Study Zone

Love is in the air

Meet Adele Peel, an associate in tax practice at Deloitte and winner of the Ivision Medal, the Jennings Medal and LexisNexis Prize at the ATT November 2009 exams

What are your top tips for studying personal tax?
Studying for personal tax is a fantastic way to understand your own tax affairs. It certainly made filling in my tax return a lot easier this year! (I did some private tutoring while I was a student, so had to register as self-employed and file tax returns). It’s not specific to personal tax, but I definitely advocate learning to love your legislation.

How did you plan for the business tax and accounting principles paper? I did LOTS of practice, particularly for the accounts parts. I must have done every cash flow question I could find several times over; I was really pleased when I saw the cash flow question in the exam! I also found it useful to go through difficult topics with my peers; being able to explain a concept or procedure to one another was a good sign that we understood it.

You won the top prize in Paper 1 and Paper 2. Which was easier? Paper 2 by a cat’s whisker. This surprised me somewhat though: when practising beforehand, I usually found Paper 1 easier. Perhaps there was a lot of random and peripheral material in Paper 1 at the November sitting; I was pleased my reading around the syllabus paid off.

You work for Deloitte in London, what is that like?
Really good; there are great people to work with and I get to work on tax issues every day. I’ve only been here a few months, but everyone’s
been really friendly and supportive.

Did you have any special exam day rituals? Yes. On exam days, I always listen to some of my favourite music loudly before leaving the house.

What is the first thing you did when you received your results? I scrolled through in disbelief before telephoning my Grandad to tell him; I then had to remind him which exams these results were from.

What’s next for you? More exams or is that enough? I can’t wait for CTA!

We sell ‘I love tax’ T-shirts. Would you be prepared to wear one out? Definitely. How much are they? How do I get one?

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