3 minute read
All Roads Lead to Aspen Waite
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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.
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?
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. 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.
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.
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.
Whether it is the businesses we support or the teams we work in, getting things done needs people you can trust and rely on. I take real pleasure in supporting people to achieve their goals, and it is a privilege to be able to help someone realise they are capable of far more than they may have believed. I later moved on to a more general tax role with another firm, where I helped restructure the team and processes, leaving behind a tax offering that was confident to face the new world emerging from the global pandemic. I was glad to expand my skillset in this role but when I met Paul Waite and he offered me the opportunity to join his fantastic team at Aspen Waite, I jumped at the chance.
Now I am working to combine my experience from around the industry with the fantastic work Aspen Waite does in the R&D sector, to build a world beating service that remains a core part of Aspen Waite’s growth.
