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Máire Bright - CSR - Blog 2

Hi guys!

Hope you enjoyed my last blog; time has really flown by during the last 7 weeks! At the moment, all the interns are currently just finishing up our last week on the various designated floors, and are set to regroup next week for the 8^th and sadly, final week of the PwC Summer Internship Programme.

I have really enjoyed my time here on the second floor with all the RAS members of staff. I have been given a rare opportunity to see various aspects of work carried out by the Data Services team, from populating map files to iXBRL tagging work, to the more complex Journal work. However, within PwC, I have been able to experience not only the workings of the RAS Data Services sector, but also through the help of my buddy Andrea, I have spent the last week working alongside the Non-Life Actuarial team, which is composed of only 9 people! They do not offer an internship within this department so I am honoured to get a chance to work with them. I guess my main advice for anyone wanting to join a firm such as PwC is to let it be known about what you want to do in the future, and the people in here will do everything in their power to help. The experience I have gained over the past 7 weeks is completely and utterly invaluable, as well as the contacts and friends I have made along the way. I have received advice regarding what exactly is required of me to pursue the actuarial profession and hopefully will get the chance to undertake the MSc in Actuarial Science offered in UCD in order to gain exemptions from 8 of the initial set of exams.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, every Friday, all the interns located at the Spencer Dock office leave their floor, and join together to work on both our projects, and also to attend seminars such as Presentation skills, Teamwork skills and Networking skills. I found this to be very beneficial, as it is a chance to gain life-long skills for whatever professional route you decide to go down. We were given an opportunity to present on ‘our favourite holiday’ in front of a large group, which is something I would rarely get a chance to do (as I am mainly stuck in a maths classroom!). I found the project aspect of the internship to be extremely entertaining, yet challenging in its own right. It is also a nice way to meet up with other interns outside of our individual service lines. We initially met with partners in PwC who have previously worked on our given client in order to gather information. Then, we collaborated on designing and structuring our pitch before a dry run presentation in front of the HR team, which helped a lot with our slightly rusty presentation skills. During the Friday of the 6^th week, we presented our proposal in front of a board composed of three senior staff members on why our specific client should retain PwC as their professional services providers. My team have actually won our heat between 4 teams, and so will be presenting in the final during the last week, in front of a large judges panel, where the winner is said to receive an ‘amazing’ prize which has not yet been announced.

I suppose the main attraction of the final week, if not the entire internship, is the intern day trip to PwC London on the 30^th July. I think that it is a perfect way to end the 8 weeks, and a nice way to say goodbye to the intern group of friends made during our time here. Also, during the final week, the intern group is set to venture out to Kerdiffstown House, Naas which is owned by St Vincent de Paul. Following an interesting manual training session, all 80 or so interns are ready to head off for a day of volunteer gardening work, funded by PwC which highlights the firm’s involvement within the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. During the final week, the RAS Data Services team have actually set up a leaving lunch for both Orlagh and myself, and a few co-ops as well, which is an unexpected surprise. While working within PwC, I find that there is a real sense of teamwork and involvement, with little things from chocolates being brought back from peoples’ holidays and leaving lunches set up within entire departments for only two interns adding to the experience here.

I hope you have enjoyed my insight into the experience as a summer intern here in PwC, and that it has been helpful to you, whether it is in deciding which firm to choose for your internship, or just simply in finding out what PwC is all about.

All the best,

Máire

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Maire Bright - Summer Intern 2015 - Blog 1

Patric Evason - Assurance - Blog 2

Greetings once more everyone,

Welcome back to round two and unfortunately my final entry for this year’s summer intern blog. It has been a truly hectic journey over the past 7 weeks but nonetheless, an invaluable experience of highs, lows and definitely unexpected events occurring around the office!

So what have I been up to for the past 5 weeks since my last entry? Well, firstly I was given a huge job in terms of responsibility and effort which at the time I’m not going to lie was not what I was expecting whatsoever. Despite this, the job has been pleasant in terms of the people I have met and the knowledge which I have gained from a real insight into the business world and the problems which exist. With this experience at hand, I have no doubt that my future in the business world will be bright and that PwC has allowed me to work with the best people here at the firm.

But then again, it’s not all work and no play! We also got to undergo and complete our client projects which were very interesting indeed. With a special mention to *you know who you are* we managed to pull through and bring an innovative presentation to the table. With a second place finish in “The Heats” we were happy to lose to a deserved winner in team 6 who produced a presentation which was truly spectacular. With a large amount of banter along the way, the project gave us an outlet to have a bit of fun from work whilst at the same time allowing us to focus on PwC’s credentials and what it means to be part of the PwC family.

