Working at De Belastingdienst

“Working at De Belastingdienst. Exactly! Yes, you’re really at the heart of the matter! Working at De Belastingdienst should actually be called ‘working and learning’ at De Belastingdienst. In my opinion, this is the main difference with other employers within accountancy.

In this article, Thomas van Lent will share his experiences. He is part of De Belastingdienst since September 2014. Moreover, he is doing the dual accountancy course. Almost three years later, he has finished his post-master accountancy at Tilburg University and believes that De Belastingdienst is one of the best employers within accountancy.

What preceded this?
While doing the pre-university education, I knew that I wanted to do an accountancy related study. I have a natural fascination for: making things correct, combining data, recognizing patterns, and interests regarding numbers. At the moment, I had to choose a profile during the pre-university education, I realised that I did not want a profile that would limit me in my choice of study. I chose nature and technology as a profile associated with economics. This profile would give me the opportunity to have higher chances of being employed and where my fascination would come true.

After my pre-university education, I applied at one of the accountancy firms and I managed to get hired. I had four working days in a week and the one day left, I attended the Nyenrode Business University to study. But something happened that I did not expect. After six months, I lacked the expected energy. I questioned myself if this was what I wanted? The formal office. The hierarchy. The workload. I could not do it and did not want it anymore. So what now?

I started the bachelors Business Economics study program at Tilburg University and after three years I received my degree. After that, I started the Accountancy master and completed it after a year. In February I was reminded of the dual accountancy course at De Belastingdienst. Wow! The best of two worlds came together. I applied and after an intensive selection procedure (interviews, tests, and assessments) I was hired. I managed to fulfill my dream.

“Different than accountancy firms, with De Belastingdienst you will always have the best of the two worlds.”

The dual accountancy course at De Belastingdienst.
In September 2014 I started the dual accountancy course at De Belastingdienst with 20 other students. The learning programme of the dual accountancy course is a clear process. During the entire period, you have to follow internal tax education from Monday to Thursday, and on Friday you have to go to university (of your own choice). In these first four days, there are two days which are study days: Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday. The other two days are meant for preparing and studying for those days. These periods are alternated with internship periods, where you work full-time at one of the offices of De Belastingdienst. In the internship period, you can manage to put everything in practice, regarding the material that you have learned in the previous period. During the internship period you will also go to university on Friday. Of the three years that the dual accountancy course consists of, there are 6 study periods and 5 internship periods.

Cases
In the three years of the course there are two moments in which you will be graded. In the first year you will have to make a case and in the third year you will do a control for a fictitious company. You will prepare the case at home. Furthermore, you will get the accounting records and when having completed the preparation, you will have an introductory conversation with the advisor of the fictitious company (actor). Next, you will stay for three days in a hotel for the ‘actual control’ and to conduct interviews. Afterwards, you will have to complete the case at home, compile the report containing the conclusion of the audit, and conduct the final interview with the advisor of the fictitious company: “What did I find and what do you have to say about it?” If all is found to be positive, you have completed an amazing fiscal education and a diploma that offers plenty of opportunities to further develop yourself with De Belastingdienst, for example, as a certified public accountant.

The difference
Working and learning at De Belastingdienst is so complete and diverse, at the same time. You will get in touch with horizontal and vertical supervision, you will learn a lot, both professionally and personally, you will get to know all sorts of organizations, with small, medium-sized and large, companies and enterprises. Different than accountancy firms, with De Belastingdienst you will always have the best of the two worlds.

– This article is translated by an editor of Faces Online