Meet a Chartered Accountant...

Name: Matthew Collins CA Position: Senior Auditor - Project Wickenby Organisation: Australian Tax Office

I did accounting in high school and it just clicked with me. As a perfectionist (except for housework - much to my wife's dismay) I liked how everything balanced.

After university I worked at Deloitte and I commenced the Chartered Accountants Program. I was used to achieving great results at university with last minute work, so my first exam in the Program was an eye-opener; in fact I was close to tears not knowing whether I passed.

What made the exam so difficult is what sets the Program apart from other courses - you are required to practically apply the tax, accounting and audit provisions. Therefore, you cannot regurgitate from a textbook; you must understand and apply the provisions to factual situations.

However, this requirement is actually a blessing in disguise. As a Chartered Accountant you should be able to hit the ground running in most professional roles and start contributing from day one. We do more than record transactions or convert a shoebox of receipts into a tax return; we have the ability to go the next step or two and add value. This is why the Chartered Accountant designation is such a desired and beneficial qualification when it comes to applying for jobs.

Plenty of things have changed since my first exam of the Program (which I luckily passed). Upon realising what the Program entailed, I never came close to failing another exam. After two years at Deloitte I decided to serve my country and ply my trade at the Tax Office. Here, I finished the Program late 2005 and by 2006 I was also working for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia by facilitating focus sessions, marking exams and conducting presentations.

After completing the Program I continued my studies by undertaking a Masters of Tax. Another benefit of completing the Program was that I received credit for half of the modules towards my Masters.

Within the Tax Office I enjoy doing my best to ensure that everyone pays their fair share of tax. We all enjoy the same great country, yet some don't pull their weight which unfairly increases the burden on others.

I have been fortunate enough to have always had interesting roles as a Tax Officer. I started off in a team which conducted compliance actions on large businesses. Within a short time of working in this section the team was seeking advice from me regarding the application of the relevant accounting standards to taxpayers, as I was familiar with these from studying the Program.

Since 2006 I've worked within Project Wickenby and I haven't had a routine day since. Broadly, I undertake compliance action on people suspected of using tax havens or countries with secrecy provisions to incorrectly reduce the amount of tax they pay.

The people who undertake these actions hope that they, the transactions, and/or their overseas dealings (e.g. entities or bank accounts) won't be identified. Therefore, my job is to obtain this information and the best thing about my job is that I get to use my imagination and think outside the box. Although I'm a Chartered Accountant, my role within Project Wickenby also requires lawyer and detective skills of sorts.

Within Project Wickenby I have conducted interviews with taxpayers and Tax Agents, undertaken access visits, corresponded with tax authorities in other countries, liaised and exchanged information with other government agencies, determined strategies of cases and mentored junior staff.

I thoroughly enjoy my job and do not think that an accounting firm or another business could pay me enough to make me consider leaving and working for them. Aside from the challenging and rewarding work, there are many benefits of working for the government, such as job security, work life balance and other conditions that are fantastic and unparalleled.

If you're still reading, the career advice that I have is:

• when choosing a career choose something that you enjoy doing and something that suits you. Therefore, take personality tests and seek work experience. Personality tests, for example the Myer-Briggs test, will hopefully indicate the careers that will suit you best. Work experience in the field you think you want to work in will let you know whether you really want to do that job
• try to start out broad and avoid specialisation when starting out in study or work. This will give you a broad sense of things and the ability to undertake various tasks, as opposed to being restricted to the same type of task, and
• when your learning curve is flattening out, make changes.