Working in Tax with only CTA exams

KaseLieberKase

Hi,

Got offered a position at a Big 4 firm for Tax. I come from a non-accounting background so they recommended I only sit the CTA exams and skip the ATA.

Will this put me at a disadvantage going into the future? They stressed that it will not hold me back but I can't imagine how that is possible.

Cheers,

KLK

smcgiff

KaseLieberKase wrote: »

Hi,

Got offered a position at a Big 4 firm for Tax. I come from a non-accounting background so they recommended I only sit the CTA exams and skip the ATA.

Will this put me at a disadvantage going into the future? They stressed that it will not hold me back but I can't imagine how that is possible.

Cheers,

KLK

What is ATA? The CTA are a UK tax body - Will you be working on UK tax affairs exclusively?

Would you prefer to AITI - the Irish tax body or do you mean you'd rather study for an accounting exam, such as with CAI?

KaseLieberKase

smcgiff wrote: »

What is ATA? The CTA are a UK tax body - Will you be working on UK tax affairs exclusively?

Would you prefer to AITI - the Irish tax body or do you mean you'd rather study for an accounting exam, such as with CAI?

Apologies, was an early morning mistake!

I would be doing only the AITI set of exams to become a Chartered Tax Account (where I got CTA from).

I personally feel I would be at a disadvantage having only the one qualification but the people at the firm assured me that there is no benefit to doing the accountancy exams too.

Was just hoping people could give me some opinions/advice

Immy

I don't think it would be any benefit having an accounting qualification if you are going to train in tax and only have tax experience.

I would do the AITI exams first and get through them and then see if you want to go on to accounting.

Jim2007

It would appear that you need to start by deciding what you want to achieve??? If you are seeking a career solely in Irish taxation for the rest of your live then you should be fine! If on the other hand you have other things in mind then it may not be enough! But before anyone can give you an insight, you'd need to give us a bit more to go on.

barneystinson

Jim2007 wrote: »

It would appear that you need to start by deciding what you want to achieve??? If you are seeking a career solely in Irish taxation for the rest of your live then you should be fine! If on the other hand you have other things in mind then it may not be enough! But before anyone can give you an insight, you'd need to give us a bit more to go on.

Well needless to say, the ultimate would be to make it to Switzerland, but if we all did that then it'd be a bit crowded... so some of us will just have to stick it out here in unenlightened Ireland...

KaseLieberKase

I would like to have the opportunity to work in industry after my time at the firm, depending on how I get on there of course. Are there many career opportunities after the 3 years?

smcgiff

KaseLieberKase wrote: »

I would like to have the opportunity to work in industry after my time at the firm, depending on how I get on there of course. Are there many career opportunities after the 3 years?

Big multinationals have tax departments. A friend of mine is studying the AITI exams to progress within a large Multi National, but she went in there as an ACA.

But, you'd get an excellent qualification and experience in a big 4 tax dept.

KaseLieberKase

smcgiff wrote: »

Big multinationals have tax departments. A friend of mine is studying the AITI exams to progress within a large Multi National, but she went in there as an ACA.

But, you'd get an excellent qualification and experience in a big 4 tax dept.

I feel like I can't go wrong spending 3 years at a Big 4 firm regardless what I decide to do after. Just had a slight concern I'd be putting myself at a disadvantage taking an easier route.

Worst case scenario I can always get the ACA qualification at a later time.

Thanks for the input!

noveltea

I trained in practice in a tax department, I did the ACA exams first and then the tax exams.
I now work in a multinational. I found that if I did not have my aca exams, I would be very niched in tax. By having the accounting ones I am able to move around more freely.

I suppose what I would have wanted to be told, when I was at your stage, is do you want to work in practice for rest of your life or do you want to work in industry. If you want to work in industry just look to the area you want to live in and see would there be tax jobs, as with smaller counties there could be a lot more competition for the job. That's just what I think anyway.

KaseLieberKase

Thought it might be time for an update. I have been happily working in tax for the past eight years and can confidently say I have not been held back by only doing the tax exams. I am now working as an International Tax Manager for a medium sized multinational and plan to stay in tax for the foreseeable future. It's a great career choice and largely underrated. Thanks again to those who gave input at the time!