A day in the life of a super hero… I mean an accountant. (Which is much more exciting.)

Carly Woodland, Manager

Rise and shine it’s 4.45am and I wake up before my alarm! This isn’t unusual I’ve never been a great sleeper so quite often wake up pretty early.

As many of you reading will know from my ‘The 5am club’ blog I set my alarm for 5am every day to go on my treadmill.

I get up and go on my treadmill which I really enjoy, and it puts me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

The two feral beasts wake up AKA Logan and Mason, my two sons aged 2 and 5. Most mornings I feel like I’ve done a day’s work before I’ve even left the house trying to get them ready! I rush out the house to the office, music on full blast on my commute to the office.

Most days it’s a race between me and Derek as to who’s in first as we both get in for 8am, and neither of us like to lose! I catch up on emails and plan my day ahead. I’ve got a busy day ahead reviewing some accounts, VAT returns and a few payrolls. I’m sure there will be a few extra queries from clients thrown into the mix too.  Some of these I’ll know off the top of my head and some I’ll have to research to make sure I’m providing the correct advice.

I start the day by phoning HM Revenue and Customs, it’s always good to do this first thing as the wait times really increase as the day goes on. Even when I phone early in the day, I can be waiting for over an hour to speak to somebody. I’m pleasantly surprised as I get through in just over 10 minutes to follow up on a client’s tax repayment and get a very helpful member of staff who notifies me it is being processed and the client should receive this in 10 working days, so I let my client know.

First meeting of the day – the 10am team meeting. We have a hybrid working model so have a meeting every day on Zoom so we can check in, discuss what work everyone is doing and ask any questions. This is handy so we all know what everyone is doing, and Derek usually tries to liven things up with some sort of ‘Dad’ joke that everyone tends to groan at!

I try and be organised and make sure my clients can meet their deadlines early, so I’ll always request information early to try and get this done. Most of my clients are pretty good at sending their information but it can be frustrating when they leave it to the last minute and creates a rush for the team and myself to get things done!

Next up, a meeting with a potential new client who wants to discuss using us to prepare their company accounts and personal tax return. We explain the services we offer, as conversational accountants we are different to other accountants as we have much more regular contact with our clients and like to review many of our clients figures monthly and provide feedback on this. This results in them having more control and visibility of their business finances, we can also deal with queries very quickly if we have up to date information and advise clients of estimated tax liabilities so they can put funds aside for this. The meeting goes well and now we understand exactly what the potential client wants we can follow up with a quote.

Lunch time next – I meet my friend Anna, and we go for a walk into the village down the road Piccotts End. It’s very pretty with lots of old cottages and is very relaxing feeling like you are in the countryside just outside of town. I have a good catch up with her and go back to work feeling recharged ready for the afternoon.

I get back to quite a few new emails so deal with these first, I like to keep on top of my emails and respond to my clients as quickly as I’m able to, then I crack on with work and get through my to do list for the day. It’s been a productive day, and I’ve managed to do everything I wanted. I always aim to leave the office at 5pm to pick up the boys and spend some time with them before their bedtime. Once I’ve put them to bed, I’m off out for the evening with a couple of friends for dinner then time for bed before another day of work! I really do cram a lot into my days juggling my roles at work, as a wife, Mum, friend etc but I thrive off being busy, so it suits me well!

No day at work is the same. Some days I work at home, some days I’m at the office, some days I have no client meetings and some I have a few, but there’s always lots of work to do so it’s never quiet (or boring). I really do love the mix of clients I have of varying sizes and industries and the work I do for them as it never gets boring.

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