions to help HR deliver their commitment of performance and growth to the business. Transformation services include support from the planning and design phases through implementation and deployment.
The team provides advice in a range of areas including:
- Global HR transformation, including HR process improvement.
- Developing future strategic direction of HR service delivery to meet business requirements.
- Developing a new HR operating model and planning the transition for change including policies, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and technology enablers.
- Evaluation of extending HR business process and outsource opportunities.
- Defining and agreeing future HR capabilities and undertaking assessment processes of the current state.
- Driving and embedding cultural change through the people agenda.
Workforce development
We're living through a fundamental transformation in the way we work. Automation and ‘thinking machines’ are replacing human tasks and jobs, and changing the skills that organisations look for in their people. We need to prepare for tomorrow's workforce, today and help our clients navigate through these challenges to develop and grow the 'workforce of the future'. Our Workforce Transformation team works with them to develop effective workforce strategies, creating new workforce designs, new environments - both physical and cultural - that will enhance workforce performance, and the employee experience.
Organisational design
The combination of shifting demographics and new technologies like automation, artificial intelligence, and increased connectivity are creating exciting organisational opportunities across industries: remote, agile, and flexible teams. But at the same time, an aging workforce and cultural inertia raise challenges.
We advise clients on how to build purpose-driven companies that people want to be a part of building. If an organisation isn’t meeting its employees’ or stakeholders’ expectations, the cause may be a misaligned strategy across a company's many complex, interacting organisational parts. Our experts help clients assess and redefine their strategic goals, then identify and implement the change needed to create a fit-for-purpose business.
Change and Communication
People are at the centre of any organisational change. Whether it's a large scale technology deployment, an organisation faced with challenges to its reputation, or a requirement to shift culture and behaviours, focusing and supporting people through change is critical to long term success. The Change and Communications team works with senior business leaders to develop the right strategy, articulate a compelling narrative, and design the right immersive and digital communication techniques to successfully communicate changes, and make big changes happen.
People in Deals
People in Deals is part of our Workforce team within Tax. The team advises on all of the people aspects of buying, selling or listing businesses both in the UK and internationally. Our work ranges from conducting due diligence for private equity, corporate and public sector organisations, to planning and implementing post-deal integration and business restructuring. Projects are both legally and operationally complex, varied, and very fast-paced.
We also come from a really wide range of backgrounds, both in-house and consulting, and half of us are pensions actuaries, so we work in a very inter-disciplinary way. Our work involves a wide range of other teams across PwC, from Financial Due Diligence and Deals Strategy, to Business Recovery Services and operational Delivering Deal Value, as well as collaborating regularly with Legal. Often, the Deals team also acts as a gateway for other HR consulting services at the firm, bringing in specialists to deliver both during and after the deal. Graduates in the team gain a broad generalist grounding across HR quickly, as well as an understanding of what makes businesses tick both financially and culturally.
High levels of client exposure is a given, particularly during post-deal work, with speed and variety of work. You’ll also gain an international network across PwC, as we regularly collaborate with other deals teams across the globe to manage complex, cross-border transactions.
You could be involved in the following:
- Investigating people issues in a target business to identify costs and risks for a potential buyer.
- Helping the seller of a business tell a compelling HR story to potential buyers.
- Project management of the carve out of a division for sale by a large corporate organisation.
- Working with HR teams to plan and deliver major restructuring programmes.
- Assessing likely flight risks following a deal, by looking at how incentives such as shares are affected.
- Assisting an HR function prepare for the listing of a business on the stock market.
- Supporting a public sector organisation in determining whether their business case for insourcing is robust.
People Technologies
You’ll advise on the technology aspects of projects in our HR Technology and Transformation team, or specialise in People Analytics.
- HR Technology
- People Analytics
- Risk and Regulation
HR Technology
Cloud technologies have evolved to enable rapid HR transformation, which is where our Technology team provide support and advice, from strategy through to execution. You'll advise clients on matters such as:
- helping clients understand what they are getting from their existing systems, identifying areas where costs can be reduced and performance improved
- identifying the right technology operating models to increase flexibility, self-service and more efficient processes
- providing support with developing technology business cases and communicating key proposals to the business
- cover end-to-end process of system implementation from building, testing and developing improved systems
- define and execute implementation plans.
People Analytics
The analysis of accurate Human Resource data by leading organisations is significantly shaping the way they recruit, retain and reward their employees. People Analytics work to improve and resolve issues pertaining to People Data and Analytics so that organisations can feel confident in their data and utilise it for the benefit of their business.
The key area of focus for graduates is in our ‘Saratoga Services’ practice:
HR and Workforce Benchmarking - developing detailed benchmark information to provide valuable insight into the key drivers of HR functional effectiveness and human capital performance.
Other areas of People Analytics include:
- Employee Data Solutions - working with clients to review and understand, manage, control, design and fix their data issues.
- Workforce Business Intelligence /Management Information - Providing HR reporting and analytics, developing a clear Management Information (MI) reporting strategy, facilitating strategic planning and insight.
- Strategic People Planning (SPP) - working with senior teams to develop the capability to match the current and future demand for skills with the supply – based on understanding of workforce data and analytics.
Risk and Regulation
Our Technical area within Workforce consists of our Risk and Regulation team (R&R). As part of the graduate pathway, you’d study towards either the ACA or CIPD.
Risk and Regulation
Reward remains a critical lever in today’s fluid and highly competitive talent marketplace. Greater workforce diversity plus changes to ways of working and technology mean that new models are increasingly required to attract, retain and motivate leaders and key talent.
The PwC Risk and Regulation team works with clients to design and implement reward strategies to get the best from their people, alongside supporting them with the increasingly complex tax, technical and regulatory dimensions of reward. The team works with the Board, finance and HR functions of many FTSE 100 and other major international and domestic corporates, as well as smaller high growth unlisted businesses across all sectors.
The multidisciplinary team comprising accountants, actuaries, lawyers, tax and HR professionals means you’ll have the opportunity to gain a broad range of experience from across the spectrum of employee and executive reward. You could be involved in providing advice in a range of areas through the expertise of team members, further enabled by technology solutions. These include:
Building a reward strategy linked to performance.
Benchmarking reward data against industry standards.
Advising on the ESG reward agenda, diversity, inclusion and gender pay.
Executive pay design and implementation.
Dealing with the tax, operational and regulatory implications of all components of employee reward.
Advising on legal employment issues.
The design, communication and management of employee incentives.
Financial reporting and accounting advice.
Operating payroll globally for clients.
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