PAUL CHRISTIAN, 47, is head of assurance at the Liverpool office of accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers. He joined the firm straight from university and has more than 25 years experience of auditing and advising local companies, both large and small. Paul lives in Rainford with his wife, Anne, a teacher, and children, Rebecca, 16, and David, 14.

This is an account of his day on Wednesday, June 13:

6.45am: The alarm goes off – I have no intention of getting up for at least half an hour. I listen to the radio and work out what I have to do today. Breakfast comprises a mug of strong tea and one Weetabix. I exchange a word with David, he’s watching Sky Sports News in the hope of a new signing for Liverpool. There’s no A/S level exam today, so Rebecca won’t emerge for an hour or so. I check my Blackberry and return an email.

8am: In the car – Five Live on. I’m going to a client in Birkenhead so turn onto the East Lancs. It’s grey. I expect it will rain later.

9.05am: I meet my client – an importing and distribution company. He’s Spanish, so I greet him with the few words of Spanish I have picked up while on holiday. He doesn’t seem too impressed. We spend the next hour or so discussing progress on a number of issues but we don’t need to get involved at this stage. We also discuss the exciting finish to the Spanish football season.

10.40am: I phone the office for messages and check my Blackberry. The journey to Chester won’t take long but I’m running late so call ahead. We cover a wide area from the Liverpool office so it’s a good job I enjoy driving.

11.15am: Sign in at reception – a large US-owned manufacturer. We discuss some important changes to the business and some systems developments. We can help in a number of ways and my “to do” list grows.

1.15pm: Head back to the office but stop off on the way for lunch. I make a call and arrange to see a client first thing in the morning. I’ll need to think about how we can help, so for now I add it to my “to do” list. The rain I forecast now arrives in the form of a monsoon.

2.15pm: Arrive in Liverpool and log-on. Numerous passwords and a finger swipe later, I deal with some regulatory and risk management matters connected with my portfolio of clients. I scan the business sections of the newspapers for anything of interest and fire off a couple of emails. I accept calendar invitations to a number of meetings. Isn’t technology brilliant? Internal meeting with Brian Clark, senior partner, to discuss renewal of the office’s Liverpool FC season tickets – he’s a Blue. My negotiation skills win the day and we renew.

3pm: Internal meeting with an audit manager to discuss finalisation of an audit. There are still a couple of issues on recent accounting standards so we agree an action plan and will catch up tomorrow. I make a call to a colleague who specialises in due diligence and might be able to help me plan my client meeting for the morning.

A brief conference call to discuss progress on a proposal opportunity I visited recently. I need some more information so brief our marketing team on the research needed.

A further conference call to our graduate recruitment team to find out the latest position on our increasing graduate recruitment numbers. Getting the best graduates is critical. It’s going to be a late night as I have a dinner to go to so I decide to kick-start (again) my health regime and go for a quick swim before leaving the office to head over to Manchester.

5.20pm: Arrive in Manchester off- ice. The journey has been horren- dous as monsoon conditions have returned. I meet an actuary to discuss how we can help my client meet both accounting and regulatory requirements.

6.30pm: As leader of the PwC NW Chemicals Group, I’m attending the Chemicals North West Dinner tonight at The Lowry. After the speeches it’s time to network. It’s getting late so I call home to let Anne know what time I’ll be back, and leave.

12.15am: Pull into the drive and yawn. It’s been a long day, but I feel as if I’ve achieved a lot. I check the morning post. Liverpool season ticket renewal forms have arrived. I’ll pay for those next month.