Our Friday sessions have also been enjoyable with the Networking workshop being my personal favourite. The storytelling of our presenter was very impressive and it showed me that there is more to life than just work. It truly does come down to the old cliché of “who you know, rather than what you know.” With the introduction of Flexible Friday’s also, we’ve been treated to a nice and relaxing way to finish the week which is all any business person ever wants!

With an enormous reaction to my first blog, I shall be hoping for some more soon enough with eager anticipation! So, what would my advice be to people out there contemplating whether or not to do the internship? GO FOR IT! Make the most of it while you’re here and most importantly, get involved in everything!

I have indeed enjoyed my time here at PwC and met some incredible people and achieved goals during my time here that I could never have imagined myself reaching before I entered through the revolving doors that very first day here at Spencer Dock. So to conclude my friends, PwC is the right choice for anyone who aspires to be successful and more importantly, happy in what they do on a daily basis!

That is all .... until I’m back in January for more updates!!

Emer Travers - Tax - Blog 2

Hey everyone!

 It’s hard to believe that we are now into week 6 of the summer internship here at PwC.  Seeing as we are not in the office for our final week, we now have less than two weeks left on the floor.  The weeks really have flown by, and it doesn’t seem like it was 6 weeks ago that we first came through the doors of the spencer dock office!

By this stage I definitely have a feel for what life at PwC is like and the type of work that is done in my department. As the weeks have passed my confidence in completing the assigned work has increased and the support of my team in FDI has enabled me to progress and gain a deeper understanding of the work at PwC. I’ve become familiarised with the different internal systems and had opportunities to shadow members of my team to meetings and calls, which has helped give me a proper insight into the everyday job. I always feel I have enough to keep me busy and if I have any questions I am not afraid to ask the associates or managers who are always close at hand.

Our final week is set to be an eventful one, including volunteering at Kerdiffstown House and a day trip to London. Kerdiffstown House is owned by Saint Vincent de Paul and we will be helping with the maintenance of the grounds around the house. It should be a good opportunity to help out in the community as well as a chance to spend a day with interns from all other lines of service.

This week the tax interns are attending a talk at the Institution of Tax in order to provide us with information and answer our questions on possible career paths. The talk will highlight the different options that are open to us within Tax. It is great to be given the opportunity to learn more about the various paths available in order to ensure we can make an informed decision in the future.

Chat soon

Emer

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Emer Travers - Summer Intern 2015 - Blog 1

Kieran Patel - Assurance - Blog 1

Hi Everyone,

My name is Kieran Patel and I’m currently working in Assurance, specifically within I&DB as a Summer Student.  I’m going into my 4^thand final year in Trinity College Dublin studying Biochemistry, doubtless I get some quizzical looks when I mention this to colleagues. Personally I wanted to gain some experience outside of science and luckily I got given that chance when I got accepted into the Summer Internship programme here at PwC. I still have little idea of what I want to do when I finish my degree but I’m positive that this experience will at least help with whatever decisions I make in the near future.

My first week consisted of training with the other interns. This involved presentations, assignments and group tasks, thrown in were some quizzes and other activities which got everyone interacting and laughing. Even though I wasn’t used to the early starts (6:30 am, early for a 21 year old), I went into the next week with a lot of energy and enthusiasm I gained from training.

Every Friday we work on a group project in teams of 6, the project is a business pitch to be given to the partners of the firm. This has turned out to be the highlight of my working week and you get a real sense that you are learning something valuable and significant in terms of career development. It’s also buckets of fun working with the other interns on my team.

I’ve been assigned to four different jobs and due to the ongoing building works at Spencer Dock, I’ve been placed on numerous floors and blocks which has given me the opportunity to meet lots of wonderful people and learn from them what it’s like to work for PwC.   

Currently I’m out of the office working on site for a client. While writing this, I’m looking out over the urban oasis that is the grounds of Kilmainham Gaol, not only 6 weeks ago was I there for a music festival. This is my first week on a job out of the office and I think it’s really cool that I’ve gotten the chance to work somewhere different. I’m not one for Clichés but ‘variety is the spice of life’ so they say, and if that’s the case, my experience at PwC has been a rich and tasty affair, an affair which will sadly come to an end in 3 weeks time. Enrolling in this internship has been one of the best decisions of my life and I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me during my time here.

Oh and did you hear, we get to go to London.

Thanks for reading.

Kieran

Tim Brennan - Consulting - Blog 13

I finished my secondment with the International & Domestic Business audit team towards the end of March. It was a great experience – while the work may have been tough and the hours long, we had a great team on the client site with a good sense of camaraderie. It makes the hours that bit more bearable!

For the past 5 weeks I have been working on 3 proposals. These were the first proposals I completed for over a year so I was a bit rusty at the start but quickly got the hang of it again. All three of the proposals were in response to public tenders, one to assist with project managing a technology implementation.

