For the Dutch version, click here Self-Introduction My name is Silvie Tax, I am 26 years old and I currently live in Breda. I have been working at Van Oers Audit for the past three-and-a-half years. I am also still busy with my studies, namely the post-masters in Accountancy, which I follow at Nyenrode. Van Oers Audit is situated in Breda as a department of Van Oers Accountancy & Advice, with over 350 employees divided over five locations in western Brabant. We now work with 55 colleagues in our department, which makes us one of the larger regional control practices. We have a young and enthusiastic team and mainly serve the SME (profit)-sector. Our clients mainly come from the Tilburg-Rotterdam-Zeeland triangle region. In addition to my work and my studies, I like to go into the city for a drink, I do sports and I make music. Career I started my career at Van Oers Accountancy & Advies. I first started here during my dual studies at Avans university in Breda. With this good foundation I started working at Van Oers Audit, where I also started working full time after my studies at the Avans. What I like about the audit department is the variety in working with different clients and colleagues at various locations. After my studies at the Avans I started my (pre)-master at Nyenrode University. Abroad Last year I had the opportunity to work abroad for three months (August to October), namely in Sydney (Australia). This opportunity came because Van Oers is affiliated with the international partnership; Leading Edge Alliance (LEA). The company that I worked for in Sydney is also affiliated with this partnership and it has similar offices as Van Oers with three offices in New South Wales, in Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane. For the audit team, the busy season was during this period. Due to the opposite seasons, most financial years are closed on the 30th of June instead of on the 31st of December. The first two months we visited many customers for the audit. As for the last month, we ended at the office in Sydney. During this period, we had the time to complete all checks. This was a super beautiful and educational experience! I have been able to get acquainted with the Australian GAAP (which is closely aligned with international legislation; IFRS) and with Business English. “In addition, lots of fun activities are also organized, such as drinks (both with the department and the entire office) and running events.” Activities I work as a Senior Staff in the Audit Department. In my role I manage the Staff-members on the control team and I report to the Supervisor / Manager on the team. We often work as a team for the customer. My daily activities are therefore very diverse. Van Oers I got to know Van Oers through an In-house day that was organized by Avans. The feeling that I had of Van Oers was immediately a positive one. The atmosphere within the organization is very pleasant and personal. Because we are relatively large in size, there is also a professional atmosphere in which there are many opportunities and possibilities to develop yourself. There is also a lot of attention for personal development. For example, Van Oers has recently started its own Van Oers University. In addition, lots of fun activities are also organized, such as drinks (both with the department and the entire office) and running events. My ambitions My ambitions are to complete my post-master and then to complete the practical internship needed to become a Chartered Accountant. Ultimately, I would like to grow into the person responsible for assignments. My advice Would you like to work for a professional organization with a personal approach? Would you like to work at an organization with a customer-focused approach, where you get many opportunities and possibilities to grow? Then I would definitely take a look at Van Oers.
Working At WVDB
What’s your pre-education? My name is Niels Broers, 26 years old, and have been living in Tilburg since I was born. After high school I started with a Bachelor in Business Economics at Tilburg University, after which I continued with a Master in Accountancy. When, after one year of a master’s degree, I still hadn’t passed all the courses and I also became very interested in Finance, I decided to start a second Master’s degree. However, I never finished this, because during my internship at WVDB I found out that working in Accountancy is a lot of fun. I am now working within the audit practice of WVDB and I try to further develop myself via the Post-Master Accountancy. How did you get in touch with WVDB and why did you choose WVDB? During my Master’s I started to orientate myself on the job market, among other things by visiting organised days at Tilburg University, having a lot of conversations with fellow students and people in my network already actively working in Accountancy. Soon I got the feeling that working at a Big Four wouldn’t suit me and I would rather work at a medium-sized office. Through a friend I came into contact with WVDB for an exploratory interview. I immediately got a good feeling during this interview and then decided to do a six-month internship at WVDB. My wishes were taken into account carefully and I was able to work for three months in the control practice and three months in the compilation practice. Afterwards I made the choice for the control practice and I still enjoy working at WVDB. How does your workday or workweek look like? WVDB offers a wide range of activities. I myself spend a lot of time on site at customers’ premises and have a lot of customer contact. This allows me to negotiate with my team and the client about the various business processes and the annual figures. Furthermore, my clientele is very diverse, I can be allocated to a trading company one week, a production company the next week and a real estate company the following week. This ensures the necessary diversity of activities and makes the work extremely interesting and educating. I also regularly work in the office to seek cooperation with the tax practice within the WVDB. ”I would describe the atmosphere as informal, sometimes even ‘brabants cozy’ and in addition, everyone in the organization is willing to help me.” What opportunities does WVDB offer you? Within WVDB, a great deal of value is attached to personal development. For example, sufficient time is freed to be able to follow the Post-Master Accountancy, without having too much work, and many training days and courses are offered in the office. Not only in terms of professional content, but also in offering trainings given by fellow tax specialists with relevant and actual topics I might encounter during my work. This means I am offered a wide-range of education and sufficient diversity in work-related activities. How do you experience the culture / atmosphere within WVDB? I got the feeling that the atmosphere within WVDB was good from the first conversation. This was one of the main reasons why I chose WVDB and I still enjoy working there. I would describe the atmosphere as informal, sometimes even ‘brabants cozy’ and in addition, everyone in the organization is willing to help me. This way, all managers are very accessible and I can walk in for a chat. In addition, there are plenty of team activities and, in addition to hard work, we also do plenty of other activities outside of work. This way I get to know my colleagues in a different way. What would you recommend students who have to decide on an office? Especially, I would advise you to look around as much as possible. Ignore the Big Four for once and take a look at the medium-sized offices as well. Participate during inhouse days, visit days organized at the university and also do (thesis) internships if you have the opportunity. Talk to others already actively working in Accountancy, ask about their experiences and at the end make a well-considered choice.
