A Day in the Life of Taranaki Business Advisory Services graduate Leah Adams
Are you interested in becoming an accountant? Leah Adams gives an overview of a day in her life as a BAS grad at our Taranaki office!
6.45am: I wake up early and like to have a slow start to my morning before a busy day. I live in the countryside on a dairy farm, so my drive to work is about 30 minutes. I take this time to gather my thoughts, listen to music and have a good start to my day.
8.00am: I arrive at the office. I have a quick discussion with my manager and colleagues to check if there is anything urgent that I need to work on. Otherwise, I continue to work through my to-do list that I made earlier in the week, and update this as more jobs come in. I then get set into my work for the morning, which is often preparing year-end accounts for farming clients.
10.15am: I work in the Stratford, Taranaki office, which is a small team of about 10 of us there each day. We all take our morning and afternoon tea together each day and use this time to connect and chat with each other.
I find this valuable as my team is always aware of what is going on in my personal life and I know the same with theirs. This means we understand each other on a deeper level and can give each other extra help with workloads when someone needs extra support in busy times.
12.30pm: After a couple of hours’ more hard work, I take my lunch break for 30 minutes. In the Stratford office, most of us prefer to take a shorter lunch break so we can finish earlier in the afternoons or have more time to put in extra work during busy seasons. I treat myself to one bought lunch a week and often like to get outside for fresh air on my break.
1.00pm: After lunch, I am straight back into it. GST returns are another task that I do for many of my clients, either monthly, two-monthly or six-monthly, depending on their size. This requires me to go through many invoices in detail and ensure I am covering everything required for me to pass the director review, so I can finalise them. It is very rewarding to watch the process from start to finish and see how my hard work is transferred to helping our clients.
4.00pm: Before heading home, I update my to-do list with what I have completed that day and ensure my timesheet is submitted. Most days after work, I head to the gym before I go home and relax for the evening.
A Wednesday evening is a bit different as I participate in our Baker Tilly Staples Rodway indoor netball team in New Plymouth. Baker Tilly has a wide range of social sports teams we can join and it is a great opportunity to do what I enjoy, whilst getting to know my colleagues on a more personal level. Everyone in our netball team works in the other Taranaki office in New Plymouth, so I find this a good way to connect with people who I don’t see and work with day-to-day.
I then head home for the evening and unwind, often reflecting on everything I have achieved at work that day! I like to set goals and challenge myself at work as there is always room to grow and more to learn!