Denise Yau
I joined Mercer & Hole in June 2007, as a trainee in the Private Client Tax department of the London office.
I graduated in 2006 with a degree in Accountancy at the University of Dundee, and spent the intervening year studying French and Japanese as well as taking my driving lessons! Having developed an interest in tax during my degree studies, I decided to embark on a career in tax as it not only combines my interests in numbers, finance and problem-solving, but it is also a challenging career where the tax legislation is constantly evolving and where continuous learning is required in order to keep up to date.
Working for a medium sized firm appealed to me because whilst I get exposure to Mercer & Hole’s diverse range of clients and gain broad experience, I am still able to work in a closely-knit environment where everyone knows everyone else.
The first stage of the professional qualifications is the ATT and I am now a member of the Association of Tax Technicians after obtaining the prerequisite three years’ work experience. The Chartered Tax Advisor exams are the next stage and I am currently awaiting my results. Trying to strike the perfect balance between studying and working can be tricky so I am very grateful that throughout my three years of training I had so much support from my mentor, training manager, college tutors, and the colleagues in my department.
My day to day role in the office could involve: preparing tax returns, claims and elections; responding to client queries; liaising with HM Revenue & Customs and other professionals; preparing accounts, attending client meetings, remittance tracing, etc. Occasionally, I could also be involved in ad-hoc projects or in researching tax related issues.
Having completed my graduate contract, I am now a Tax Senior and have an interesting and challenging case allocation which will no doubt allow me to build on and improve my technical ability, and provide valuable experience on which to further my career.
Denise Yau
