08
All Roads Lead to Aspen Waite… Richard Hill
Richard.Hill@aspen-waite.co.uk
The route to my current role has been a somewhat strange one. Looking back I don’t know if it was tremendously unlikely, or inevitable.
I have also taken up running during the pandemic – apparently it becomes enjoyable at some point, and I will let you know if this ever happens.
Today I specialise in Innovation Tax Reliefs, advising particularly on R&D tax relief and Patent Box. I do dabble in other areas of tax, but keep returning to these old favourites. After all, it is nice to have a job where clients smile when they see you coming, and who doesn’t like getting money out of HMRC?
When sport is not an option, I am an avid reader across all genres. I also have a passion for games and competition of all kinds. I have what could be described (wrongly) as too many shelves of board games, including rulebooks for games I do not own and may never play.
Before the career stuff, a little about me. I am father to two young boys, who take up much of my time outside of work. When I can, I head down to the squash club to play in the local leagues, get out on my paddleboard, and (if time allows) pick up my sabre and do a bit of recreational fencing. I would dearly like to do more skiing than I do, but the realities of small children make this a rare treat.
In the world of work, I am a Chartered Accountant, and have been working in the field of Innovation tax relief for around ten years. I ended up coming at accountancy from an oblique angle. After various jobs including running clubs, bar work and the like, I went to university to study Mathematics (I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up, and it sounded impressive on paper). My transition to the world of
work proper started by dabbling in teaching, followed by ski instructing, and then a few years of engineering. After this, becoming a Chartered Accountant seemed like the logical next step, so I joined the graduate scheme at Grant Thornton and effectively restarted my career. I quickly got sucked into R&D relief, given my engineering experience and interest in science and technology. By the time I was chartered, I had moved to a permanent role in what was then the R&D team. In the fullness of time this team became the Innovation Group, which I would eventually lead out of the Thames Valley and Southampton, supporting all of the south, and sometimes as far north as Scotland. It was in this role that I learned my trade, and also developed a passion for people management and coaching. At the end of the day, everything we do is about people.
