Hannah Taylor

What first attracted you to accountancy as a career?

I really enjoyed business studies at college and was always good at maths.  My degree course naturally steered me towards accountancy, so it seemed like the most straightforward career choice.

What attracted you to join SRLV and what impression did your interviewers give you?

The chance to work for music industry clients really appealed to me as this wasn’t something that most firms offered.  I first joined SRLV as part of the internship programme and returned to the company once I graduated.

My first impression of SRLV was that it was a friendly company to work for.  The interviewers were lovely and interested in who I was as a person.  Rather than question me heavily about my CV, they asked me what I wanted from my career.  It was a nice experience, and the interview feedback was very swift.

Do you have any tips for the application/interview process?

Know your strengths and what you can offer to the job so you can discuss what key transferable skills you have, for example, organisation or customer service. During the interview process, have an opinion and be confident, be prepared to answer questions, such as “what’s the best way to do this?”

How much variety did your training offer?

As a graduate, you’re learning new skills and constantly developing your technical knowledge with your studies. If you’re good at something, it’s recognised, and you’re invited to help with similar client work across your own team’s portfolio.  Every day is different. You build up different layers of experience as you get to work with more people and clients across the business.

Did you learn anything interesting?

I got to work on some tour accounting and see it all in action. It’s fascinating going to a gig when you understand the business side of things. You get to appreciate all the costs involved, from ‘on the road’ expenses to stage lighting!

Were there any aspects of the training that you particularly liked?

My team always took the time to explain tasks fully, and how my job slotted into the bigger picture, even if it might be beyond my level of experience. If I prepared a report for the partner, for example, we’d review it, but then we would also walk through the next steps, along with the main issues we’d need to consider for the client.

Even though you don’t have all the technical knowledge as a graduate, your training isn’t limited. You’re encouraged to understand things from a broader perspective and you feel more involved with the client work because of this.

How did your graduate training experience compare to others?

It was a comparable experience with my friends training with music industry accountants, but it is a different training route to the audit programme that SRLV offers and has a more general (less specialised) focus. You also work more independently of the other audit trainees in terms of how you progress through the course and when you take your exams so there’s even more flexibility to study your own way.

What sort of tasks do trainees get involved with in the Creative Division?

You get to respond to client emails and ad hoc queries as well as being involved with payments, bookkeeping, VAT returns, and you build up to accounts preparation. By speaking to clients over the phone and by email, you start to build client relationships, as well as working closely with different members of your team.

What level of support should graduates expect at SRLV?

You have access to more senior staff and if you ever have any problem understanding something, there’s always someone who can explain it to you. Whether that’s a study or work-based question.

The managers and partners want to find out what you’re interested in learning and where you want to improve. If, for example, you say you want to learn more about personal tax, that’s great – they’ll do their best to give you this experience by including you in a sole trader tax return. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have all the technical knowledge; they want you to learn and develop as much as possible.