Qualified accountant

The Firm

Payne Hicks Beach is a 45 partner firm of solicitors based in offices at 10 New Square, Lincoln’s Inn.  In total the firm comprises about 200 staff.  The firm provides specialist legal services to private and commercial clients.  We are best known for our family and private client work and are widely regarded as one of the very best of the small number of firms in the UK who provide these specialist services at the highest level.  We also have an excellent reputation in many other areas of law (rated in both Chambers and Legal 500).

Our offices are located in one of the finest squares in London, a building which the firm has occupied since 1770.

More information about the departments and the work of the firm may be found on our website, the address of which is www.phb.co.uk

The Private Client department

The Private Client department has two sections, the legal section and the trust and tax section.  These two sections work closely together on our clients’ affairs so as to provide a seamless service.

The legal section comprises solicitors, legal executives and secretaries. The trust and tax section consists of qualified and unqualified trust and tax accountants and practitioners, four apprentices and secretaries. We have four Chartered Tax Advisers and three Chartered Accountants within the team.

The Client Base

 Whilst there is no such thing as a typical client, the profile of clients who are looked after by both sections of the department are wealthy families who normally have a number of family trusts and grant making charitable trusts which are managed by the trust and tax section.  The values of the trusts range from £1m to £250m with funds invested in a wide range of assets including quoted investments, bespoke open ended investment companies, hedge funds, landed estates, residential and commercial property, commercial property funds and heritage property. Although the majority of our clients are of British nationality, there is a substantial offshore, foreign and international aspect to our practice. We act for both entrepreneurs who have generated their own wealth, and families whose assets have accumulated over the generations.

 Duties and Responsibilities

• Managing the compliance and administration of trusts to include accounts and tax returns
• Inheritance tax returns for trusts
• Preparation of accounts for charitable organisations
• Managing tax affairs of individuals including preparation of tax returns
• Producing meeting papers for and attendance at client meetings
• Assisting with more complex cases and on ad hoc assignments as required
• Assisting with the training of more junior members of the team

The Individual

•  Ability to be proactive and reactive in addressing clients’ affairs and requirements
• Strong communications skills and an ability to work as part of a team, including with our private client lawyers and other professionals within and outside this firm
• Achieve minimum time targets and meet regular billing requirements
• Ability to keep abreast with changes in legislation and market developments
• Good IT skills and preferably a working knowledge of CCH Trust Accounts and CCH Personal Tax
• Good knowledge of trust accounting and the taxation of trusts
• An understanding of estate, personal, offshore and indirect taxation matters
• ACA newly qualified to five years post qualified.