Samantha, who is a member of AAT and ICAEW, joined the Huntingdon office in May 2017 as a Client Manager.
She began studying for her AAT qualification back in 2011, completing levels 2, 3 and 4 before moving on to study for her ACA qualification in 2012 and finally completing this in November 2015.
Samantha has over 8 years’ experience working with small and medium sized businesses, with expertise in limited company accounts, corporation tax, unincorporated accounts, VAT and VAT MOSS returns, payroll and CIS.
She is also a certified advanced user of QuickBooks Online, a certified Xero Adviser and is proficient in other software packages such as KashFlow and Receipt Bank.
Q1. It’s nearly Christmas! We want to know which seasonal song and which festive film gets you in the spirit?
I love all things Christmassy, but if I had to pick one of each I’d say The Pogues – Fairytale of New York and Elf as my favourites.
Q2. Describe George Hay in one word?
Knowledgeable
Q3. We know you’re a bit of a dab hand at baking – what’s your favourite thing to bake? (We’re also quite keen to know if you’ve ever had a baking disaster!?)
Normally, I tend to bake whatever I fancy at the time. I particularly like trying new recipes or cake designs – this doesn’t always pan out though, as one time I made inedible rock cakes that my parents laughingly tried to feed to a hoover salesman; he couldn’t eat them as they were ‘too rock like’.
Q4. Describe yourself in three words?
Optimistic, caring and hungry!
Q5. What’s the best things about being part of the team at George Hay?
We love eating cake, and we pull together to help each other out.
Q6. On a tour of Europe, what 3 countries would be top of your list to visit?
Switzerland, Croatia, Iceland – I haven’t visited any of these yet and they all look beautiful!
Q7. As one of our go-to cloud accounting experts, what would you say are the key benefits, for businesses, of using the software that’s available to them?
As the cloud accounting software available are all developing regularly, there are many apps and programs that can be tied into the accounting/ bookkeeping packages, giving businesses better insights into their operations and creating better efficiencies tailored to their individual businesses.
Q8. Your profile tells us you play hockey, but if you could play any other sport professionally what would it be?
Nothing, as I don’t think I could cope with the fame associated with playing professional sports!
Q9. What motivated you to pursue a career in accountancy and what advice would you give to those considering it as a career?
To begin with I did a business diploma and one of my tutors noted how I seemed to prefer the accounting modules to other elements of the course; from there I looked into what studying would be involved and where I could realistically see that career path taking me.
For anyone considering pursuing accountancy I would say to look into all the options available and remember that a qualification isn’t the only thing that will make you a good accountant!
Q10. We started with Christmas, so we’ll end with Christmas! Let’s talk trees – matching tree decorations or totally random?
Always random! To me Christmas is about having fun and relaxing with loved ones, nothing perfectly organised, the crazier the better!
