What is your role within RG?
I am a senior manager working within our Accounts and Outsourced Services division, managing the service for a variety of clients, particularly those in the agriculture and landed estates sector.
Tell me about your career to date…
I joined RG as a placement student in my third year of university, continued my employment during my final year and subsequently started a training contract to become a Chartered Accountant after obtaining a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics.
I qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2017 and I made the decision to work primarily alongside Helen Pennock, our Agricultural partner, to enable me to become a specialist in Agriculture. I was subsequently promoted to manager in July 2019 and to senior manager in April 2022.
What does your current role involve?
Each and every day is different, which is great!
My main role is to manage our client portfolio, schedule and review work the team has prepared, and prepare detailed client meeting packs ahead of upcoming meetings.
Another key part of my role is continuously developing my agricultural knowledge and supporting Helen Pennock in growing our client portfolio. I am pleased to say that since 2016, we have gained a new landed estate client each and every year. It’s a huge achievement to gain a new estate client each year as it’s complex work helping estate owners achieve their ultimate goals, whether it be inheritance tax planning and passing assets to future generations, or achieving growth and entering new markets.
I’m also a part of our agricultural marketing team which involves producing bi-annual agricultural journals and regularly catching up with other professionals who specialise in the agricultural sector.
What makes RG different?
I believe it’s the relationships we have with our clients and the way we are always on hand to support their needs. We always ensure we have a detailed understanding of each client’s business and family requirements and ensure that each client knows we are always at the end of the phone to assist with their business decisions.
Landed estate work is complex as they are often extremely diversified and consist of numerous entities of varied structure. Our strength comes in our ability to deliver joined up advice across accounts, personal and business tax, on all the aspects that an estate client requires.
Beyond the essential annual compliance work, we are able to offer valuable succession planning advice, inheritance tax reviews, tax planning, forecasts, trust and estate administration and registrations all under one roof.
What do you enjoy outside of work?
I love to spend time with friends, family and our two beautiful golden retrievers, Bosie and Maggie. You will also find me as a regular in the gym or at the salon, anything and everything from nails, eyelashes, eyebrows and hair is a treat from me to me.
Holidays and restaurants are also another passion of mine; I love to travel the world and eat incredible food with my husband. A firm favourite of ours is the restaurant “Pine” which we are so lucky to have on our doorstep.
My 3 most notable achievements to date would be….
Achieving a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics and subsequently passing all 15 Chartered exams first time and becoming a Chartered Accountant.
Being promoted to a senior manager at the age of 30 with the support of our fantastic Agricultural and Landed Estates team.
Being shortlisted for accountant of the year at the North East Accountancy Awards in 2022.
Tell us about your day so far….
I always start the day with a walk with my two dogs, come rain or sunshine, to clear my head for whatever the day may bring.
I then caught-up with the team to ensure they had sufficient work, discussed deadlines and allocated further work based on the client information we have received this week. I reviewed my emails received today and responded to any urgent matters before heading into the first meeting of the day.
Helen and I then met with a client to discuss draft results, tax estimates and potential tax planning opportunities along with conversations regarding future changes, such as Basis Period Reform and MTD for Income Tax.
The afternoon consisted of reviewing accounts adjustments processed by team members and preparing a detailed meeting pack ahead of another client meeting in the coming week. I took client and staff calls, dealing with a variety of queries from the team as they prepare and adjust client accounts, and finally catching up with our tax department regarding progress on a couple of special ongoing projects for our estate clients.
Towards the end of the day, I always review the emails I have received, catch-up with Helen to discuss any client or team matters which have arisen and arrange my diary for tomorrow to ensure all deadlines are met.