August EWJ 24 - Flipbook - Page 49
A Day in the Life of an Expert
Witness Running their Own Practice
The highs and lows of life on your own as an expert witness
My name is Fiona Hotston Moore and I have waved
corporate life goodbye. I am an accredited expert witness and forensic accountant and qualified as a chartered accountant at KPMG. I have been a partner in
national and international accountancy practices for
about thirty years. Over the last twenty years, I have
undertaken many assignments as an expert witness.
Initially, I continued working in accountancy practices
as a statutory company auditor and business adviser
and did the expert witness work alongside more traditional audit, tax and accountancy services. But in the
last ten years I have focused entirely on building a specialism as an expert witness and forensic accountant,
initially as a partner within larger accountancy and
advisory firms.
LinkedIn is the most effective tool as an expert witness to stay in touch with referrers and well worth a
regular investment of time.
I am sharing this set-up experience and my dayin-the-life to help others who might be considering
making the jump from corporate life to setting up
their own firm.
A Day in the Life
9:00 Completed the morning commute by walking
the few yards across the kitchen to the home office.
Life has changed dramatically since the pandemic and
working from home has become much more the
norm. The instructing lawyers, clients and consultants
I work with are often themselves working from home
even if they are still employed by large firms. Before,
I would have assumed that setting up my own firm
would mean setting up a physical office with secretarial support, lots of technology infrastructure and so
on. But times and attitudes have changed and small,
independent practices can now thrive more easily.
However, this year I decided to “go it alone” and set
up on my own to build an independent forensic accountancy firm. Although I have been a partner in accountancy practices for decades and have advised
many clients on running their own businesses, I was
still surprised by how long it took to set up my firm
and complete all the practicalities. The tasks in the
month before launch included:
I start each day by revisiting the all-important “to do”
list that I made at the end of the previous day. I allocate time early in the day to respond to enquiries and
to work on client projects. I then include a couple of
tasks on my list which will develop my practice such as
marketing, business development and continuing
professional development.
• Using a marketing expert to design the brand, logos
and social media artwork which now runs throughout the website, social media, reports, business correspondence and promotional material. Getting the
branding right at the start was definitely worth it.
9:30 Today, I have received a new letter of instruction
and I need to complete the formalities. When I started
my own firm, I put in place standardised processes
including proforma engagement letters and set-up
processes for client files. I have always been a firm believer in “two sets of eyes” so I ensure that my correspondence and reports are checked by my business
partner.
• Setting up a website with the help of a local website
developer. I invested time in learning the intricacies
of search engine optimisation (SEO) and drafting all
the content.
• Engaging a local professional photographer for a
full set of new profile photos.
• Setting up the limited company, which was easy.
Getting the company a bank account, however, was
tortuous. I gave up on the traditional business banks
after three weeks of trying to get a simple business
bank account and eventually went with Monzo who
provided a painless and slick business online banking
solution.
10:00 Having set up the client file, issued the
engagement letter and completed necessary AML and
KYC, I review the papers sent to me to decide
whether I need further information from the client. I
am regularly engaged to provide business valuations
in matrimonial cases and also for shareholder and
commercial disputes. In these cases, I will do some
preliminary financial analysis at the outset in order to
prepare a list of the further financial information I’ll
need and the questions that arise from the published
financial statements.
• Obtaining professional indemnity (PI) insurance
and confirming other compliance requirements with
my professional bodies. Getting the appropriate PI
cover was easier than I had feared with the assistance
of the broker recommended by my professional body.
• Setting up the basics of a Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) database to collate and manage
the details of instructing solicitors and potential
introducers.
11:30 I join a call with an instructing solicitor to discuss
a potential new instruction. Typically, on instructions
as Single Joint Expert, I receive the enquiries by email
and ongoing correspondence is by email to ensure
independence and transparency of communication
with all parties. On commercial disputes I am normally engaged as a party expert and there will be an
• Updating my LinkedIn profile, the various other
digital platforms and expert witness registers where I
promote my services as an expert. In my experience
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
47
AUGUST 2024
