360 Apprentice Review

In Corporate Tax the main role is tax compliance for companies including preparing and submitting their corporation tax return and tax advisory services. Advisory can be anything from a client specific question to new legislation. In Global Compliance Transformation the main role is overseeing the tax returns in various countries for a global client. Working with other KPMG member firms worldwide on a variety of returns, corporate tax, indirect tax, transfer pricing etc ensuring they are submitted on time in each country and communicating the overall position to the client. A typical day involves checking emails initially and responding to any urgent queries. Progress updates and client calls. Updating internal action trackers. Preparing and researching advisory or compliance tasks. Raising client invoices and managing the code position.

The program is fantastic but poorly structured. There is a huge disconnect between the professional learning qualification team (PQA) or Early Careers Development team (ECD) and apprentices. Managers often have no idea what exams are being sat and how strict the policy is (that you can be fired for failing an exam and in some cases only get one attempt) and the learning team have no empathy, take weeks to reply and often have incorrect information. This gets worse if you are "off program" as its incredibly hard to find your study dates or get replies from anyone. There is of course an onus on the apprentice to reach out for help and take responsibility for their exams however, it is incredibly frustrating to send multiple emails and have to wait over a month for a reply. It can feel like nobody is supporting you at times especially the PQA/ECD team. The actual job and management are supportive of study leave and the exams provided are essential but there is such a huge disconnect between the PQA/ECD team and line managers in the business and apprentices.
Each year has a different training agreement and exam policy making it very unfair when those who joined 12 months before get an extra attempt per exam and those who joined later get one attempt and if they fail are fired.
The program itself has also changed a lot from rotating between areas to audit only programs making it very confusing to know what exam pathway you are on and when the exams are.
The PQA/ECD team don't seem to appreciate or understand how hard these exams are. They book exams back to back or you are forced to sit 3 at once and if you don't pass at least 2 out of 3 you are fired. The study leave allowance isn't fair at times being given just 3 days off work to learn an entire syllabus for an exam and then being expected to sit than exam within 3 weeks of taking another one.

Line managers in the business are fantastic and very supportive. In the run up to exams all of the managers I work with have been incredibly supportive, some have offered to help me revise and they have all allowed me to finish work at a reasonable time in order to study.
However, I have scored this low due to PQA and EDC (professional qualifications and early careers development teams) as they are in my opinion very unsupportive. There is no empathy and they do not seem to understand the immense pressure of working full time and sitting degree level and above exams. The exam policy is harsh, one attempt in some cases and you are fired for failing. You must also sit 3 exams at once in some cases and if you don't pass at least 2 of them and be within 15% of passing the third you are fired.
The website around exams is confusing, the study leave dates aren't clear if you are off program and both teams take weeks to reply and are often outsourced and end up going round in circles before the issue can be dealt with. Line managers in the business often don't understand the apprentice program, the exam policy or even which professional qualification their apprentices are getting and whilst they are always willing to help there is little they can do themselves as its a separate team. I often feel unsupported from an exam point of view.
In the day to day role I feel very supported. At each grade people are always happy to help, there is no such thing as a stupid question and even those who I have never met are supportive and willing to talk me through technical areas I am unsure of or provide constructive feedback. Fellow apprentices are also really supportive, sharing top tips for exams and a real sense of togetherness. There are many mental health support options more generally and accessibility adjustments that can be made to support you.

Line managers are very supportive and always let me finish at a reasonable time around exams and allow me time off for study leave uninterrupted by work. We are given a standard amount of study leave but most people top this up by using their holiday. This is tough as some years with 4 or more exams you end up using all your holiday allowance for additional study and not getting a break or actual holiday. The study leave allowance needs to be more especially for the self study courses as some exams you are expected to teach yourself the content. As mentioned earlier, the PQA/ECD teams are not very supportive, they take weeks to reply to emails, have little to no empathy, do not understand the urgency of some requests or the added stress they are creating by taking so long to reply to a query, the website dates are confusing especially as there are so many different programs and year groups. Some people have exemptions and some don't etc so unless you are on the absolute standard pathway it is difficult to understand. The exam policy is very harsh and has changed several times since I have been here making it unfair between year groups. For example one year had two attempts at each exam no matter the score they got. The next group only got one attempt and had to score within 15% of the pass mark to be given a second or were fired. Mental health wise this takes a huge toll, the pressure of having to pass first time or fear of losing your job if you fail can get too much and the qualifications teams have no empathy of this and no support is provided to those who are fired due to failing exams.
BPP and Tolleys are the training providers used externally for exam tuition. Both are supportive, the websites are full of help, revision questions, forums etc and whilst studying there are regular email progress check ins and chances for you to email the tutors individually asking questions.

The qualification has enabled me to understand the technical parts of my job a lot better. Some of the more standard compliance areas are the exact same as in an exam setting so the skills are directly transferable. The qualifications also give me a good overview of accounting more generally and experience in parts of accountancy I wouldn't get to do in my day job such as inheritance tax.

Yes

The qualifications and experience you get is incredible, just lacking support from the internal qualifications team. The day to day job is hard work but enjoyable and management are supportive to the extent they can be. The sports and social side is inclusive and there is something for everyone. The training providers are competent and also supportive which makes up for the lack of support from the PQA/ECD team who really let down the overall KPMG experience due to their lack of empathy, ability to reply in a timely manor and harsh exam policy which creates added stress.