What is your role with RG?
I am a Manager within the Audit and Assurance service line.
Tell me about your career to date?
I graduated with a degree in Accounting & Finance from Newcastle University in 2016 which included a year in industry at Procter & Gamble, before, unsurprisingly, deciding to pursue a career in accountancy! I joined RG as an Audit and Accounts trainee and went on to complete my ACA qualification before moving primarily into the Audit and Assurance team, where I was promoted to manager in 2022.
What does your current role involve?
I work closely with a variety of clients across a range of sectors with the majority being corporate entities and owner managed businesses. My role is to assist with the delivery of our technical services which include audit, accountancy, and tax.
As an Audit Manager, I oversee the full audit engagement and will often be the direct contact between RG and the client, as well as reporting back to the Partner/ Director to ensure deadlines are met to the agreed timetable. It is my responsibility to ensure that the audit is running as smoothly as possible, and that any matters arising are appropriately taken care of.
Also, as part of my role, I manage and review the work prepared by junior members of the audit team and spend time assisting with their audit training which is something that I particularly enjoy.
What makes RG different?
I would say the people are what make RG such a good place to work. From the day I joined, I was made to feel welcome and was encouraged to ask as many questions as possible, no matter how simple they may have been! There is such a wide depth of knowledge across the different service lines which means that someone is always able to assist.
I believe this is reflected in the service that we provide to our clients and allows us to provide the technical knowledge and experience that they have come to expect from us.
What do you enjoy outside of work?
Being a proud Yorkshireman, I am a big fan of Rugby League and often head home to my native Hull to watch matches with my family. I took up golf during the pandemic as a reason to leave the house and have been hooked ever since, even if it is the most frustrating sport I have played!
I also love live music and try to go to as many gigs as possible. Newcastle has some great venues across the city so I can often be found at one of them although I think my days of being in mosh pits are behind me!
Tell us about your day so far…
Today I woke up early to get out for a quick run as preparation for the Great North Run in September, before arriving at the office for around 8:30. Here my workday begins with a cup of tea and reviewing my emails to prioritise my workload for the day ahead as well as arranging dates for future stocktakes, and site visits for clients.
I am currently working on the audit of a large, consolidated group, meaning I need to manage several of its subsidiaries and ensure that each of the audits are on track to be completed on time.
Since we are towards the end of this engagement, I spent some time with a member of the audit team explaining the process of audit completion and how to prepare the necessary reports & schedules that are required to ensure that the audit file is complete.
After reviewing one of the audit files, I held a Teams call with the other managers on the engagement to put together a plan for week ahead to ensure that we can deliver our audit findings and opinion in line with the initial timetable.
My days are always varied and today was no different with a video call with another audit client based in the Cotswolds to perform a ‘virtual’ stocktake of cattle and bulls!
In the afternoon, I joined a Teams call with our VAT consultant to discuss the treatment of VAT relief on bad debts, and I finished the day updating a VAT return for one of our larger clients.
And finally, leave us with one interesting fact about yourself…
I once broke my foot playing football and the day after I had the cast taken off, I somehow managed to break my other foot (again playing football!) … I became a bit of a pro on crutches that year!