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Could you tell us more about yourself, what is your background and where are you currently in your career?
Lindy: I graduated from Ngee Ann before going to SIM RMIT. To explore my interests, I took a gap year and did an internship in accounting for 3 months to try out before realizing that it was not for me and decided to go to tax instead. Tax is always ever-changing. A very good example would be the budget released every year. It is never a fixed set of rules like IFRS and every scenario is different, in which one ruling is not applicable to all cases and there is a need to understand in-depth the scenarios of the projects you are working on as they are always different.
I was in RSM for two years handling corporate and personal taxes before going to KPMG for another 2 years and is presently in a commercial role as the Group Tax Executive in BW Group, a shipping and marine company. In a commercial role, it encompasses mixed types of roles such as handling companies tax matters from transfer pricing, GST corporate taxes to tax advisory.
Which areas of tax did you have exposure to throughout your career?
Lindy: I have had exposure to both personal and corporate tax during my time in RSM. The difference between the two is that individual tax is more simplified for most people unless you are an expert trade working in Singapore. That's when there is a certain level of complexity in which you might need an engagement from a professional to do tax planning. I have also worked in various sectors. For instance, in RSM, I was in logistics and shipping so more of what I did was analysing hire purchases of assets and so on, whereas, in KPMG, I was in the financial services sector, which is tougher because there are more rulings involved. This is primarily because different sectors have different rulings, incentives and tax planning. In the financial services sector, I would have to understand MAS and other relevant incentives involved on top of the basic ruling. This is because, in tax computation, the case is that there is never one set of rulings that need to be followed but there are multiple rulings from different regulatory bodies.
Have you ever experienced culture shock in the Big 4?
Lindy: Yes, because people there are very independent compared to my time in RSM where my managers were more approachable. For instance, there's a case in which we have review points, where there are points to consider when reviewing the tax computation. The managers will discuss with me why they are thinking about the particular point in that way. In Big 4, the culture is more independent whereby the more common approach would be to ask the client or find out for yourself. Moreover, it's harder to approach people because they are busy doing their own work. So if you are facing any difficulties, you have to initiate and be proactive in asking questions.
What are your thoughts on these two corporate tax areas: tax compliance and tax advisory?
Lindy: Tax advisory allows you to see different perspectives in tax as you do most of the tax planning and you will learn the best optimal structure for clients. While compliance is more of complying with rules and less on tax planning, it will help in building your base as compared to tax advisory.
For fresh graduates, it might be good to start off with compliance work as it builds your base for tax technical skills. However, at the end of the day, different people would have different styles of learning.
Think of it as something similar to driving a car. In compliance, it is similar to learning the theoretical aspect of driving rule by rule while in advisory, you are jumping straight to a practical lesson of driving while learning the theory as you go.
I started from a compliance role before going into an advisory role. Back when I was doing compliance in the Big 4, I did not do a lot of advisory work because there is a separate department for that. After moving to BW Group, I have a mixed role where I have to do every aspect of tax including advisory and compliance.
What are some of your considerations moving from Big 4 to BW Group?
Lindy: The main reasons are the working hours and the culture. Most graduates aim to get into the Big 4 as it is the general accountant pathway and similar to many fresh graduates, it was my ultimate goal in the past. However, once you experience working in the Big 4, you may realise it may not be necessarily what you want. For instance, the environment and culture aspects may not align with your personal goals and a big consideration would be the work-life balance. The reason why I moved to BW Group was that the role was attractive and when the opportunity came, I decided to take it since it will enable me to learn a lot of things not limited to compliance. It is not unusual because many have goals to work in the Big 4 as a stepping stone before going into a commercial role.
What are your thoughts on jumping directly into a commercial role instead of going to the Big 4?
Lindy: First thing first, ask yourself what you are looking for in your career. If you want to climb up the corporate ladder fast, you may start in the Big 4. Because in the commercial role, the progression is not as fast as Big 4, where they have yearly promotions. In a commercial role, promotion opportunities only arise when there is a position available and they find you suitable, such as when the manager/supervisor leaves or when the company is expanding.
