A return to private practice was always an option for Darren Mellor-Clark who has quit UBS to join KPMG.
The bank's head of VAT left Deloitte in 2000 after two years to join Credit Suisse and worked at UBS for the last six years before moving back to private practice.
"When I left Deloitte, a partner there told me to view a move into industry as a long-term secondment," Mellor-Clark said. Working in-house strengthens and deepens your understanding of how taxes work, he added.
He hopes his commercial knowledge will benefit his new team. "In-house you get greater exposure to the real nuts and bolts of tax which you don't always see as an adviser," he said.
Despite the recent troubles UBS has faced – a senior executive at the bank was charged late last year with conspiring along with others to defraud the US of tax revenues – Mellor-Clark is adamant this did not influence his decision to quit now.
"Problems come and go," he said. "You learn your lessons and move on."
He joins KPMG as an associate indirect tax partner in the financial services practice. His new role will mean a change in focus. "It will be interesting to see how other organisations deal with the same and other issues," he said. "Especially as VAT is a potential area of conflict with tax authorities at the moment."
For more on the rising importance of indirect taxes, see this month's cover story.
