Kayleigh shares her thoughts about building a career specialising in tax.
What’s your role in the firm?
Senior Tax Manager
How has your role progressed since you first joined?
I started at Scholes in a trainee position in Accounts & Bookkeeping in 2011, moving over to Tax 18 months later, before developing into a management role.
What do you most enjoy about your role?
I thoroughly enjoy the tax work, which is more varied than one might imagine! Whether it’s tax planning – helping clients to identify where tax savings can be made – or a complex query for which I can utilise my problem-solving skills, every day is interesting with new challenges and problems to solve. Tax rules and processes are continually changing, and I also regularly work with clients living and working overseas which involves international tax aspects, so the knowledge and experience both gained and utilised continues to grow and expand in new and interesting ways.
How would you describe the culture at Scholes?
The work here at Scholes is challenging (in a good way!) and we are both trusted and encouraged to explore the full potential of our skillset by working on a range of tasks, as part of an overall growth mindset, so that we can help even more businesses and individuals across the UK and beyond, whilst retaining our core values.
What do you most enjoy about working with clients?
Whether I’m working on a Tax Return or one of the many other types of tax submissions I make to HMRC, I’m very happy number-crunching and getting everything into a format ready for submission so that our clients can get on with running their business, however, I’m always happy to take the time to break down and explain tax calculations in different ways, and enjoy helping our clients fully understand their tax liabilities and reporting obligations, enabling them to be better informed when making decisions.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
If anyone is considering a career a tax, go for it! The variety of work we cover and the need for problem solving offers incredible intellectual stimulation every day, and the professional study options help you to hone your technical skills, whilst communicating with colleagues and clients on a daily basis. It’s not just limited to income tax either, with opportunities to study other tax specialisms, such as Inheritance Tax, Trusts, VAT, and more, which can be immediately applied in the workplace to real life situations for our clients.
