Partner Helen Pennock goes under the spotlight!

What is your role within RG?

I am a partner working within our Accounts and Outsourced Services division, providing both compliance and advisory services to a variety of clients, particularly those engaged in agriculture and landed estates.

Tell me about your career to date…

Having joined RG straight from school 24 years ago as an office assistant, I was encouraged to attend university whilst remaining a part time employee.

I returned full time after gaining a First Class Honours degree from Newcastle University, subsequently studied for and qualified as a Chartered Accountant and in 2019 was invited to become a partner, something I am very proud of.

What does your current role involve?

Every day is different with different requirements and challenges, just as I like it!

I have a great team of people around me and together we deliver annual accounts, tax compliance work, advisory services, management reporting and cloud software setup and customisation.

Throughout my career everyone at the firm has been very supportive.  Last year, I was given the opportunity to provide support to our trainees and I jumped at the chance.  I am keen to work with them to provide the same levels of support I received, drawing from my own experiences to assist them with their career progression.

What makes RG different?

We try to put ourselves in our clients’ shoes, embedding ourselves within their businesses so we can assist them with making their day to day decisions.

Our focus is on delivering an excellent, timely, service, adapted as appropriate to recognise the different needs of each client.

A particular strength of RG is the excellent collaboration between our different service lines which ensures that clients can receive personal and business advice on every aspect of their financial affairs in a seamless fashion.

My 3 most notable achievements to date would be….

RG has been the one and only place I have every worked.  After starting my career making teas and coffees as an office assistant, I am very proud to have made the journey all the way through numerous roles to partner.

Achieving a First Class Honours degree in Accounting and Financial Analysis, including being awarded the Accounting Prize for the outstanding student in the 1999/2000 academic year.

Finally, my two beautiful children, with whom every day proves to be a different adventure.

Tell us about your day so far….

As I am writing this we are in lockdown due to COVID-19, so a very different day to that I would have experienced only a month or so ago…..

Up at 6.30 am to get myself dressed and prepare breakfast for the family.

7.30 am: wake up the rest of the family and have breakfast together.

8.30 am: after planning schoolwork for the day for the children, head upstairs to my ‘office’ to start the working day.

After dealing with all emails, I start the day with a Microsoft Teams call with a member of my team, to address work priorities and progress.

9.30 am to 11 am: high level review of several sets of accounts before sending these on to clients, along with specific points and queries.

11 am: very interesting call with a new professional contact during which we discussed how we could both help each other’s clients with the services we offer.  Subsequently exchanging emails providing further details.

12 am to 2 pm: Various client and staff calls, dealing with a variety of queries, many of which centred around COVID-19 related business issues.

2 pm: call with another professional contact.

2.30 pm to 3.30 pm: discussions with a colleague about our trainees, the support and guidance currently available to them and addressing current issues.

3.30 pm to the end of the day: Further file reviews and speaking with colleagues about specific queries and advisory matters to consider.

What do you enjoy outside of work?

Generally enjoying family life.  I have a 6 year old and a 13 year old, who both keep me so busy but in such different ways.

Having a husband who is in the armed forces, family time is very important to us, so weekends are spent laughing, walking the dog, playing silly games and just having fun together.

And finally, leave us with one interesting fact about yourself…

I once fell asleep on Peter Schmeichel’s shoulder whilst in Manchester Airport’s VIP lounge.

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