Executive Officer 2017 - Tax, Audit & Compliance

Cromlechbeag

Hi, the closing date for the EO application was Thursday, 1st June. I sent in my application on Wednesday, 31st May. I have not gotten a confirmation of receipt. Just wondering if anyone has received a reply yet.

When I applied for the 2016 competition I seem to remember getting an almost instantaneous response confirming my application. Getting worried, I put alot of work into that application.

Hingisfan08!

I sent my application on the 31st too and haven't heard anything. I also applied for the AO in Revenue back in February. The acknowledgment emails weren't sent out for like week. So I'm sure we'll get acknowledgment later this week.

red face dave

Same as sent in the application on the 31st May and heard nothing since. How long does people reckon before we hear if we got through to the next stage

Cromlechbeag

Hingisfan08! wrote: »

I sent my application on the 31st too and haven't heard anything. I also applied for the AO in Revenue back in February. The acknowledgment emails weren't sent out for like week. So I'm sure we'll get acknowledgment later this week.

Thanks Hingisfan08, patience is a virtue and all that!

I'm on the panel for the 2016 round but still waiting for a limerick placement. It's quite disheartening that I have to apply again but I guess if I really want this then there's no other option!

Hingisfan08!

The acknowledgment emails were sent out earlier.

Cromlechbeag

Hingisfan08! wrote: »

The acknowledgment emails were sent out earlier.

Yep got it this afternoon, phew!

Mc Love

Hingisfan08! wrote: »

The acknowledgment emails were sent out earlier.

Mis-read it and thought I had been selected on the shortlist lol

BobCat123

Anyone know when the results are out?

dragonflyblue

I haven't heard anything yet either and from speaking with others these competitions usually move quick enough from application to next stage. Has anyone contacted them to find out anything?

dragonflyblue

dragonflyblue wrote: »

I haven't heard anything yet either and from speaking with others these competitions usually move quick enough from application to next stage. Has anyone contacted them to find out anything?

Wondering now if nothing will happen until end of this month as 31st July was mentioned on booklet as the date applicants needed to have the qualifications....

Hingisfan08!

Emails sent out. Interviews to take place in September. Details later.

Board.surf

Absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted! Does anyone know what the ratio is for interview:hire on this recruitment drive? Or has anyone been through this interview process before and could discuss? If I were to get this job it would be a god send.

je551e

The campaign says nationwide but does anyone know where as I can't relocate ?

je551e

Anyone have the candidate information booklet?

dragonflyblue

Got an email re: being shortlisted and interview in September too. Wonder if this is a prelim interview...

PCX

dragonflyblue wrote: »

Got an email re: being shortlisted and interview in September too. Wonder if this is a prelim interview...

In previous years there has only been one interview for this campaign. My guess would be that they will follow the same format this year.

je551e

PCX wrote: »

In previous years there has only been one interview for this campaign. My guess would be that they will follow the same format this year.

Hi just wondering do you know the format of these kind of interviews it will be my first one?
TIA

Mc Love

I didnt make the interview shortlist but best of luck to 300 or so going through!

dragonflyblue

Mc Love wrote: »

I didnt make the interview shortlist but best of luck to 300 or so going through!

300 got through to interview stage? Wonder how many positions will be available and where they will be?

Mc Love

dragonflyblue wrote: »

300 got through to interview stage? Wonder how many positions will be available and where they will be?

Probably outside of dublin I'd imagine, but more than likely put on a panel.

Peggyk2

Does anyone know the format the next stage will take ? Will it include an e-tray ?

Ciaran

Peggyk2 wrote: »

Does anyone know the format the next stage will take ? Will it include an e-tray ?

It didn't last year, straight to interview.

je551e

Anyone know if any places ever come up in Kerry? TIA

AineRooney

Does everyone who got through have a degree in accounting? Curious as to the standard required.

Board.surf

AineRooney wrote: »

Does everyone who got through have a degree in accounting? Curious as to the standard required.

