Mark Smith has work in the accountancy sector for over 20 years and qualified as an ACA in 1995. On 11th June 2012 Mark commenced trading as a sole practitioner under the name M A Smith. The firm was later incorporated as a limited company in 2014.The firm offers its services to sole traders, partnerships, limited companies, mutual societies and charities. These services include the preparation of the following:- Financial statements, including statutory accounts for filing at Companies House- Self Assessment Tax Returns- Corporation Tax Returns- VAT Returns- Payroll- Company Secretarial- BookkeepingWhere relevant all the necessary online filing will also be carried out.All clients will be provided with a free initial consultation meeting to assess their needs and tailor the service accordingly. A fixed fee quotation will be provided withing 24 hours of this meeting.In addition appointments can be made out of office hours if this proves to be more convenient.

As well as running my practice I have now taken on the role of Finance Manager for a local charitable training company.

At EFL I managed the firm’s Accounts Department. I was responsible for:• The supervision of 4 staff & 3 subcontractors;• Reviewing all work prepared in the department and providing constructive feedback;• Raising invoices for work done in the department and emailing draft accounts to the clients;• Providing staff with answers to any queries raised;• Preparing accounts and tax calculations for the larger clients and• Supporting the marketing and development of the firm. This included attending breakfast club and local business club meetings.

At CPT my responsibilities and duties included:• Planning and completing of all of the firm’s audits. These were all carried out onsite and involved the supervision of a junior member of staff. The types of organisation audited included working men’s clubs, independent charities and various small private limited companies; • Accounts preparation for mainly private limited companies;• Preparation of corporation tax computations and returns;• Preparation and filing of the P11ds;• Preparation of quarterly VAT returns for some of the working men’s clubs. These were carried out onsite;• Dealing with client’s telephone queries and resolving in the most beneficial way possible;• Self assessment tax return preparation for directors and• Tax planning – an example of this was looking at the dividend policies of companies.

As Financial Accountant I was responsible for the running of the Accounts Department. This role included:• The management of 2 staff members;• Daily/ weekly cashflow forecasting and planning;• Dealing with the bank and factoring company on a daily basis and solving any problems that arose;• Daily, weekly and monthly reconciliations of the factoring account; • Payroll preparation on a weekly and monthly basis. I was also responsible for running the year end routine and preparing the relevant P60s, P14s and P35;• Speaking to customers and suppliers from both the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; • Monthly management accounts preparation and• Dealing with the taxation authorities on the directors’ behalf.

While working at Mitchells I gained experience in many different aspects of practice including audit, accountancy, company secretarial and taxation. I was made Assistant Corporate Manager in 1997. In this role I was responsible for:• Planning and allocating work for the six trainees on the corporate team;• Reviewing accounts to ensure that they have prepared to an appropriate standard and providing constructive feedback to junior staff and; • Monitoring the work of the corporate team to ensure completion within the necessary deadlines.I also undertook various other activities. These included:• Writing articles for a local business magazine;• Providing Sage line 50 accountancy training to clients on a one-to-one basis. This was supported by 50% external grant funding and;• The preparation of quarterly management accounts for the firms’ largest client. This work was mainly carried out on the client’s premises.