IAN Burton is corporate finance director at Liverpool accountancy firm, Duncan Sheard Glass. He has more than 15 years of experience in corporate finance and also audit of corporates and pension funds across a range of sectors including technology, retail and property.

Here is his working day.

6am: It’s an early start this morning as I’m due at the Holiday Inn in Chester for a social networking event with the local Chamber of Commerce. Having moved from Birmingham two years ago, I am still very much getting to know Merseyside and the surrounding areas, so mornings like this are ideal for developing useful contacts and making potential business leads. I have just enough time to jump in the shower and grab a quick cup of tea before leaving my home near Abergele, North Wales.

9.15am: I’m back in my car and ready to face the rest of the day having taken full advantage of the cooked breakfast on offer. I met a few potential clients including two start-up companies. The first is looking for someone to handle their accounts and the second needs someone to do their VAT returns. I’ll pass this information on to my colleagues so an introductory meeting can be arranged in the next day or two. I quickly check my Blackberry for any urgent phone messages or emails, before heading off to the Liverpool office in Castle Chambers.

10am: I’m now at my desk with a cup of tea, and I’m going through my emails. I’ve had an email from one of my contacts at Royal Bank of Scotland asking me to review a business plan. We set up a mid- morning meeting for tomorrow where we’ll discuss the terms and conditions of working together and put in place a plan moving forward. In any one day I can also receive numerous emails from clients asking for advice and support and today is no exception. One client needs advice on their cash flow forecasts so I call him and ask a series of questions about his policy on distributions and the tax assumptions he’s made so far. I am then able to put together some figures for him to look at.

1.30pm: I have just come back from the Restaurant Bar and Grill where my colleague, Paul Hyland, and I were having lunch with a client. This client is thinking about selling his business and wants advice on how it would all work from a practical point of view. He wanted to know how his taxation would be minimised and what the legal ramifications would be, so we talked him through the basic ins and outs of company buy-outs and the financial implications he needed to consider. We also asked our client why he is thinking of selling his business and how much he is hoping to make as more often than not these factors dictate how the transaction is structured.

2.45pm: I’m now off to see another client, this time at her home on the Wirral. Some clients prefer to talk about their businesses or personal finances in the privacy of their own homes, so in these cases, we will travel to them wherever possible. This client wants my advice on ways of recovering from the losses her business is currently making. I suggest a number of tactics beginning with some margin analysis which will identify where the losses are occurring. Then we draw up a detailed weekly cash flow and agree on actions before amending the business plan.

5pm: Meeting over and I’m back in my car on my way home. As I’m due out again this evening, I am popping home early to get changed and have a bite to eat. Tonight I’m at a drinks reception with an investment fund manager at Liverpool’s Pier Head. I’m looking forward to this more informal networking event, what better way to do business than in the heart of the city centre with a glass of bubbly or two.