Hello, and if you haven’t met me yet (or received an email), I’m Harriet, a Trainee Accountant at Libra Wealth Management. My first day was 20 March 2023, and I can’t believe how quickly my first 15 months have passed.
I remember my first day very well. I woke up, put on my smart work clothes, ready to make a good impression. Unfortunately, by midday, I suffered a migraine and had to be sent home. This wasn’t the first impression I wanted to make, but I came back in on Day 2, feeling much better and prepared to learn.
One of my key tasks in my job role is Onboarding, as many of our newer clients will know. I am currently researching the different types of software for us to implement a new onboarding process and streamline the current system. There are many software available, so I have been trialling a few of the top suppliers.
In May 2023, I attended Accountex for the first time up in London. I used this time to investigate the new onboarding software for Libra, and talk to professional bodies, to enquire about my next steps once I finish my AAT Qualification in July 2024. I found the trip to Accountex useful and enlightening, especially the seminar on “Women in Leadership”. I even had time to grab a Xero coffee!
Since starting at Libra, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of jobs. From completing payroll submissions and VAT returns to submitting accounts and corporation tax returns. I’ve even submitted a good handful of the personal tax returns before the 31 January deadline. Compared to my previous job roles, this is the most variation of tasks that I’ve had working in accounting, in addition to ad-hoc projects such as budgets and capital gains tax submissions.
My favourite task of my first 15 months was working on capital gains tax submission. These are ad-hoc tasks, and most commonly, I have worked on preparing CGT calculations for the sale of residential rental properties. I enjoy calculating capital gains tax because it is like a puzzle. The pieces being the completion statements of both purchase and sale, calculating private residence relief if the person has lived in the property for an amount of time, and deducting enhancement expenditure.
Within my first 15 months, I have completed Level 3 and started Level 4 of the AAT Qualification (Association of Accounting Technicians), and as mentioned previously, I am hoping to have this completed by the end of July 2024. A lot of the work I have completed here at Libra has positively impacted my exams, notably my understanding of residence and domicile (which was very helpful in my Personal Tax exam!).
Recently, one of my ad-hoc projects, outside of working hours, has been sorting and boxing up paperwork in the office ready for our pending refurb. Over the last few months, we have cleared four storage units and one large cupboard of our historic files. I am excited to see how everything looks after the refurb – watch this space!
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post.