I have a Law Degree with extra business modules (minor). I'm a part qualified accountant currently working through ACCA exams. 3 years accounting experience + 3 years financial services experience. This includes financial management and management experience in a foreign public service. The PD didn't give preference to an accounting degree over, say a business degree. The positions available are quite diverse.

I can only imagine that they'll be looking for a diverse mixture of candidates. Nobody would have been shortlisted, if they weren't up to scratch. Your performance at interview would be most important now. I'm sure a 1.1 Trinity grad, ACA with 5+ years experience as a tax accountant still needs to interview better than someone who has a degree in something irrelevant. Why they would be applying for this level or salary though is beyond me.

LG072017

AineRooney wrote: »

Does everyone who got through have a degree in accounting? Curious as to the standard required.

I have a degree but no accountancy,

AineRooney

LG072017 wrote: »

I have a degree but no accountancy,

I would love to know what weight they gave to candidates' qualifications. Only selected about 1 in 3 for interview.
Not much transparency.

AineRooney

Board.surf wrote: »

I have a Law Degree with extra business modules (minor). I'm a part qualified accountant currently working through ACCA exams. 3 years accounting experience + 3 years financial services experience. This includes financial management and management experience in a foreign public service. The PD didn't give preference to an accounting degree over, say a business degree. The positions available are quite diverse.

I can only imagine that they'll be looking for a diverse mixture of candidates. Nobody would have been shortlisted, if they weren't up to scratch. Your performance at interview would be most important now. I'm sure a 1.1 Trinity grad, ACA with 5+ years experience as a tax accountant still needs to interview better than someone who has a degree in something irrelevant. Why they would be applying for this level or salary though is beyond me.

The position is for Auditors. That's not diverse. It's quite specific.

Board.surf

AineRooney wrote: »

The position is for Auditors. That's not diverse. It's quite specific.

For those with a background in taxation, law, accounting, economics etc. I guess you view this quite differently to me, and that's ok. Auditors do have diverse backgrounds. They come from different industries, experience levels. Within revenue, there are various types of auditors. The PD uses the words, "wide" and "varied" quite a bit.

Danielle D

AineRooney wrote:

I would love to know what weight they gave to candidates' qualifications. Only selected about 1 in 3 for interview. Not much transparency.

Did you request your feedback? I did and am pretty sure it was just a tick the box as to whether you met the educational requirements or not.

Arcade_Tryer

It seems the days of a fresh graduate being able to apply for EO jobs with relative optimism are gone; if they ever even existed.

thomasj

Arcade_Tryer wrote:

It seems the days of a fresh graduate being able to apply for EO jobs with relative optimism are gone; if they ever even existed.

Isn't that the point of why more colleges/universities require students to do work experience during the course?

Why pick a student with educational requirements but no experience of the workplace over someone who has years experience? With the educational aspect you're looking at training etc whereas the experienced person will find it easier to pick up what's involved

je551e

Anyone keep the information booklet for this ? I'd be most grateful.

Kingp35

Board.surf wrote: »

For those with a background in taxation, law, accounting, economics etc. I guess you view this quite differently to me, and that's ok. Auditors do have diverse backgrounds. They come from different industries, experience levels. Within revenue, there are various types of auditors. The PD uses the words, "wide" and "varied" quite a bit.

I currently work for Revenue in Audit/Compliance. I was hired off an open E.O. panel, I didn't directly apply for the Audit/Compliance stream.

I had literally ZERO financial background, had no idea about tax what so ever yet they saw fit to give me an Auditors job. You are very much correct that Auditors have different backgrounds.

Also I did not need any educational qualifications for the role.

Densey12

Kingp35 wrote: »

I currently work for Revenue in Audit/Compliance. I was hired off an open E.O. panel, I didn't directly apply for the Audit/Compliance stream.

I had literally ZERO financial background, had no idea about tax what so ever yet they saw fit to give me an Auditors job. You are very much correct that Auditors have different backgrounds.

Also I did not need any educational qualifications for the role.

