Accounting
& Finance student Lesley Wynne has successfully got through the preliminary
UK round of the International Young Tax Professional of the Year 2016
competition, and will be taking part in the final in Amsterdam later this year.Accounting
& Finance student Lesley Wynne has successfully got through the preliminary
UK round of the International Young Tax Professional of the Year 2016
competition, and will be taking part in the final in Amsterdam later this year.
Lesley, in her fourth year, will now travel to Amsterdam in December as the UK representative in the EY competition, with the chance of winning a 30 day round the world trip. The competition was established to reward and foster the next generation of tax leaders.
Lesley will compete against around 25 individuals from other countries in the four day competition which involves case studies, group work, interviews and presentations before a panel of judges.
"For the final we were to do a 15 minute presentation on the challenges the UK Government face due to aggressive tax planning, and then have a five minute question and answer session. For my presentation I decided to look at the issues, show where current Government policy is failing, look at what literature suggests would work, then investigate whether it would work in practice as I feel there is a lack of correlation between theory and practice in current and previous policies, and then I summarised with my suggestions.
"I normally don't get nervous before presentations but this time I was nervous from Monday and the final wasn't till Wednesday. Afterwards I felt my presentation had gone okay but I felt I had actually done better in practice. Having had such a stressful month with my dissertation deadline and getting ready for exams, finding out I’d won the UK final has been such a lovely surprise."
Lesley will be provided with a tax mentor from EY's Glasgow office to ensure she is completely up to date with everything in the tax world and to do some training.
"I am still in shock to have won to be honest. I applied last minute on a total whim and never expected to reach the final five, never mind actually win it. Now I am just really looking forward to heading to Amsterdam in December and giving it my all as, no matter what happens, it will be a fantastic experience and I'm so honoured to have been given the opportunity."
Professor Christine Cooper of the Department of Accounting & Finance, said, “This is an outstanding achievement for Lesley. We’re delighted for her and wish her all the best in the Amsterdam final.”