Assistant Tax Adviser

Name:  Tiffany Venning
University attended: Oxford University
Degree obtained: Politics, Philosophy and Economics
Age: 25

‘Accountancy is much more than just number crunching and that’s especially the case in Tax.’

After graduating from Oxford University in 2002, Tiffany worked in the European Parliament for two and a half years. She then decided to go into accountancy and joined Ernst & Young’s Tax practice in 2006.

Investing in property

Accountancy is much more than just number crunching and that’s especially the case in Tax. I decided to specialise in tax as I like problem solving and tax work is quite creative: you have to find the best way to structure a deal.

I’m on a graduate scheme that rotates me round several different departments – at the moment I’m working in Real Estate. This involves advising organisations that want to invest in property, or that are ‘corporate occupiers’ – companies that own property and want to work out how best to release value from their assets. I generally work in teams of three or four, helping clients to structure their transactions in the most tax-efficient way possible and ensuring that they comply with the relevant legislation.

In an exciting week I might…

… go out to client meetings, getting to know business people and finding out about how they operate. I might go to see a QC as well to get a point of law clarified – we have quite a lot of contact with lawyers and also with bankers.

Highs and lows

One downside of the job can be the paper trail: everything needs to be documented. However, I love working in different teams, getting an insight into lots of different types of businesses and seeing how different business issues tie together.

Looking to the future

I am really keen to follow my career  all the way through to Partner. It is particularly encouraging for me to see people around me that I have worked with who made Partner at the age of  30 and who are very open to discussing my career aspirations.

To hear more from Tiffany and find out about a typical day in her life, listen to our graduate podcasts at www.ey.com/uk/careers.