So, it is important to ask yourself what you want in your career, ‘Do you want to climb up fast or do you want to learn?’ It is not applicable to all people but if you want to learn as you go, Big 4 is also a good start to learn. In the Big 4, you have to be independent in brushing up technical skills. For commercial roles, there will be more opportunities for guidance along the way.
Aside from commercial roles or Big 4, you can also start in mid-tier firms in which pay is a bit lower but not as stressful as Big 4. Additionally, workers are not as independent as the Big 4. It is important to find a culture that fits you and find a job you love because at the end of the day, enjoying your job means you don’t feel like working at all. If you are the type who is independent and driven, you may find the Big 4 as a good place to start.
On the other hand, if you are the type who are more reliant on other people to guide and mentor you, I would say the Big 4 may not be a suitable place for you. While having an internship experience is beneficial, it is not a full experience working as you have to hold more responsibility as a full-time staff.
A piece of advice I would give is to network with more people to garner views on their thoughts of working in any firm and roles for that matter.
What do you think employers look out for when interviewing and hiring?
Lindy: I would say nowadays, soft skills are one of the essential factors to differentiate the candidates. You need to learn how to be a team player and manage your time and stress. As to how to ace the interview, you need to prepare before the interview, such as the technical knowledge you’ve learned in your studies that are applicable to the position you’re applying for. You can use Glassdoor to check on the usual interview questions they might ask because that's how I aced my interview.
Furthermore, you need to know what you write in your resume because that is all they know about you. Be sincere and honest during the interview. Don't be afraid to show you are not experienced in certain areas. After all, you are a fresh graduate, you don't have as much experience. So don't bluff your way out, just be honest. But of course, frame your answers in an appropriate way.
What are some skills and competencies deemed essential in tax? What are the sought-after knowledge and trending technologies we need to know?’
Lindy: Because of the intrusion of technology, most accounting and auditing firms are looking for candidates with technical skills such as Structured Query Language (SQL) and Robotic Processing Automation (RPA), these are popular skills that are highly sought for. Technology is a double edge sword, it can help or threaten your job. For tax, we are safe because you can't exactly ask a robot to help you analyze rulings because rulings are ever-changing. It is possible to tweak basic format or algorithm using RPA, however for the other text rulings, you can't replace humans to help you to answer or analyse.
Can you jump from audit/cf/etc other divisions into tax or vice versa? Is it transferable knowledge etc?
Lindy: Yes because if you do tax, you analyse audited financial statements. You can't leave accounting behind no matter what. For instance, recently, I needed to explain cost and management accounting to my colleague. That's why at the end of the day, we always refer to ourselves as accountants despite our specialisation.
As someone with mentoring experience, what are some focal points that mentees often miss out on or disregard? Could you share more about your own learnings from the past, what would you have done if you could turn back time?
Lindy: I would tell them to speak and network more with other people to gain more perspectives. This is because a person’s opinion may be subjective in nature. You can't always listen to one side of the story to learn everything. As an intern, you may be afraid to try out difficult tasks but when I was an intern, I asked for more challenging and difficult cases to handle. That's what I see in my experience because they are afraid of making mistakes.
My advice is to make as many mistakes while you still can. When you are working as a working adult, the consequences of mistakes are too huge for you to handle. Therefore, don't be afraid to make mistakes as a student or intern because that's where you learn and remember.
Since you also mention networking, how should we make the most out of our internship experience? How do we network with our seniors who are at higher levels, do you have any advice?
Lindy: I would say, during internship try to talk more, don't be afraid to be yourself. Just speak up more. I understand you may feel like you have barriers with your seniors or colleagues because they are more experienced than you but just don't be afraid to talk to them. For myself, I was always very willing to share my experience and still keep in contact with them. Don't be too shy, talk to the seniors, ask if you really should consider the Big 4. Since people tend to work until 2-3 am, try to approach them at better timing such as during lunch. Maybe one thing you can do if you ever go to the office is that you can treat your colleagues or seniors to lunch because face to face is better than via text. We can't really tell emotion from text. People can cover everything they say through text. Just be yourself and open up. They will be more than willing to speak to you or chat if you speak up.
*this interview was conducted in 2021 and Ms Lindy Heng was promoted to the role of AM as at Jan 2022
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