A day in the life at Heelan Associates: Charley

Charley

19 Years Experience

Trained in ATT, MAAT and PA(Dip)MGT

About Charley

“I joined Heelan Associates in August 2018. I have 15 years experience in accounting firms plus 4 years in industry.

I’ve worked with a variety of clients, providing advice on payroll, CIS, accounts, bookkeeping, management accounts, taxation and dealing with queries raised by HMRC.

In addition to my many talents (haha), I also consider myself to be approachable and efficient, whilst bringing laughter to the office.”

Charley’s Day

Before 10 am First thing I review my diary for client meetings scheduled that day, make a cup of tea and check my to-do list. At 9 am, we have a daily 15 minute “Heelan Huddle”. Where we catch up on what we’re working on with our clients and sharing our success stories saving clients tax. It’s great to share this with each other, it’s always a very positive start to the day. After the huddle, I check my emails and respond to any urgent queries, prioritising my workload for the day. This could include calculating tax returns by carefully checking information supplied by the client, preparing accounts work for HMRC (and liaising with them), or speaking to new clients to get them set up.
	Mid-morning If I need to visit a client, then I usually do this in the morning. Clients usually find this to be the least disruptive to their day. Then I can spend as long as is necessary with the client, and follow up on actions that afternoon. I strongly believe that we cannot ever spend too much time with our clients. If a client has any concerns during the meeting, then I make sure we cover this off in detail during the meeting and if there’s something I need to look into further after the meeting, I make sure I follow up asap.
Lunchtime Lunchtime at Heelan’s is always a great time to catch up and chat about our home lives. It is a lovely family atmosphere here and the team are all very supportive of each other. Both when it comes to work, and when sharing our news from home.
	Afternoon After lunch, I will have another check of my emails and continue with the bulk of my to-do list. I could have an update to relay to a client about some tax savings from HMRC. I will always prioritise this to pass back the good news! If there is a new client to speak to, often they need some support setting up their systems and sometimes training on accounting software packages.
The Last Hour Everyone at Heelan Associates is encouraged to take Continuing Professional Development, as we want to stay as up to date as possible, so I usually do this at the end of the day. In addition, I spend some time thinking about processes internally, checking in with the rest of the team and scheduling in my work for the next day.