Achievements from an international student, Fei Han, in 7 years

I came to Australia in 2005, from China, as an international student. After initially basing myself in Perth, I moved to Melbourne in 2007 and graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2009 with a Master’s degree in Accounting.  

Having started my career in Audit at Ernst & Young China, I moved in to a Business Advisory role at Crowe Horwath Melbourne. As a graduate, I was really inspired by a couple of partners. They taught me how to satisfy your clients’ needs and build long term relationships with your clients. They also showed me how to balance their work and personal life. After a number of Crowe Horwath partners left to commence their own practice, Boss Private Clients, I choose to join them and became an integral part of their boutique accounting firm. 

Whilst working here I specialised in business advisory and providing accounting and taxation services to private clients. 

In 2015, I choose to become a member of The Tax institute. Among other things, I found that by become a member of a leading tax association it assisted me with services my clients better and I felt that by increasing my knowledge around tax, I would better position myself to give advice and guide our clients. I became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand in 2014.

In 2015, I joined Grant Thornton’s Private Advisory division as an Assistant Manager. As an Assistant Manager I manage a portfolio of clients, delegate and review compliance work of junior staff, consult clients on tax matters and manage accounting and business aspects along with other duties. 

Throughout my career, I have continued to work closely with a diverse base of clients, ranging from family groups, high net worth individuals and SME’s. The advice that I want to give to graduates is that to be a good accountant or tax adviser requires many skills besides accounting and tax knowledge. Soft skills are critical in your career development.

If you also with to join a membership focused organisation to assist you with developing your client skills and tax technical knowledge, visit taxinstitute.com.au/members for further information. 

6 unlikely tips to help you train your memory

Your studies can feel like an overload of information with only a fraction of it becoming knowledge. Retain more with these six tricks to train your memory.

1. Repetition

While we don’t expect you to recite textbooks like a multiplication table, repeating something you’re trying to learn helps lodge it in your memory. A typical path might be your lecturer saying something important, you mouthing it and then writing it down to read later. Saying it, writing it and reading it means it has been repeated three times in different ways, creating different pathways to your brain. (Teaching it to another person counts as a fourth!)

2. Building blocks

Memorising is easier when you have a foundation and then make connections between the new information and your established knowledge. If you need to remember a slab of information, break it down and add it to your memory piece by piece. For example, when trying to remember a case study, start with the who and what, and then gradually add the when, why and how.

3. Finding patterns

A mnemonic device is a common technique that links information to patterns that are more memorable, for example remembering the number of elements in a contract then expanding that to the actual elements. Commonly, mnemonics use a phrase where the starting letter of each word relates to the piece of information or short rhymes such as Thirty days has September.

4. Storytelling

The human brain is attracted to a narrative, so developing a story can help you remember details that might otherwise escape you. Turn information into characters you can describe and explain the consequences of their actions. What happens when GST meets BAS? Humour also makes information sticky and telling someone the story further embeds it in your memory.

5. Write a song

Delve into the meaning of nursery rhymes and you’ll find many are mini lessons in history effectively passed down by putting rhyme and music together. Choose a piece of simple music and write a short song about what you’re trying to learn. You may also find that someone else has done the hard work, like this economics rap on Hayek versus Keynes.

6. Create a game

Many games are geared to aid learning, and memory games reward recollection, such as matching a piece of information with another. Creating the game is often as important as playing it because it helps you structure information for easy recollection. You can also make a game for two or more people as learning in a group and constructive socialising also assists memorisation.

People respond differently to different techniques, so have a go at some of these to see which works best for you. You can also combine these tricks to enhance the effect.

Good luck with your studies this semester!

Give yourself the edge with free Student Membership.

If you are a tertiary education student, The Tax Institute can help you progress in your career journey.

Find out about Student Membership.

Tax can take you to the top

They say only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. But with a postgraduate tax qualification, such as a Graduate Diploma in Applied Tax Law from The Tax Institute, you can add a third: a range of diverse and interesting career options. Here are just a few.

Get political

A solid understanding of the tax system is a good grounding for aspiring politicians. Long before she was spending her days defending Medicare changes and fielding questions from journalists, Minister for Health Sussan Ley studied a Master of Taxation law. On the other side of the chamber, former Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury undertook postgraduate tax law – studies which led to a senior associate in taxation law position with the corporate law firm Blake Dawson before he entered parliament.

Join the Big Four

After a challenging period post-GFC, Australia's big four auditing firms – Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG and Ernst & Young – are eyeing growth in consulting services to drive revenue growth. No doubt they’ll be looking for go-getters with advanced tax training to help them hit their targets.

Scale the corporate ladder

Taxation knowledge can be your ticket to the top in the corporate world. A Master of Taxation helped Mark Weinberger become global chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young – and that's after he served as the Assistant Secretary for tax policy of the US Treasury.

Shape the economy

There are few things that have such an impact on a nation’s economy and its citizens as its taxation system. Granted, you may not get the respect or remuneration offered in other fields, but if you use your postgraduate tax course to get a job with the Australian Tax Office (which runs a graduate program), you will have the satisfaction of knowing you’re playing a vital role in shaping Australia’s economy.

One other thing to remember is that a postgraduate tax qualification could be your passport to travel the world. Harry Tonino, for example, worked on four continents after getting a Master of Taxation and ended up as International Tax Expert at the UN, where he spends his workdays undertaking tasks such as negotiating tax treaties.

