In Your Shoes - Suzanne Kerr

Suzanne is the Accounting and Business Solutions Director at Henderson Loggie, based in our Dundee office.  Suzanne joined the firm as an AAT trainee in 1996 where she continued to progress within the firm, after completing her ACCA as a fully qualified accountant, to be appointed Director in 2019.

Suzanne looks after a portfolio of clients as lead for a number of owner-managed clients as well as several charities and trusts.  Suzanne’s key focus is about delivering excellent client service, she does this by being accessible to her clients and building strong relationships with them. 

She also, looks after the Dundee accounting team on a day-to-day basis, ensuring they have all the training and support they need, which is vital to the team’s development.

A new week and new challenges

Currently, I am working from home for the bulk of the time, so my day starts with getting my son out of the door to catch the school bus on time, like most parents, I am sure!

Then I can breathe and face the rest of the day with my cosy peppermint tea.

The day usually starts with checking emails as well as looking at forthcoming meetings with my clients and contacts.  A typical day includes reviewing accounts and files that have been prepared by my team, coaching and developing my team to ensure they can reach their potential.  Also, meetings with clients to discuss their business needs, whatever they may be, throughout the year as well as offering support and guidance.

Each evening, before I switched off for the night, I update my to-do list.  I am well known for my love of lists, and they allow me to have a good night’s sleep, knowing that all is in order, for the next day and coming weeks.

Team check-in

I usually have a daily check-in with the management team in Dundee, to ensure all are coping well with working at home and offering support to all.  We also have a weekly Zoom meeting as a team, just to have a blether, as we would have done if in the office full time.

I have been working from home since March 2020 like many others, which has been very different when used to a busy office environment.  However, with technology available to us such as Teams, Zoom and many cloud accounting packages in use now, this allowed us work from home successfully.  I am currently in the office once a week and think it will take a bit of time to get used to being around other people again when we return to the office more regularly.

The only thing missing when working at home is our amazing cake and biscuits table at the office!

Courier Business Awards - site visits

During September, I have been attending the Courier Business Awards site visits to those who have been shortlisted for the prestigious awards across various categories such as Small Business of the Year, Angus Family Business, Perthshire Family Business, Service Business, Community Business and many more.

The standard of applications this year have been simply amazing. 

These visits are crucial to understand the organisation and get a feel for the vibe, culture and to also be able to ask questions that help us with the important decision-making process.  This is my favourite time of the year, and I cannot wait to see who wins on the night - Saturday 30 October.

Practice development

As part of my role as ABS Development director, as well as coaching and developing my team internally, I also have a focus to grow and develop the Dundee client base which I do from referrals, networking and attending seminars.  I am also involved in the recruitment of the key member of our team.

Fun Friday

Everyone loves a Friday, and I am no different.  It is usually a busy day where I am planning for the week ahead.

Over the weekend I switch off by enjoying watching my son play rugby and break dancing as well as catch up with friends and family.  One thing that lock down has taught me is that you cannot beat a good family movie night which is a regular occurrence in our house now.