Hi Kingp,

Any advice for the interview?
Do you get many chances to climb the ladder once you got in?
Did you have to undertake any courses as a result of working in Audit/Compliance?

SunshineKid

Kingp35 wrote: »

I currently work for Revenue in Audit/Compliance. I was hired off an open E.O. panel, I didn't directly apply for the Audit/Compliance stream.

I had literally ZERO financial background, had no idea about tax what so ever yet they saw fit to give me an Auditors job. You are very much correct that Auditors have different backgrounds.

Also I did not need any educational qualifications for the role.

Can I ask you do you like the job, especially considering that you didn't have a financial background?

Kingp35

Densey12 wrote: »

Hi Kingp,

Any advice for the interview?
Do you get many chances to climb the ladder once you got in?
Did you have to undertake any courses as a result of working in Audit/Compliance?

You will have to do a different type of interview to me so I can't help you there I'm afraid.

There are a lot of internal revenue competitions at the moment but generally you need to be in the civil service at least two years before you can apply.

It is mandatory that all new audit/compliance recruits undertake a 2 year diploma course in applied taxation as well as a practical training module which lasts about 3 months. Training can be very intense. The diploma is accredited by University Limericks, you will be required to sit exams etc.

Arcade_Tryer

Kingp35 wrote: »

I currently work for Revenue in Audit/Compliance. I was hired off an open E.O. panel, I didn't directly apply for the Audit/Compliance stream.

I had literally ZERO financial background, had no idea about tax what so ever yet they saw fit to give me an Auditors job. You are very much correct that Auditors have different backgrounds.

Also I did not need any educational qualifications for the role.

I'm guessing that wasn't in the last year or two?

Kingp35

SunshineKid wrote: »

Can I ask you do you like the job, especially considering that you didn't have a financial background?

Honestly I really dislike it. It's an incredibly stressful job with a very high turnover of staff. A large proportion of my team are actively looking for a way out of Audit.

Densey12

Kingp35 wrote: »

You will have to do a different type of interview to me so I can't help you there I'm afraid.

There are a lot of internal revenue competitions at the moment but generally you need to be in the civil service at least two years before you can apply.

It is mandatory that all new audit/compliance recruits undertake a 2 year diploma course in applied taxation as well as a practical training module which lasts about 3 months. Training can be very intense. The diploma is accredited by University Limericks, you will be required to sit exams etc.

Is it mandatory full stop KingP?
If you had a tax degree for example would you still need to complete the diploma?

Kingp35

Densey12 wrote: »

Is it mandatory full stop KingP?
If you had a tax degree for example would you still need to complete the diploma?

You may get certain exemptions but the diploma is based specifically on Revenue Audit and Compliance and how to conduct Revenue Audits so a lot of the diploma course you won't have covered.

SunshineKid

Kingp35 wrote: »

Honestly I really dislike it. It's an incredibly stressful job with a very high turnover of staff. A large proportion of my team are actively looking for a way out of Audit.

Really? Do you have to leave the office much for onsite work? Do you find it hard to meet deadlines? Sorry for bombarding you with questions it's just I'm applying for the job & I haven't a clue what to really expect. I've worked on audits for a private accounting practice & I didn't really like that to be honest but I loved the tax end of things & that's why I thought I'd like to work with Revenue

Kingp35

SunshineKid wrote: »

Really? Do you have to leave the office much for onsite work? Do you find it hard to meet deadlines? Sorry for bombarding you with questions it's just I'm applying for the job & I haven't a clue what to really expect. I've worked on audits for a private accounting practice & I didn't really like that to be honest but I loved the tax end of things & that's why I thought I'd like to work with Revenue

No deadlines as such but you are given a quota of cases to close for the year that you need to meet.

I'm currently out on average twice a week although some weeks I could be out 4 days and others none. It's the sheer volume of cases that you have to juggle. Time management is very important as you need time to prepare for each case and also try to find the time to do all your Audit tests and the very large amount of admin work to close a case.

There is a lot of work involved in each case from writing plans, to writing interviews, to performing tests and writing reports etc. It's a very stressful job that only certain types of people would enjoy.