Working At KPMG
In this edition of “Working At…” Anke op de Woerd (Senior Manager Audit FS) and Jeroen Gossewehr (Trainee Audit FS) tell all about their experiences at KPMG! See the video below.
Working at PwC
My name is Paul de Kort, 26 years old and living in Veldhoven. I have been active within PwC for two years now, first as an intern and momentarily as an Associate at the Assurance department of PwC Eindhoven. Besides the work at the assurance department, I’m doing my Post-Master Accountancy at Tilburg University. In my free time I play football and I enjoy spending time with my friends and family. In 2011 I started studying at the Fontys Academy in Eindhoven. Here, I chose to specialize in accountancy in my third year. I finished my studies in the summer of 2015. After that, I went to Tilburg University to do a Pre-Master and I later obtained my Master’s degree in Accountancy. During my studies, I discovered that I’m interested in the financials of companies and the stories behind them. Why PwC Because I went to Fontys before I started my Master’s, I had already had two internships of six months each at accountancy firms. I did both internships at medium-sized offices in the neighborhood of Eindhoven. While writing my Master Thesis, PwC offered me the chance to do this in combination with a graduation internship at PwC. This was the ideal opportunity for me to discover a Big-4 office. What was next, the question came up: What office? I made this choice based on my gut feeling. I went to in-house events like in-house days, barbeque-nights and case-days. At this way, I learned more about three of the four big offices, and got to talk with them. Based on these conversations, it became clear to me that PwC was the best fit for me. Because of the informal atmosphere I immediately felt at my place within PwC, and I quickly bonded with my colleagues. Besides that, I noticed that PwC is open to invest in its employees. This quickly became clear to me when I got in touch with ‘The Associate Academy’. This is the 2-year accountancy training program at Pwc, where you see all different types of industries and clients in the first two years, develop yourself personally with the help of a coach, gain a lot of work-experience, follow trainings and attend social events to expand your social network. Experiences so far Momentarily I’m in the final stage of “The Associate Academy”. During this training I got the space to gain experience within different sectors. Besides that, thanks to this unique training course, I got to develop myself professionally as well as socially. “Because of the informal atmosphere I immediately felt at my place within PwC, and I quickly bonded with my colleagues.” Besides the work-related activities there were a lot of social events, where you get to know your colleagues in a different way. To give a few examples, I went on an organized weekend with everybody that started in the same year as me, and in March we went on a ski-trip with the entire office. Besides that there are also regular sports-events like indoor football or tennis tournaments. In short, there are enough opportunities to get to know your colleagues better. My tips for students Visit the many events that are organized to get a good a picture of the office culture. In the end, all offices have similar activities on the job, which is why my advice is to go for the organization that is the best fit for you. Look for a place where you feel at home! Besides that, I advise all students to write your thesis at an accounting firm. This offers you the possibility to see potential employers from the inside. Besides the impression you get from the company culture, it is possible to work in practice for a few weeks. At this way, you get a good image of everything that is going on in practice.
