My Year At Srlv

Introduction

It is a well-known fact that finding a job after graduation is the most difficult task that a student to goes through in their university life. Finding a placement year is just as hard. I have been applying to different firms and organizations since the summer of 2018. I went through the extensive processes of the psychometric tests, the multiple interviews and assessment days. After all this, I kept getting rejected and there was a point where I was going to give up on the whole idea of doing a placement. However, this all changed in March 2019 when I passed both interview stages at SRLV. March 20^th, 2019 is a date I will always remember as it was this day when I got confirmation that I was successful in my candidacy. Working at SRLV gave me many an opportunity to develop myself as an individual and to broaden my existing knowledge in accounting.

About SRLV

SRLV is an independent firm of Chartered Accountants based in the heart of London s West End.(About Us, SRLV) &and is number 46 on the Accountancy Age League Table 2019 (Accountancy Age) .The firm was co-founded in 1988 by the following partners Douglas Sedley, Richard Rosenberg, Laurence Finger and Marc Voulters. Hence the name of the firm with the amalgamation of their initials. SRLV consists of 15 partners, 141 staff, 8 main sectors (About Us, SRLV) and a very wide client range. The clients come from a variety of backgrounds such as music and entertainment, professional services, restaurant, hospitality, among others.

SRLV s aims and services

SRLV offer a wide range of services to support their clients. Such services include audit and accountancy, business consulting, tax planning and compliance as well as specific services involving human resources, corporate finance, and company secretarial services (Services, SRLV). In addition, the firm also offer specialised services such as litigation and royalty audits to mention a few. The firm has always been heavily focussed on growing entrepreneurial business (About Us, SRLV). This has not changed for the past 25 years. The firm strongly believe in the value of partnership as working closely with clients diffuses every aspect of the services that SRLV provides. To enforce this close bond with clients, all clients have a designated partner who supervises and manages business-related affairs. Twenty years ago, SRLV founded their own international un ion known as Premier International Associates. This means that they can offer their services worldwide and this has proven to be a success with 30 associated offices and are represented in over 26 countries (About Us, SRLV)

Application of previous knowledge into my daily tasks

One of the tasks that was required of me was to do a Profit and Loss account by territory. Since our clients are mainly musicians, I got to see not only how much profit or loss was generated in the last financial year but also per country they performed in. I found this quite fascinating as this was then forwarded to the Tax team who then calculates the withholding tax due for each country. Whilst doing this, I did manage to apply some of the formulas I learnt in Financial Accounting. For example, gross profit is calculated by deducting the cost of sales from the sales of revenue (Accounting and Finance an Introduction, McLaney Atrill).

As part of a strategy my manager wanted to implement in order to keep on top of our VAT preparation, one of my daily roles was to reconcile all the bank accounts that a client has. I was designated 5 clients that were top priority for VAT returns each quarter. Whilst, posting the transactions on to QuickBooks Online, I was made aware of the rules for expense classification for limited companies which I had briefly looked at in Financial Accounting. In addition, on a monthly basis, I performed a supplier balance detail. This is where we see the outstanding bills and expenses that are in Creditors and query the client to ask how it was paid. This is to ensure that the payables sum to zero when the VAT Return is being prepared. This is also a good opportunity to check if everything is posted to the right supplier and to check if it is in the correct currency. This is also done for the customer balance detail& however, this is less urgent since we raise the invoice and reconcile the banks ourselves.

Later in my placement year, I was taught how to do VAT Returns. This was when I realised the importance of all the checks mentioned in the previous paragraph. It is important as it is these figures that need to match to the turnover reconciliation that is done every quarter which also has to be zero. The most crucial factor however is distinguishing the different VAT rates that we assign different transactions to. The rates I usually assigned to purchases or sales were No VAT, 0% Z and 20% S. No VAT rate is used for transactions that are personal to the client such as food shopping or holiday purchases. Alternatively, if a client or business has not been VAT Registered (i.e. their turnover is under £85,000) all transactions are posted to the gross amount with No VAT rate. The 0% Z rate is used for purchases in categories such as Travel and Subsistence, Business Entertaining, Travel Expenses etc. Some of these types of purchases could also fall into the 20% S rate threshold provided that the client sends us the bill stating the 20 % VAT charge. At the beginning of the placement, I was fortunate enough to receive some VAT training to distinguish the differences, so I felt at ease when heading into posting transactions. Another preparation point that is so important when doing VAT Returns is making sure that all the expenses on QUICKBOOKS ONLINE are matched off to the relevant bills. This is of paramount importance, especially with purchases of big amounts as we need to be careful when allocating them to the relevant VAT rate. Putting the wrong VAT amount on a transaction means the client could claim more or less than what they should.

Opportunity to apply and learn new skills

During my placement I was able to apply my spreadsheet skills that I acquired during my Financial Accounting seminars in first year. I had the opportunity to take this to the next level by not only creating balance sheets, but to also create Profit and Loss statements by territory. The Excel skills in this task are more intricate than what I am used to, but with practice I managed to pick it up quickly.

I also did some analytical work when it came to look at outstanding bills and invoices for the client. This required me to check the attachment and see how it was paid and if not, I would have to query them to send an attachment and the method of payment. The Profit and Loss by territory that I had to conduct also required some analytical skills as I had to work out the shows that each cost was allocated and to check whether it was necessary to allocate the costs between multiple places that the client has toured in.

