Company Description
At S&W, we help our clients thrive by simplifying the complex, illuminating new paths, and shaping solutions that make a difference. As one of the UK’s top 10 fastest-growing accountancy firms, we have been a trusted partner since 1881—helping businesses and individuals meet challenges and seize opportunities across generations.
Built on expertise and driven by ambition, we provide a comprehensive range of services, including tax and accountancy, advisory and assurance, corporate finance, and restructuring. We are defined by our purpose—to help navigate challenges, unlock potential, and achieve the extraordinary.
Job Description
About the Role:
This position involves developing and nurturing new business opportunities and client relationships to expand tax and related services, supporting the Head of Department and the wider team, you will hold overall responsibility and accountability for a portfolio of clients, demonstrating strong technical expertise in your field. The role includes leadership and development of Associate Directors and other team members, ensuring outstanding client service while minimising conduct risk. Additionally, you will contribute to the management and strategic direction of your department and/ or office, where applicable.
Key Responsibilities:
Client Advice
- Able to provide suitable strategic and technical advice and guidance to clients with regard to their tax affairs.
- Understand and be able to evaluate the client's situation and tailor the advice according to their specific needs providing clear and technically accurate documentation and key transaction documents.
- Potentially have or be able to build a sector specialism.
- Understand and be able to evaluate the impact of market and general economic indicators and identify any necessary changes to proposed tax advice.
- Able to provide support to clients in their negotiations, liaising with other advisers, co-ordinating their activities where necessary and anticipating and suggesting appropriate solutions to any challenges arising.
- Able to oversee the reports and advice given by the team and review, edit and authorise key documents.
Client Liaison
- Able to structure and lead client meetings ensuring that information given is up to date, clear and not misleading and meets the client's needs.
- All dealings with clients are conducted professionally and their requests are dealt with in a timely and effective manner.
- Correspondence and reporting is clear and not misleading, technically accurate and meets client's needs.
Growing the Business
- Promote and build the group's reputation internally and externally.
- Contribute to business strategy where relevant to help ensure that decisions put the client first and are commercially viable.
- Assist your Head of Business (HoB) with PR for your field of expertise.
- Promote cross-selling within the group.
- Build and cultivate relationships with clients and potential clients of the group.
- Identify and pursue key targets.
- Responsible for marketing and business development activities for your field of expertise as agreed with your HoB.
Quality Control, Compliance and Risk Management
- Ensure compliance with the group's internal procedures so as not to expose the group to unacceptable levels of risk.
- Ensure compliance with the group's compliance manual and relevant operating procedures and manuals for your business line.
- Maintain personal technical competence.
- Report complaints and potential PI issues for your team/direct reports in line with the group's complaints procedures.
Financial Management
- Monitor and manage chargeable hours, utilisation, recoveries, WIP, billing and lock up for you and your team, ensuring where possible lock up is kept to a minimum and clients are billed regularly.
- Monitor and manage time recording for you and your direct reports and ensure prompt submission of time sheets.
- Hold regular financial performance reviews with your direct reports in respect of your client portfolio.
- Inform the HoB promptly of all WIP and bad debt provisions or any other material issues affecting the financial performance of the department.
- Ensure compliance with the Delegated Authority Limits and any other relevant policies in respect of WIP and debtor management.
Staff Management & Development
- Act as an effective leader in accordance with the Exceptional Leader profile and competencies.
- Responsible for the day to day management of direct reports.
- Conduct annual development reviews (ADRs) for your direct reports.
- Act as mentor and help to develop talent in line with the TBS talent programme.
- Ensure that your own high standards of technical and professional competence are maintained and are developed for other members of your team/direct reports.
- Ensure that you help to develop strong management and leadership skills in your direct reports.
- Ensure your direct reports are developed in accordance with their ADRs and talent development plans.
- In conjunction with your HoB, manage, counsel and develop your direct reports with a view to maximising their work potential (in terms of their skills, knowledge and experience, management style and client care).
Key Performance Indicators:
- Work under your control and direction: it is expected that, unless contributing significantly to management or having a strong technical bias, a director should be responsible for a client portfolio of at least £250,000 per annum.
- Chargeable hours: it is expected that, unless contributing significantly to management, a full time director should regularly record at least 900-1,000 chargeable hours per annum.
- A director would be expected to have under recoveries of <10% per annum on scale rates set within the department.
- A director would be expected to have overall lock-up below the relevant KPIs set for their business line.
- A director would be expected to keep tight control of debtors and demonstrate a commercial approach in connection with outstanding fees.
Qualifications
Education/Qualifications:
- Degree educated
- Chartered Accountant and/or Chartered Tax Adviser
Key experience & skills:
- Extensive knowledge and practical experience of business tax services to clients within a variety of sectors, gained within a professional services firm or boutique advisory practice.
- Proven complex client experience and client handling abilities.
- Demonstrable experience of generating and developing new business and key relationships.
- Strong technical leadership.
- Experience and knowledge of staff management.
- Strong communication and inter-personal skills.
- Strong commercial awareness.
Key Competencies:
- Customer focus - core to your role is to provide an excellent service to clients.
- Judgement - the firm relies on your judgement in the services supplied to clients. This has to be delivered as per the client's needs, technically excellent, commercial and on time.
- Technical expertise - strong technical leadership and maintaining your technical competence is critical to ensuring clients receive an excellent service.
- Networking - you are skilled at developing and growing relationships in the wider market and leveraging these to create opportunities for the business.
- Communication - you communicate both verbally and in writing in an engaging and purposeful manner.
- Leadership - you will help drive and lead a culture of continuous development, be able to identify future talent and act as mentor and sponsor.
Additional Information
As a colleague here at S&W you will have access to benefits that include
- Competitive salary
- Private medical insurance
- Life assurance
- Pension contribution
- Hybrid working model (role dependent)
- Generous holiday package
- Option to purchase additional holiday
- Shared parental leave
- Fully funded training towards professional qualifications
- Cycle to work scheme
- Season ticket loan
- Eye care support
We are proud to value the differences that a diverse workforce brings, representative of society and our clients. At S&W we have a wide range of highly active employee resource groups and we’re delivering multiple diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the organisation. It is our commitment to provide a workplace where all colleagues, regardless of identity, background, or circumstance, feel respected as individuals and feel that they can achieve their full potential and work in a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment.
We are happy to make any reasonable adjustments to accommodate for your needs throughout the application process. Please let your Recruiter know.