The proposals were tough as they included colleagues from a number of different teams and lines of service within PwC including Banking Assurance, Corporate Finance, Transaction Services, RAS and Consulting. The proposals had a number of workstreams to them which meant they were particularly chunky documents. In addition, the deadlines were quite tight which meant there were a few hectic nights before the final submission date.

While proposal writing can be stressful, you actually learn a lot from the experience for a number of reasons.  Firstly, you get to research industries that you might otherwise not know much about. Proposals will typically require you to quickly research the dynamics of an industry, the key challenges they are facing and the future direction of the industry in order to be able to write a relevant proposal which understands the key issues the client is facing. They are usually short and sharp affairs with a proposal rarely being started more than 2 weeks before its submission deadline. This means that over a short space of time you could learn a lot about a few different industries.

Secondly, you improve your general sales skills. Proposal writing is essentially about sales and while I may not typically associate Consulting with sales, it’s an important aspect of the job and one which becomes increasingly important as you move up the ladder. Proposals are about quickly understanding what the client wants (even when they’re not explicitly telling you!) and demonstrating to them how you can meet their needs better than the competition.

Finally, proposals enable you to quickly meet senior colleagues from across the organisation that you may not otherwise meet in your day-to-day work. For example, I would have met Partners and Directors from Banking Assurance, Corporate Finance, RAS and Transaction Services who I would not normally deal with day-to-day. Very quickly you get a better understanding of the services other teams and lines of services within PwC offer which gives you a better sense of the organisation as a whole.

I’m due to work with a large insurance client next but this has yet to be finalised. I’ll fill you in next time.

All the best, 

Tim

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Tim Brennan - Consulting - Blog 12

Tim Brennan - Consulting - Blog 12

I recently finished working on the banking project I was assigned to which was interesting  in that we were brought in order to assist in the development of  the bank’s risk management processes in response to a specific risk. This project allowed me to develop knowledge in area I would have had very little experience in up to now and I’ve no doubt the experience will stay with me.

I have now started working in PwC’s International & Domestic Business team on an audit for a high-profile client of PwC. This is a large indigenous Irish manufacturing company which has expanded exponentially in the last few years through acquisitions in the US and Europe. I’m working on the Impairment testing section of the audit at the moment which involves reviewing the client’s balance sheet valuation of their assets and divisions to gain comfort over these valuations. We test these valuations by reviewing management’s assumptions in valuing these assets and stress test these assumptions under a variety of scenarios.

I requested this secondment to our Assurance line of service as I wanted to get experience working on an audit for a traditional manufacturing company. You might recall that last year I worked on an Asset Management audit so, as you can imagine, this is a completely different experience.

I am delighted to be getting experience working with such a variety of clients across different industries. These secondments demonstrate the flexibility you have in deciding on the direction of your own career within PwC. While it may not always work out immediately, the firm will always try their best to support you if you have a strong desire to work with a particular client, industry or line of service. The firm allows you to take control of your own progression.

This is something which I feel is unique to PwC. I’ve had first-hand experience working in different roles with a variety of clients both in Ireland and abroad. A lot of these projects are ones which I specifically requested with colleagues of mine going out of their way in order facilitate my requests.

This broad experience is exactly what I’m looking for at this early stage in my professional development.

Tim

Katie Brennan - Tax - Blog 4

 
Hello all,

It’s been a while since my last blog and unfortunately the Christmas celebrations are a distant memory now!

Things have gotten slightly more serious on the exam front as I have a mid-term at the end of January and the weeks have flown by since returning from the Christmas break.

I was lucky to have an exam free year last year so I have had to get back into study mode which is a bit of a shock to the system! It really helps that the people you work with are doing exams too, so everyone is in the same boat and it makes things a lot easier (ie. you can complain and feel sorry for yourself and everyone is sympathetic!). There is also so much exam support provided in PwC which is a great advantage and helps take the pressure off when exams are looming.

In terms of work, a new member joined my team this week which is exciting! He is from Spain so everyone is helping to welcome him to the group and we will have a night out soon to celebrate his arrival. I’m looking forward to working with someone new and hopefully it will bring a new dynamic to our team.

I don’t have much else to report as January has been quiet so far but I will follow up soon with another update on life as a specialist in PwC.

Have a good week!

Katie

Tim Brennan - Consulting - Blog 11

In my last blog I mentioned I was about to start a large transformation project for an Irish third-level institution. As it happened, a few things changed and I ended up working on a project with a large Irish bank. My role on the project broadly involves reviewing the information flows in the organisation and making sure the right people are getting the right information.

