Hi, my name is Brian Meggs. I currently live in Walthamstow, London and work as an International Tax Director for the Expedia Group. Expedia Group is the world’s travel platform, with an extensive brand portfolio that includes some of the world’s most trusted online travel brands including Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, trivago, Hotwire and Egencia.

So how was your experience studying for the Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) qualification?

Well, very quickly in school I realised I had an aptitude for accounting. I went on to study a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting & Finance in Dublin City University (DCU). I started studying tax in my 2nd year and began with personal income tax and found it really fascinating.

Tell us about life at the Expedia group

I primarily decided to study for the Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) qualification as it is, in my opinion, Ireland’s most prestigious and well respected tax qualification. The Irish Tax Institute provided plenty of support and all of the lecture notes and learning materials were easily accessible from Blackboard (their online learning management system) for those (hopefully rare!) occasions we may have ended up in the pub rather than at lectures.

I found the style of teaching and exams to be particularly useful and applicable for my career progression and they synergised perfectly – the knowledge I had gained was instantly relevant in my job. In particular the Professional Skills Workshops and the Professional Advice and Ethics module really helped me apply the theoretical information I learned into practical and relevant advice for clients.

It’s not all work and no play?

Definitely it’s not all work and no play! The Expedia group and London are wonderful places to be at this stage in my life. Once a month we have drinks on our office roof-top balcony and the team I’m working with is great fun and we have plenty of laughs in between all the hard work. London is an amazing place to live and there is no end to the amount of things to do. I was able to achieve all of this through my training with the Irish Tax Institute which has given me this great opportunity to travel and live abroad.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in tax?

The best advice I could give to someone starting out is not to overlook the softer skills. It’s surprising how far someone can get in a career if people enjoy working with them and being around them. You won’t get very far without a personality, no matter how impressive your tax technical knowledge may be!