Day in the Life: Lauren Jones, forensic accounts manager at Baldwins

In the Accountancy Age Day in the Life careers series, we discover what accountants get up to during their working day.

Accountancy is a varied and diverse career choice, which offers numerous different roles. No two days are the same whichever route you choose.

In this series we get an insight into how accountants in both practice and industry typically spend their days.

Lauren Jones is a forensic accounts manager at Baldwins.

6:30am

I’m on a trading estate just outside Cardiff, warming up for the Crossfit workout of the day.  I puff my way through an hour of strength and conditioning led by the coach.  She was an Amazonian warrior in the film Wonder Woman, so you don’t mess around!  I feel a lot more energised for exercising in the morning and it’s great having the workouts programmed for you.  I think my progress is somewhat stunted by my love of chocolate and gin, but what can you do?

7:30am

I drive home to shower, change and eat more calories than I burned.  I walk the 10 minutes from my flat to the Baldwins office in Cardiff Bay.

8:00am

Time to say hi to the team and catch up with my director.  We have been instructed as the single joint expert in a divorce case.  The husband is a part-owner of an events business and the wife has substantial property assets.  We need to value the events business and I know from the briefing call with the solicitors that this won’t be straightforward.  I have received two files of disclosures from the husband.  I set to understanding the financials of the business.

I expect to work on this valuation until my coffee meeting at midday.

10:30am

My phone rings and it’s a solicitor from a local corporate law firm.  His client is a high-profile company in South Wales and the FD is suspected of fraudulent misuse of funds.  Having carried out some initial investigations internally, the company suspects that thousands of pounds have disappeared over several years.  They are ready to instruct independent forensic accountants to unravel the situation.  I always enjoy getting stuck into a fraud investigation!  It’s a tight deadline, so I put down the valuation of the events business to draft the quote.

12pm

I head to a coffee shop in the town centre for a light lunch and a quick catch up with a local family lawyer.  We are connected through our networks on LinkedIn but I am using this opportunity to update them on our service offering in person. Since I joined Baldwins, we have expanded our forensic services quite rapidly and  now have experts across the country who deliver at a local level. Our lunch meeting goes really well and  there is definitely new work here to be had in the future.

1pm

Back to the office and I revisit the quote for the fraud investigation.

2:30pm

I turn my attention to the client we are meeting in half hour.  He is selling his company and has instructed us to manage the transaction.  I gather my initial research on potential buyers, along with the draft sale memorandum for discussion.

3pm

The client arrives at our offices.  The meeting is very productive; we finalise the sale memorandum and agree a buyers list.  Fortunately, several of the potential buyers we have identified are contacts of Baldwins, a warm lead is always helpful!  We hand over to our tax team to explain the tax implications of the transaction and how we will manage them together.

5pm

The meeting finished.  I finalise the quote for the fraud investigation and share with the team for review.  I leave on time to get to my MMA class for 7:30pm, and then something healthy to eat for tea when I get home later this evening.

Tomorrow I plan to send out the teaser to the buyers list and return to the valuation report, but as ever, plans are very fluid in forensics and corporate finance.  My day often involves switching from commercial corporate finance work to the more regulated forensic instructions and back again.  It certainly keeps me on my toes!