So if you’re struggling to find the motivation to undertake further tax training, consider this: that tax course you complete might just be a stepping stone to the CEO suite, the Lodge or a top job at the UN.

Take the next step in your tax career with the Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law.

Find out more by visiting the website or calling 1300 TAX EDU (1300 829 338).

Are you making the right decision about your study mode?

Deciding to pursue postgraduate tax training is more than just deciding on the learning institute. The big question is how you should study, face-to-face or via distance. We look at some of the things you might want to consider before making your decision.


Planning
Face-to-face
Face-to-face learning relies on a prescribed schedule. And for some, that's a good thing. Being able to diarise and stick to a given timetable has its benefits. An established teaching structure means that learning and assessments are paced, can be planned for and must take priority. For those who have a tendency to procrastinate, face-to-face learning can help avoid backlogs.

Distance
Some prefer the flexibility of being able to schedule their own learning – they can slot in studying when it’s convenient and take control of their education. Tax courses taught online, like the Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law, offer that flexibility, with the only requisite being access to the internet. No longers are geography and other commitments barriers to advancing your career through education.

Focus
Face-to-face
For some, classroom environments are conducive to positive studying outcomes, and face-to-face learning can be specifically structured to enhance focus and concentration. Attending lectures in person may help to avoid interruptions, distractions and delays to educational progression.

Distance
Others prefer the comfort of their own homes or offices when they study, and online studying provides immediate access to education, without the travel or the inconvenience of booking time out of the office.

Eugene Berkovic, director of taxation at GMK Partners, considers this to be a plus. “From an employer’s point of view, distance learning allows students to better manage and balance work commitment and study. This will often make them more productive and efficient.”

Maximising learning
Face-to-face
Face-to-face education allows for the opportunity to ask questions, enter into discussions and practise newly acquired skills in real time. It also means assessment pieces can be enhanced by the contributions of your peers and the testing and tweaking of skills.

Distance
Advances in technology mean that tax training online is not a bar to proper learning. In fact, many suggest that comprehensive electronic and printed resources, online support and frequent online contact with tutors can be of such a high standard that they enhance the learning process.

Networking
Face-to-face
One of the great bonuses of face-to-face learning is the forging of professional relationships. For Berkovic, networking is one of the benefits of meeting like-minded professionals in a learning environment.

Distance
Having said that, distance learning provides opportunities for engagement without geographical barriers through things such as group web/teleconference tutorials, which are designed with participant interaction in mind.

The quality gap between distance and face-to-face learning has narrowed. For busy professionals, distance learning no longer means compromising on standards. It can, however, mean achieving advancement without compromising on professionalism, and that's something worth considering.

Take the next step in your tax career with the Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law.
Find out more by visiting the website or calling 1300 TAX EDU (1300 829 338).

Life after university: what to expect from your new career

If you've undertaken work experience or a graduate program in a professional firm, you’ll know there’s a big difference between life on campus and what’s required when you start work in the real world. Here’s how to make the transition from student to a full-time tax professional as easy and pain-free as possible.

What to expect

Your first job is an essential step in shaping your career journey. Each new experience offers an opportunity to learn, build practical skills, establish rapport with your team members and expand your knowledge of taxation. So try to pick up as much as you can by asking questions and seeking assistance as you need it. Your new colleagues will be much happier to help you learn the right way from the outset than fix problems later.

Your role

In a graduate or entry-level role, you’ll most likely be given a variety of tasks to perform. Depending on the organisation, this could range from carrying out research to practical tasks like preparing tax returns and business statements. In addition, there could be formal training, workplace mentoring or coaching by senior staff, as well as opportunities to attend client meetings and industry events. Use these experiences as an opportunity to gain a firm grounding in best practice for preparing work, building communication skills and understanding business etiquette and due diligence.

How to behave

In the early stages of a new job you’re continuing to prove your worth to the company. Make sure you prepare your work carefully, adhere to processes and ask questions if you’re not sure. Remember that the early stages of your career are about learning to work as part of a team, so be flexible and see your colleagues and your manager as people to assist in achieving a common goal. Even if the work doesn't initially meet your expectations, your efforts will be rewarded and you’ll quickly learn about the company’s clients and business, which will hopefully lead to opportunities for progression. Don't forget that networking is an important part of a career. Read more about the do's and don'ts of networking as a graduate. 

Client management – learn from others

When you have the chance to attend meetings, use these experiences to learn from your colleagues. Observe how they explain issues to clients, manage expectations, set clients at ease and solve problems.

Keep studying and stay up to date

A solid technical base and knowledge of tax law will help you progress your career and distinguish you from others in your field. Formal training programs offered by The Tax Institute and other professional bodies, combined with on-the-job training are invaluable to young professionals. It’s also important to keep up with developments in the sector – tax is a specialised area and one that’s often subject to changes in law and practice, so continuous reading is required to stay up to date.

Making a successful transition from university life to the workplace is all about being prepared, taking the time to understand the experiences of others in the industry, getting to know more about the organisation and treating each opportunity and task as one to learn from.

Looking for that competitive edge? Look into completing The Tax Institute’s Programs, Single Subjects or Short-Courses.

Find out more.