Fiona Reid

Name: Fiona Reid

Current role: Senior Manager

Department: Assurance & Business Services

University: Manchester

Degree: History & Sociology

I didn’t have a clear idea of the career I wanted when I joined as a trainee chartered accountant in Feb 1999, so I chose to do something different that involved more learning and a qualification. Since then, I’ve worked as a junior, semi-senior, senior, supervisor, manager and now senior manager. I’ve now got a client portfolio of around 60 clients from various industries and I’m the first point of contact for Smith & Williamson for most of these.

I’m responsible for various aspects of department admin including HR, appraisals, department budgets and finance. I prepare accounts and carry out audits, manage the team that do the work and have lots of technical bits to keep on top of. I enjoy the client contact and being able to help those who haven’t got the resources to deal with all their accounting issues themselves.

If you want to do well at Smith & Williamson, it’s mostly about people skills - being able to get on with clients and colleagues. The ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant) qualification is hard work and requires commitment, but it’s all worth it. We’ve got open plan offices that promote all levels of staff to mix, and contact with everyone is encouraged, from clients to colleagues from other offices and trainees. Smith & Williamson is large enough to have the benefits of a big firm, but small enough for everyone to know who you are and what your value is. It’s things like this that make you want to do the best you can for the company.