PAUL Burns is the new associate partner of Liverpool-based chartered accountants and business advisors Alexander Myerson & Co.

The 31-year-old provides a range of accountancy services to small and medium companies and some of the city’s best-known charities.

Paul lives in Halewood with his wife, Vicki, and children, Megan, four, and Charlie, one. This is his working day:

5.30am:I start the day with a cup of tea and five minutes of Sky Sports. I set off on the short drive to my BNI Group, BNI Eagle at the Anglican Cathedral, listening to a few Oasis tunes in the car.

9am:I arrive at the office and go straight to a meeting with my team to discuss an audit we are doing for one of our clients in the hospitality industry. It may sound like number-crunching work, but the audit reports we put together will be critical to the future success of the client’s business. Based on these reports, he will decide what outside investment can be brought in and how he should take the business forward.

11am:I spend half an hour catching up on emails before a meeting with a local equipment hire firm. We are reviewing the client’s accounts and tax spend to decide where savings can be made, where there are opportunities to reduce costs and ultimately where we can increase profit for the company.

The role of accountants has changed significantly in recent years – as well as carrying out the traditional work like audits and book-keeping we are also business advisors, helping the client make their business more profitable.

12.30pm:Usually it’s a quick lunch, but today one of my colleagues has passed her accountancy exams so we all go out as a team to celebrate.

1.30pm:I speak with one of my sole trader clients. He is putting a tender in for a contract which could mean major expansion for the firm. We’re putting together some cash flows and projections to support the tender.

2.30pm:Head to Cheshire for a meeting with a new client of mine in the charity sector. Working with charities is a real passion of mine, which started at a young age, helping my mum with fundraising activities for Barnardos.

I now have a number of clients in the charity sector in Liverpool, helping them with their compliance but also advising them on how to make their organisations run more effectively.

4.30pm:I arrive back at the office in time for our partners meeting, which we have on a regular basis to discuss strategies for taking the company forward, new business opportunities and any general issues.

6pm:I meet for a coffee with a new client, a locum pharmacist who wants advice on tax issues and starting up a new business. This is an area I tend to specialise in and it’s always nice to work with a client from the very start of their business, as you can help them get on the right track straight away.

7pm:I leave the office to get home in time to read the kids a bedtime story, then once they’ve settled down I start dinner. I love to cook and it always helps me to relax after work. Tonight it’s a beef stroganoff with tagliatelle and salad.

Once dinner is over I usually check my emails, have a glass of red wine with my wife then a quiet strum on the guitar before bed.