TONY BAYLISS is a trust partner at accountancy firm Duncan Sheard Glass. He joined the Castle Chambers-based firm nine months ago to specialise in trusts, inheritance tax planning, charities and probate. He lives in Prenton with his wife, Kate, and stepson, Dan. This was his day:
6.30am:I’m always the first up in the morning, so it’s my job to make the tea. We have an old- fashioned whistling kettle – an attempt to bring a farmhouse feel to our suburban house.
7.45am:I’m not on the school run today, so I leave the house and head straight to work. I tend to vary my journey into Liverpool, as I can’t bear the traffic jams in the tunnel every morning. I take the car to the station.
8.30am:First thing I do when I get to work is turn my computer on and sift through my emails. I usually have between 20 and 30 emails to read and deal with.
10am:Each morning, I try to catch up with my team to discuss work- load, and make sure that everyone is content with what they’re doing.
10.30am:Off to my first client meeting of the day. Today it’s with one of the city’s top law firms, and on this occasion my meeting surrounds a forthcoming absolute entitlement of a beneficiary to trust assess.
11.30am:My second meeting is in the office of another of the city’s top law firms. It is again just a short walk from our own offices. This time, the meeting is to agree draft accounts we had produced towards winding up a fairly complicated estate.
12.45pm:I’m the chairman of STEP (the Society of Trust Estate Practitioners) Liverpool branch, and I’m always on the look-out for willing victims to be guest speakers at the various events we hold.
I’m taking one such potential speaker (although he doesn’t know it yet) to Restaurant Bar and Grill for a bit of lunch.
2pm:It’s back to the office, where I’m met by the office post. I receive around 20 to 30 pieces of post a day, all of which have to be sorted through.
4.45pm:Sign-off today’s post. I always make sure that it is completed in time to make the last post collection of the day.
5pm:My last meeting is with a potential new client, regarding IHT planning under an enduring power of attorney. It’s reassuring that, despite all the talk of the credit crunch, the trust department is attracting a healthy number of new clients.
5.45pm:After making sure all my emails have been responded to, it’s on to the day’s serious business – I check the LFC website looking at the team stats and fixtures. I then sign-off for the day and leave the office, convincing myself I’ll make it to the gym tonight.
6.30pm:My fitness plans have somehow been waylaid on the journey home, and I arrive back at home to catch up with my wife on each other’s days.
7.30pm:We share the cooking in our house, and it is my turn, so I rustle up my signature dish of chicken breasts wrapped in pancetta, with new potatoes and seasonal vegetables, which goes hand in hand with a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
