MARK Linney is the owner of Liverpool firm TaxAssist Accountants which is based in Aigburth Road in south Liverpool and is a man with a daredevil hobby.

The practice specialises in looking after the accounts and tax affairs of small firms in the city. This was his day:

7am: I get up and have my breakfast. I’m lucky that I live only five minutes away from our office in Aigburth Road so I’m usually in the office by 8am.

8am: I have one hour without the phone ringing. It gives me a chance to go through any e-mails that may have come in overnight.

What often happens is that clients get home in the evening and there might be a letter waiting for them from the Inland Revenue. So they’ll send me an email asking for my help. Then I’ll download my diary for the day.

9am: I have my first meeting of the day. It is with the owner of a specialist bakery firm that is looking to expand and we are trying to organise some corporate finance for them.

We have to thoroughly go through all the expansion plans. Things like affordability, cashflow, impact on turnover and profits.

We put together a brief for the corporate finance guys to have a look at.

11am: Final sign-off on a number of accounts. I discuss these with other members of our team.

1pm: Lunch is usually a sandwich at my desk – if I’m lucky – but today is a special treat because I have a working lunch with an invoice factoring company.

We try to negotiate with them to get good rates for our clients but, of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

2pm: Much of the rest of the afternoon is spent in face-to-face meetings with clients about their accounts and tax returns.

I enjoy meeting the clients and talking to them about their businesses. We have everything on our books from a horse whisperer to major construction companies so meetings are always interesting.

5pm: I check the weather forecast to see what the local wind speed is. If it is over 12 knots then I will jump in the car and head off to New Brighton to indulge in my favourite hobby – kite-surfing.

I used to fly kites when I was a kid and I was fascinated by them. About three years ago I was walking with my daughter when we saw some kite surfers and she said: “You would never do something like that.”

So I decided to prove her wrong and have a go and after my first attempt I ended up spending two days in hospital. However, I wasn’t deterred and still do it whenever I can.

8pm: If I go kite-surfing I may go for a quick beer afterwards. I might take calls from clients up until about 9pm and am usually in bed by 11pm.