Tax associate: Lauren Sparks, PwC

‘I never had a burning desire to be an accountant but I was steered to accountancy by the fact that I did not want to go to university. I then started to do my research into areas where this was an option and discovered school leaver schemes.

‘I do have a background that is very numbers orientated with A levels in maths, further maths and economics, so have always had an analytical, problem solving brain which made me realise that accountancy suited the skills that I already had.

‘When I left school in 2014, I took the apprenticeship route and joined PwC’s school leaver programme. I applied to all of the Big Four and received two offers but for me it was always going to be PwC, it is a young firm with lots of graduates and other apprentices.

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