I'm not trying to turn you off the role, I'm just letting you know my personal experience with it. I've been doing the role nearly two years now.

je551e

Kingp35 wrote: »

No deadlines as such but you are given a quota of cases to close for the year that you need to meet.

I'm currently out on average twice a week although some weeks I could be out 4 days and others none. It's the sheer volume of cases that you have to juggle. Time management is very important as you need time to prepare for each case and also try to find the time to do all your Audit tests and the very large amount of admin work to close a case.

There is a lot of work involved in each case from writing plans, to writing interviews, to performing tests and writing reports etc. It's a very stressful job that only certain types of people would enjoy.

I'm not trying to turn you off the role, I'm just letting you know my personal experience with it. I've been doing the role nearly two years now.

Hoping you don't mind me jumping in here but do you work overtime?

SunshineKid

Kingp35 wrote: »

No deadlines as such but you are given a quota of cases to close for the year that you need to meet.

I'm currently out on average twice a week although some weeks I could be out 4 days and others none. It's the sheer volume of cases that you have to juggle. Time management is very important as you need time to prepare for each case and also try to find the time to do all your Audit tests and the very large amount of admin work to close a case.

There is a lot of work involved in each case from writing plans, to writing interviews, to performing tests and writing reports etc. It's a very stressful job that only certain types of people would enjoy.

I'm not trying to turn you off the role, I'm just letting you know my personal experience with it. I've been doing the role nearly two years now.

No, I really appreciate your honesty. It's great to get the perspective of someone who is in the job already and to be honest, you're not the first person I've heard of that feels that way about it. I've heard a similar story from somebody else that absolutely hates it and wants out.

When you are out on working on a case, is it usually within commuting distance from home or would you have to stay over? The reason I ask is that I have a young family and I wouldn't be able to spend nights away from them.

And are you usually working on your own when you are out of the office? Or would you be working with other EO's or have a team of CO's with you that you'd have to manage? Again sorry for all the questions but it's very hard to find out from Revenue what exactly the job entails

ThumbTaxed

Don't mind the naysayer above. It is a great job and if someone finds it too challenging, well, some people are just not cut out for work of any kind.

Some people struggle to make target.

Some people, a few, don't even consider the targets as they will zip past them anyway in a breeze

Board.surf

It really doesn't sound all that bad. Putting in an extra 10 hours a week would combat the issues outlined. A 50 hour work week doesn't even come close to the needs of "private" employers for a similar position. If one is to compare the challenges outlined, they are also bright and shiny compared to what most people put up with. Work is work. It's supposed to be hard. If you ask for the negatives, you will get the negatives.

barneystinson

Board.surf wrote: »

It really doesn't sound all that bad. Putting in an extra 10 hours a week would combat the issues outlined. A 50 hour work week doesn't even come close to the needs of "private" employers for a similar position. If one is to compare the challenges outlined, they are also bright and shiny compared to what most people put up with. Work is work. It's supposed to be hard. If you ask for the negatives, you will get the negatives.

And bear in mind that thanks to flexitime, extra hours up to a cap of 1.5 days per 4-week cycle, are recorded and available to be taken as flexi leave.

Board.surf

barneystinson wrote: »

And bear in mind that thanks to flexitime, extra hours up to a cap of 1.5 days per 4-week cycle, are recorded and available to be taken as flexi leave.

Cha-ching

SunshineKid

barneystinson wrote: »

And bear in mind that thanks to flexitime, extra hours up to a cap of 1.5 days per 4-week cycle, are recorded and available to be taken as flexi leave.

How do you clock in & out if your out on an audit?

barneystinson

SunshineKid wrote: »

How do you clock in & out if your out on an audit?

You don't, you put in for a credit for the duration of your absence.

It's not like being out on audit when working in practice though, you won't really be welcome there and they'll be kicking you out as early in the evening as they can. People usually go out in pairs, so they often leave from and return to the office, and the duration of their absence on call is self evident from clockings either side of it.