It’s always interesting to have a peek behind the scenes, so we’ve asked members of the team to let us know what a typical day in the office is like for them. It’ll help you to get to know us better and give you a better understanding of the work we do. This time, we’d like to introduce you to one of our Directors, Karen Chase.
As a Director, my job involves: managing, training and helping the audit/accounts team, overseeing and reviewing audits and accounts, dealing with clients, preparation of accounts, personal and corporate tax returns. I also help to run the office and oversee Charlotte, our business administrator, as well as attending networking meetings and seminars.
A typical day
5.45 am – Woken up by the alarm. I had enough time to get ready before I woke the kids up to get them ready for school. Mum arrived at 7 o’clock to look after my daughter Brooke, then take her to school, and I left with my son Keaton at 7.15. After dropping Keaton off, I got a peaceful half hour drive to work.
7.50am – The first thing I did when I arrived at work was check my emails, then I drew up a list of things I had to do and work I needed to delegate, e.g. analysing figures in a different format for a client with a German parent company. I then reviewed the work our trainee accountants Ryan, Ben and Angelo had done the previous day, and set them new tasks. Our manager Catherine Hill usually helps me with these things, but she’s just started maternity leave – I’m already missing her loads!
When the rest of the team arrived, we discovered that Brad, another trainee accountant, had passed his exam and had brought in cakes to celebrate. However, there were none for me as I’d just started a 12-day detox – Karen with no coffee is not ideal!
9.00am – I had a meeting with one of our accountants, Barrie, about a current audit. They had a new provision in their accounts, so we needed to talk about what the audit approach would be.
9.30am – I then reviewed a client’s audit files and emailed them to arrange a post-audit meeting.
10.45am – I spent a few minutes setting up a new client on our system who I’d had a meeting with the previous day, making sure we had all the correct documentation on file and asking for any we still needed.
11.00am – I reviewed a small accounts file that our manager Karen had done, then passed it back to her so she could send final accounts to the client for signature.
11.30am – I had a quick catch-up with Charlotte about all the events HB Accountants are involved in: the Ambition 2017 sales and marketing conference for SMEs; the Teens Unite stall at Hoddesdon Loves Christmas (25 November); the Hertfordshire Business Awards evening (23 November); and also to check on the progress of our office Christmas lunch and Secret Santa.