Working at Koenen en Co
What I really like, and what makes me enthusiastic, is that everyone at Koenen en Co wants to make the best of it together. The best for the customer, relating to both the content and the relationship. More fun leads to a better result. It reinforces each other. We really want to get things done well together, every day and for each customer. That is what makes me proud to work here. I studied accountancy at Fontys Eindhoven. Quite soon after my graduation I started at Koenen en Co. I was looking for an open organisation, with a nice working environment and a lot of opportunities to grow. I can be myself here and I can learn a lot. After a bit more than a year I started the post-‘hbo’ study “mkb-accountant”. This is really nice: I can integrate all the assignments in my job. I learn fast, especially because there is time for answers. I have a personal mentor, who is my first contact, but I can also go to other people for help. When I do so, I don’t get the answer straight away, but a conversation that gives me more information about how you can find the solution. I work here for 2,5 years now and the assignments are getting more and more challenging. We are together in an HPO-project. This means that we are growing towards a high-performance organisation. This stimulates us to action. It is a chance to show what we are standing for. The organisation is viewed from all perspectives, trust, open-minded and solution-oriented. That is what I like, because I think that is the way to build on a sustainable success. Or like we say it: “Suczes”. Pick an employer that picks you! It doesn’t matter if you are the accurate accountant or the commercial suczesmanager to be, at Koenen en Co the most important thing is that you can be who you are. At that moment you are at your best. We love it when you say what you think, when you are involved in the maximum result and when you are critical about yourself and your environment in a positive way. We offer you a workplace where working together in an open way, results and fun are the conditions for suczes from yourself and from our customers. It’s not just for any reason that we write suczes with a Z. To achieve the maximum result, we advise organisations in six (zes) dimensions: Strategy, Management, Innovation, Staff, Processes and Financials. The dream of the entrepreneur is the central point, with a broad perspective. The Koenen en Co view: enthusiastic, no-nonsense and full of courage. We work everywhere where the customer is, with offices in Maastricht, Roermond and Venlo. Are you joining us? Koenen en Co is looking for trainees and starters who dare to be themselves. Who stand for something, even without shining cars or shoes. Who understand that the outside is nice, but that the content is what really matters. We expect 100% effort and 100% you. Because only you can do what you can do. Because honesty takes the most time. Because stupid questions don’t exist. That’s the way we work on your suczes and the suczes from our customers. Together we let entrepreneurs practice Suzces. Just do it.
Working at de Belastingdienst
This is Bonny. She is a student and follows the Dual accountancy track at the ‘Belastingdienst’. Within a few years, she has developed herself from a student to an independent accountant. During my bachelor program in Economics and Business Economics at Erasmus University, I already knew that I wanted to work in the field of accountancy. However, I did not want to work for a big, commercial company; rather, an employer with a greater societal impact looked like more interesting to me. I talked about this with some other students and one of them told me about the Dual track in accountancy at the ‘Belastingdienst’. Beforehand, I did some research, went to an inhouse day and quickly realized: this track perfectly suits me’. A lot of time for studying The Dual accountancy track consists of periods of study and work. The first six months, I was studying full-time. This is a very pleasant aspect of the track: studying is a fixed part of your week program and therefore does not have to happen in your spare time. On Mondays till Thursdays, I followed courses at the Belastingdienst Academy and on Fridays I went to Nyenrode for my (pre)master program. The Belastingdienst Academy courses are very practical; you are taught about different tax resources and audit techniques from teachers who work for the Belastingdienst themselves. “Studying is a fixed part of your week program and therefore does not have to happen in your spare time.” Working and studying The first period of studying is followed by a period during which the focus lies on working, which is what I am currently doing. Per week I work three days at the MKB part of the organization, spend one day at the Belastingdienst Academy and one day at Nyenrode; the perfect combination of working and studying. During those three days at MKB, I mainly perform audits together with my mentor. This holds that I perform pre-research, join company visits and construct final reports. Working with companies within MKB is pleasant since it is the entrepreneur itself whom you are in contact with. An additional advantage is that the contact is quite personal and informal. As an example, I recently brought a visit to a local ‘snackbar’. Their tax returns were not correct, and we quickly realized that own usage was not tracked correctly. In such cases you have the possibility to directly settle how these tax returns should be tracked in the future. Within a few weeks, I will finish my work within MKB and continue working for the organizational department ‘Grote Ondernemingen’ (freely translated: ‘Big Enterprises’). Working for GO sounds exciting to me since fiscal issues are to be handled differently and you work within bigger teams. Interesting, yet demanding So far, the Dual accountancy track completely fits my expectations. The main focus is your study program and you are basically in control yourself. For example, when joining a company audit you can decide yourself whether you take the lead or prefer to listen and learn. In addition, I have met many new people, both within the Belastingdienst organization and at Nyenrode. The track’s content is very interesting yet demanding. If everything goes well, I will finish the track next year. I hope to get the opportunity to directly start with a nice job, yet that should not be any problem giving that I am gaining so much knowledge and experience within this organization.
