A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A TAX ADVISOR AT FORTUS

“having broken through my ceiling, the only thing stopping you breaking through yours, is you.”

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7am

Start work at home. I love feeling like I’ve got a head start on the day. As a morning worker, 7-9am is my most productive time. Due to the flexibility of the team, I’m able to maximise this time and miss the rush hour traffic. During this quiet, undisturbed time I would usually be reviewing legal documents, reports and other work prepared by the team.

9.30am

Arrive at the office, meet the Leicester-based team for a coffee and plan the day (it doesn’t always go to plan, but that’s what makes it exciting!) We agree on the 5-6 things that must get done no matter what.

10am-1pm

I’d ‘typically’* have a blend of client facing and internal meetings. A client meeting would ‘typically’ either involve meeting with clients to discuss prospective tax advisory solutions, or to run through advice which has recently been circulated, to ensure full understanding before proceeding to legal implementation. I’d usually attend these meetings with one of our Leicester Directors or the relationship holder who will assist by setting the advice in the context of the client’s wider needs and affairs.

An internal meeting will ‘typically’ involve touching base with the team members who aren’t based in the Leicester office, either as a weekly check-in or to run through a specific project/technical area or catching up on projects with relationship handlers from other offices… as the team services all 10 offices across the country!

*I use ‘typically’ throughout as no two days are the same at Fortus and nothing’s really considered ‘typical’!

1-2pm

Lunch (at my desk usually – although I try to pop across the road to Aldi to grab some energy boosting snacks for the tax team!)

2-5pm

Usually, additional meetings or time spent reviewing work prepared by the team.

5’ish

I’ll try to be out of the office to make it to my tennis club to be on court for 6pm. The perfect mental break after a long day!

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honest thoughts on working at fortus…

Prior to starting discussions with Fortus, I’d hit a wall at my old job where I wanted more. I was concerned moving to a larger firm would mean sacrificing the freedom to be exclusively involved in high-value tax advisory work. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The Tax Advisory team at Fortus brings all the benefits of a boutique specialist advisory firm yet with the resource and support of 14 additional service lines. When I first spoke with the leadership team, there was an openness and honesty about both the challenges and the opportunities that a tax advisory venture poses which I found extremely refreshing.

On starting, it quickly became apparent that the opportunities extend as far as you can reach – and further. I was immediately involved in all aspects of projects and given complete trust and autonomy to build the role and the reputation I wanted. There was truly no ceiling, and I received an incredible amount of support, first and foremost from Chris Wilson, our exceptional Head of Tax, and also from the wider leadership team who went out of their way to welcome and support me.

Nine months in and as a team, we’re breaking every target set, building a talented team of individuals who are both technically unrivalled and able to translate advice into simple terms clients can understand and appreciate. Our only downfall? Success breeds its own problems. With a phenomenal amount of varied and exciting new work being won, we need more hands with which to do it!

Joining our Tax Advisory team presents a unique opportunity to build the role you want across all taxes and all aspects of tax advisory projects. Each day requires problem solving, thinking on your feet in client facing meetings, working in a high energy, fast-paced team with the upmost support and encouragement from across the business. Having broken through my ceiling, the only thing stopping you breaking through yours, is you.

If you’d like to join our team, feel free to drop me an email.