Three women feature in 2018’s top five accounting and finance professionals aged under 35. The Accountancy Age list highlights talented accountants who have made big career contributions so far.
A No. 5 is Sophie Falcon, case manager, at ICAEW Professional Standards. Sophie had nine years at PwC, before joining ICAEW nearly four years ago. She reviews accountants’ tax work and assesses conduct.
She has worked with other professional bodies responding to the government’s challenge to the accounting profession in 2015. The result was revisions to the Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation (PCRT) that was introduced last year.
Tax planning case studies
Sophie led discussions with HMRC on for all seven PCRT members once the new ‘Standards for Tax Planning’ had been drafted. She looked at tax planning case studies, explored what kinds of tax planning would be acceptable under the new standards and what would be deemed as unacceptable conduct. The result was HMRC agreeing that only highly contrived or highly artificial planning is prohibited under the new PCRT.
At No. 3 is Kirsty Mitchell, markets director, at KPMG UK. Kirsty joined the firm as a school leaver in 2008 and reached director in October 2017. She now leads programmes for entrepreneurs and growing SMEs.
Kirsty is KPMG’s rep on the “35 under 35” committee of the Confederation of British Business. And she also fronts KPMG UK’s integrated growth strategy and leads initiatives involving the Mayor’s International Business Program, Entrepreneurial Spark, the Oil and Gas Technology Centre, and Enterprise Nation.
Varied client portfolio
At No.1 it’s Alicia Crisp, partner at MHA MacIntyre Hudson. Alicia quickly rose to manager and then director before being promoted to partner. She runs a varied client portfolio of owner-managed businesses, specialising in helping entrepreneurs navigate the life cycle of their businesses.
Alicia focuses on staff development, encouraging young people into the profession and showcasing accountancy as a “people” job. Alicia developed and led the firm’s employee forum. And she has worked with HR to create a careers advice course for the last six months of their training contract and to arrange career meetings with third-year trainees in her office.
Alicia also works with academy schools, as well as supporting clients with financial and regularity compliance.