KPMG beams up its tax trekkies

67 young tax professionals from KPMG will from this week (July 1) be leaving home for a three month assignment in a different part of the world as part of a new training scheme called Tax Trek.

The scheme is aimed at “Generation Y” senior associates and junior managers who have been with KPMG for at least two years.

Mostly in their mid-20s, these people would normally have to wait until much later in their career for an opportunity to work abroad with another KPMG firm. But given the increasing popularity of overseas experience among young professionals, Tax Trek has been created to provide an early taste of international work.

24 countries are taking part in the project. Each can choose where to send its Tax Trekkers, but it must accept an equal number from other firms in return.

The most popular destination for Trekkers in this pilot scheme has been the US, with eight countries opting to send people there, followed by the UK with seven.

Each Trekker is offered a three month assignment in their host country, combining informal training with practical, hands-on experience of working with clients. They are being encouraged to network with as many overseas colleagues as possible, and to take two weeks of personal time either before or after their assignments to travel further.

Loughlin Hickey, Global Head of KPMG’s Tax practice, said, “Our Generation Y professionals are remarkable people. They are smart, very comfortable with technology and keen to develop their professional skills to raise their market value. They embrace change and are acutely aware that they are operating in a global market place.

“In addition to raising the visibility of our global thinking, as demonstrated by our global training curriculum from our international Tax Business School, we are committed to a more comprehensive mobility programme. Giving these people a chance early in their career to broaden their experience with a few months abroad helps them with their personal and professional development, and helps us to grow the next generation of world class tax professionals.”

The countries taking part in the Tax Trek programme are:

Denmark, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, US, Venezuela, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Vietnam. At the time of writing, the Vietnamese candidate was still being finalised