Tim Mallon has recently joined Leathers LLP as Development Director. Here he talks about his background, what made him join Leathers and his thoughts for the future.
Tell us about your background
I’ve worked in the North East for almost thirty years – returning home following six years working In London. During my time in the North East, I’ve worked in a number of chartered accountancy and advisory practices across the region although the majority of my time has been in and around Tyneside. I’m a Gateshead lad so that suits me fine.
How has your career developed
over that time?
I was fortunate to join Price Waterhouse when I came home, or should I say “rejoin” as I trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PW in London in the 1980s. PW in the 1990s was a great place to work and develop as a tax advisor. I was surrounded by some of the best brains in the business and the firm was at the cutting edge not only in terms of IT but also in how they managed customer relationships and marketed to potential clients.
I left PW in 1995 as I wanted to get more involved as part of a team running our own business whilst continuing to develop my skills as a tax and business advisor.
I’ve been fortunate to have lead the tax teams in three of the region’s firms over the last twenty years or so and I hope to use those combined experiences in my new role at Leathers LLP.
How did your new role come about?
I knew Michael Leather from my days in PW, Michael held a senior role in the tax team in PW Newcastle and I was a couple of rungs down the ladder when he left to set up his own business. He offered me the chance to join him then but it wasn’t right for me at the time having come home and being recently married.
Michael called me late last year and when we met he outlined a chance to help him and his team develop his business. He described a business which had grown over the last 27 years but which could do so much more. The business had provided some fantastic advice over the years, particularly to high net worth individuals and leading entrepreneurs. I sensed that he had built a great base which was just waiting for the right opportunities to present themselves.
What are your first impressions?
In these first few weeks, I have been hugely impressed by the nature of our client care and the quality and ingenuity of the advice we provide. Our clients are really well looked after and we act as a quasi “family office” for a number of our clients. What is really exciting for me is the potential for us to do more in a landscape where clients need imaginative advisors more than ever before.
What is your role?
A couple of days before I joined the business, Michael and I agreed that my title would be Development Director. I am working with the team to help the business grow, to attract new clients and to enhance the superb team that we already have. In that regard we are already recruiting and, if successful, our staff numbers should increase by around 20% this year. It’s a hard market to recruit in though when our standards are so high.
We are currently finalising our business plan and we have started a brand review project. I am still a tax advisor at heart though and I’ve contributed to some of the tax advisory work we are doing for clients, The younger guys here certainly keep me on my toes when we are brainstorming solutions for clients’ tax problems!
And the future?
Our business plan has been driven by the challenges that our clients will face in the coming years. The nature of their relationship with HMRC will change as we move towards the digitalisation of tax returns and the like. The use of the cloud will enable financial information to be provided more quickly but that information won’t generate good business decisions of itself. Without genuine business insight, you just make the same bad financial decisions but more quickly!
It’s the combination of real time financial information, business experience and imagination which will deliver real value to clients. That’s our aim.
More generally, we have just reopened our office in Durham and we’ll be looking to build our client base even further in the county. We’re not just accountants and tax advisors though and some of the team are raising money for the William Wates Memorial Trust by completing the Tour de France cycling course not me I hasten to add!
We’ll start to implement our ambitious business plan shortly and some of the developments we are working on will undoubtedly feature in later editions of Northern Insight. It’s going to be exciting!