Moreover, I was fortunate enough to attend webinars that the firm arranged for CPD (Continuing Professional Development) employees to keep up to date within the world of accounting. One of the seminars that really intrigued me was the Tax Implications for Business in a post Brexit world. Corporation tax and & Customers Duties could have potential impact when Brexit is in full operation. In the aspect of Corporation Tax, there could be a re-introduction of tax rules held contrary to EU law (MBLSeminars.com, Anne Fairpo). This means that it is not obligatory for countries in the EU to respect UK regarding the four freedoms. As for customs duties, since the UK is no longer part of the EU, the custom agreements UK hold with EU countries will be no longer. This requires the UK to settle new treaties which evidently will take a prolonged process. Furthermore, UK has left the EU scope of VAT. This means that the Import VAT on EU imports for businesses are recoverable, but the cashflow costs remains (MBLSeminars.com, Anne Fairpo). This would also affect suppliers of electronic services to EU consumers, as they need to register in at least one EU state to access the EU MOSS (MBLSeminars.com, Anne Fairpo). This webinar stood out to me and really did broaden my commercial awareness. Moreover, I was curious to see what impact Brexit could have not only on the UK per se but also in the field of work that I want to pursue in. It is eye-opening to see that I was one of the last people to be able to work alongside all the accounting and tax rules that the UK have held to for years. By the time I graduate, however, I will be stepping into a new world of rules and agreements.

Another webinar that extended my commercial awareness was Tax Round up for the busy accountant . The speaker covered the key areas of the predicted changes that could occur in the & world of tax in 2020. For example, on the 6^th April 2020, the new private sector rules come into force (MBLSeminars.com, Tim Smart). This means IR35 tax will take priority over CIS. We also looked at case studies of where business owners have won or lost against HMRC regarding IR35. My favourite one was the Joanna Gosling (BBC newsreader) case in 2019. Herself and two other newsreaders were caught to IR35. The judge claimed The BBC told the presenters how, where and when to work. They were effectively employees (MBLSeminars.com, Tim Smart). This was a big victory for HMRC, however & they unexpectedly attempted to argue that there had been carelessness. This was done so that HMRC could go back 6 years rather than the limitation period of 4 years. HMRC could not do this successfully since their manuals implied that the ownership for PPR purposes starts when the person physically occupies the property (MBLSeminars.com, Tim Smart). I also attended webinars that covered material that is not accounting based such as Smart Business Writing and How to deal with phone calls professionally .

During the unfortunate pandemic of coronavirus, I got the opportunity and experience of working from home for a few weeks until I, sadly, became furloughed for three months. At the beginning of this short period, I did feel a little demotivated as I missed the human interaction in the office. I also grew impatient in some of the tasks I had to complete as they took longer than usual. One example that automatically comes to mind are payments. Since all the card readers had to go back to the managers, I had to call them just to log into the bank so that they could give me the code. After we got all the necessary paperwork (which consisted of numerous PDFs) I had to merge all the PDFs and send it to my reviewing manager who then sends it down the line to the payment authoriser. Working from home every day made me realise how much I took for granted in the office: the ease of communication, the social atmosphere, and the server connection. One lesson that I had learnt during the lockdown was the importance of adaptability. Adaptability in the workplace is not only just adjusting to a new environment, it also requires coping with the changes and inconveniences that may occur. This is something that I will always remember whenever I am entering a new position and I believe that SRLV has prepared me for that.

Practice makes perfect

One important lesson I have learnt from my placement year is to always take note of your mistakes and then immediately note down how to overcome it. I do hope to use this technique when I start my final year at university and any position I go into. Firstly, when I was arranging payments and doing daily bank reconciliations, I occasionally missed out a few parts because of the long procedure. Even after I had noted it down, I kept making those mistakes and it frustrated me. I then seeked advice from other assistants and they recommended me an arranged, logical order to go through it. I wrote this down on a post it note and stuck it on my computer as I knew this was an everyday task, so it was best to keep it on there as a guide. After two to three months down the line, I managed to do it from the back of my hand and felt so confident doing this procedure every day. Another mistake I made was when I first used Receipt Bank. Receipt Bank is a software that is connected to QUICKBOOKS ONLINE. This allows clients to take a picture of their receipts that they have paid for and Receipt Bank picks up the data such as cost, VAT charge, supplier name, currency and foreign exchange rate. On my side, I had to ensure that the data was picked up correctly, allocate the transaction to relevant category and include a brief memo about the transaction. When I first used this, I allocated the wrong VAT charge to the categories and allocated the wrong category to the transaction. My assistant then emailed me the correct pairings and I used this as a guide. In one of the meetings I had with my manager, he mentioned my eagerness. He said that he liked my enthusiasm and attitude towards the work I produce, however sometimes I get over-eager and tend to rush when doing tasks and miss a few aspects. This was the underlying reason for the mistakes I have caused. I am so grateful that I learnt from these mistakes and gained the valuable skills needed during my placement year at SRLV. It is thanks to this year, that my knowledge of accounting has broadened as I was now exposed to the practicality perspective as well as the theoretical which I had learnt at university. As mentioned before, the lock down period also taught me how to adapt to sudden circumstances and I was fortunate enough to work from home, which was an added plus for gaining experience.

Conclusion

Although my yearlong placement was shortened, it has been a huge learning curve for me. The skills that I have learnt and developed will be of beneficial to me when applying for graduate schemes in a few months time. Throughout my placement year, I was lucky to be exposed to different tasks that required a different skillset. This helped me realise that there are other aspects of the industry that I would like to explore such as Financial Analytics and Tax. Finally, the experience that I have gained has been nothing but rewarding. Now I have established a professional network within SRLV, and I got the opportunity to increase my employability. I believe SRLV has prepared me for the working world and has confirmed my decision that accounting is the right career choice.