Hi, my name is Liam Mylchreest and I’m an Assistant Manager in the Audit and Assurance team in Taranaki. I started at Baker Tilly Staples Rodway at the start of 2020 – however, I refuse to believe me starting the same year as COVID-19 was in any way a bad sign!

The start of my day 

Every morning, I have a plan in mind with what I will do and what I want to get accomplished for the day. The key to not feeling overwhelmed is breaking the day into bite-sized pieces and giving yourself a to-do list.

This then immediately goes out the window as I check my morning emails and the to-do list gets revamped!

Working and living in a client-driven industry will always keep you on your toes – you never know how long a client might take to reply, and you never know when something will pop up that needs your immediate attention. One of the key things I learnt while being a graduate was the importance of being adaptable in what might come your way.

The middle of my day

Training

When I first started, my senior gave me advice that I will hold on to for the rest of my life: “I used to annoy the hell out of my senior with all my questions, now it’s my turn to help you”.

We all start not knowing what we are doing, and we all need someone to take time out of their busy days to help us learn. Being productive is hard when you don’t know what you’re doing, that’s why I like to always make sure I’ve got time to help my team with their questions.

Reviewing

Part of being an assistant manager is reviewing work. This is where the training pays off. I use it as a good time to reflect on my own skills as a trainer – when I’m raising review points, I like to ask myself – “what caused this review point and is it something we need more training on?”.

More training equals better work and less review time

Client-facing

A key part of the audit role, which isn’t driven in at university, is how much of a client-facing role audit is. You deal with a range of people and personalities, and navigating this is sometimes one of the key parts of the job. We’ve all heard of the “annoying auditor” stereotypes, and it’s one of my goals to end that!

The end of my day 

I then reflect on my day – what I have done? What did I need to do? Is there anything else that needs to be done today? What can be done tomorrow? If I’m happy I have done everything I can, I’ll go home a happy auditor and enjoy my evening relaxing with my partner watching terrible TV and winding down ready for another day.