 

The project I am working on with this bank is a small part of a much bigger project which has run over multiple years. These multi annual projects show how much PwC Consulting has grown over the last few years. These projects will generally only come your way once you’ve reached a certain size and experience threshold. Projects like this are likely to be an increasing feature of our practice and we need to win these projects in order to reach our ambitious 5 year goals.

 

We had our quarterly update yesterday which was hosted in our hospitality suite followed by “Decemberfest” which included Christmas songs, a bbq dinner and craft beers and wine. One of the things that resonated with me from the presentation was just how much our practice has grown in the last 4 years - by headcount numbers we’ve doubled which is very impressive considering the tough economic environment in which that occurred. We also received a presentation from a Consulting partner in the Australian practice. Hopefully we can learn from their experience and the challenges they faced in a larger, more developed consulting market.

 

We were divided into tables of 10 at one point during the update and we each had to make a presentation on a key component of our 5 year strategy. This may sound pretty mundane but we had to give the presentation via a 2 minute video filmed on a smart phone all in the space of 25 minutes! There were some very creative efforts, one of which included using props from our gym!

 

We had our walking tour of Dublin last Friday which happened to include a stop-off at a few pubs along the way which was a great night! Earlier in the day we had raised a significant amount of money for the Lauralynn charity which included a mince pie reception on our floor and an awards ceremony for the best Christmas jumper! Tonight we have our annual Christmas party in a hotel in town which promises to be a brilliant night if it’s anything like last year.

 

December in PwC is always one of the best times of year as projects are usually finishing before the Christmas break which means there are a lot of familiar faces back in the office.

 

Enjoy the Christmas break and I will update you in the New Year.

 

All the best,

 

Tim

 

Katie Brennan – Tax – Blog 3

Hi everyone,

Since my last post, I have been kept busy and the weeks have flown by. I can’t believe Christmas is around the corner!

At the moment, a lot of my team are in Prague for Transfer Pricing training. It is a PwC organised event and runs for a four day period with members from PwC firms across Europe attending.

This took place in Rome last year and I was sent off just a few weeks after joining the firm. It was a great experience to network with people of my own age who worked in the same area but in offices across Europe. I made a lot of friends there and I am still in contact with them one year later!

I will be due to attend training next year, (wherever it happens to be) and I’m looking forward to meeting up with everyone again.

Due to a large number of my team being in Prague, I have been assisting the Managers with keeping various projects moving forward. In the past week I have attended a client meeting outside of the office, taken part in various client calls in addition to carrying out my normal day to day tasks. As a result the days are flying by, and we are all looking forward to our next event, the Christmas Party! A PwC Christmas tradition is to get the new joiners to sing after the Christmas dinner. As we were the newbies last year we were subjected to this fear inducing task! As you can imagine (and if you knew my singing voice) this was quite painful, but on a positive note it means that this year I get the chance to revel in the new joiners having to undertake the same cringe worthy rite of passage!

Exam results for FAEs were released today; thankfully there has been plenty of good news throughout my department and the firm in general so I will be celebrating with my colleagues later tonight!

Better get back to work! Chat again soon!

 

Katie Brennan - Tax - Blog 2

Hello again!

Hope you have all settled back into college life after your summer break.

Enjoy those long summers while they last!!

Since I last wrote there have been some interesting developments in the Transfer Pricing area. In brief, the OECD has been working on the development of a coordinated international approach to combat tax avoidance by multinational enterprises and in September it released new recommendations in relation to this process.

Following this development our team has had numerous training sessions to ensure we understand the changes that have occurred and we are aware of how these developments might impact our clients. There was quite a significant amount of media attention around this therefore it is important that we are fully prepared to answer any questions our clients may have and to explain how the recommendations may impact their global operations.

It’s great to work in an area that is constantly changing and developing, it keeps work very interesting!

Apart from the above we have had some changes around the office. Last week, eleven new assistants joined the floor so we are all making an effort to get to know them and show them how things are done. I remember being quite daunted when I first started, but everyone was so nice and helpful, so I am trying to be as helpful as possible to this year’s new intake!

I am going to be completing the Part 3 Tax Exams in May 2015 with lectures starting in a few weeks’ time. This year has flown by and I feel like this has crept up very quickly! Thankfully the exam support offered in PwC is second to none and it’s great to know that if I feel I am struggling I have someone to turn to in the office. We had our first Core 2 training session yesterday which was a great refresher on the use of legislation etc. These sessions are great in terms of exam preparation.

Towards the end of this month we will have a night out to welcome the new assistants who joined our department this year. This was one of the highlights of last year for me as it was our first opportunity to get to know everyone in a more relaxed, informal environment! I’m sure this year will be just as good!

I’ll be back again soon with further updates!

Katie