What's your job about?

As a tax consultant at KPMG, I help provide clients with advice with any tax issues they or their companies may be facing. On a day-to-day basis, I work with a wide range of clients and can be doing different tasks, from calling IRD to writing up an opinion piece for a client about a specific area of law.

Working with a wide range of clients keeps everything very interesting because it means in the morning, I could be checking laws in the Medicines Act to see how that works with tax law, and then in the afternoon, I could be calling IRD on behalf of a client. 

What's your background?

I come from a big family in Invercargill, I have 4 siblings and we all have very different careers. I then went onto study at Otago University, where I did an LLB and a BA. While I was at Uni, I took a tax law paper and decided that it would be an interesting area to go into! I went along to a KPMG Uni event where I met one of our Tax Partners Rachel Piper and it was from meeting her that I secured an internship and then gained a graduate role! Still forever grateful that I went to that KPMG event that night! 

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes, absolutely! In the Tax team, we have people who all have very different degrees and backgrounds! Some people have accounting degrees, while many others in the team have science or law degrees. 

If you are looking for a career in tax an accounting degree is not necessary, as the team is great at teaching you on the job! The tax team really want people who are keen to learn, keen to get involved and who are team players!

What's the coolest thing about your job?

What I love most about my job is the people! The tax team at KPMG is super friendly and always willing to help! You will get to do work with the other offices across the country so you will meet plenty of people! 

I am also very grateful for the Kiwa network here at KPMG. That network has introduced me to so many amazing people from all different teams and from across the country who I probably would have never met without Kiwa. 

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

• Take a variety of papers, you never know what you will enjoy! I took Tax Law on a whim and now I have a career in tax that I love.
• Don’t stress too much about internships/clerkships there are still plenty of graduate jobs out there, so you do not have to have done an internship to secure a grad job! 
• Have heaps of fun!!!  Uni does actually go by very quickly so have heaps of fun.