Spotlight | Wendy Walton

Right place, right time: it started with a lucky break, and 25 years on, BDO tax partner Wendy Walton has no regrets, she tells Jennifer Palmer-Violet

For someone who fell into a tax role age 18, Wendy Walton has made the most of her career fluke. More than 25 years on, the former trainee, who rejected university, is responsible for the strategy of one of the UK's main rivals to the Big Four.

Walton had a head for maths and did well in school exams. Career advice favoured accountancy and she secured an undergraduate place at Manchester University.

But after her dad heard an advert on Capital Radio for interviews at then Stoy Hayward, the A-level student abandoned higher education plans and snapped up a tax traineeship. "I was in the right place at the right time," she recalls. "I enjoyed the complexity of tax from law studies and understanding how it all fitted together."

There was no ten-year plan but Walton was inspired as a new starter seeing partner promotions in her firm. She followed suit in 2000, a definite high point of her career, but it came with reflection.

"I then thought perhaps I should have gone to university because you miss out on some things and some networks." The idea of pursuing teaching also crossed her mind, but she ploughed ahead conscious of her next move.

"You've got to be proactive rather than just reacting to what's going on now, and believe in yourself," she says. "Look for the next thing that you want to do to stretch yourself personally - and for the business."

Career ladder

• 1987: Joined BDO as an A-level tax trainee
• 1990: Qualified as a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation
• 1993: Completed Association of Chartered Certified Accountants qualification
• 1996: Joined the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) via the thesis route
• 2000: Promoted to partner at BDO
• 2006: Promoted to head of private clients at BDO, London office
• 2011: Promoted to national head of private clients at BDO
• 2011: Appointed Chair of STEP’s Technical Committee

At the helm

Walton has stayed loyal to BDO since 1987 and credits its autonomous development culture. "It's easy to take personal responsibility for your own career here. I've always been in tax but had a number of different roles. There's always something to challenge you."

It's one of the values Walton shares with her firm. She also notes their mutual "honesty and integrity, support, and strong and personal client relationships".

Having progressed with BDO, the firm is seeing significant growth itself, recently completing a merger with PFK. The move should bring in about 50 or 60 private client practitioners, increasing numbers to about 200 nationally.

However, it won't directly impact on Walton's position. In 2011, she took the reins of national head of private clients, a strategic role focusing on developing the practice UK-wide and mentoring new recruits.

In addition to her responsibilities in the UK, Wendy is also consulting with her colleagues worldwide on the shape and vision for BDO's international private client business to ensure it continues to reflect the pace of change globally and the requirements of the firm's international clients.

Technical challenges

So while tax becomes even more complex - and juicy, to Walton's mind - these days it's less about numbers and more about people. She regularly flexes her methodical muscle, though, as chair of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners' Technical Committee. It's a particularly timely responsibility.

"The technical challenges are happening now," she says. "There's the debate around [tax] morality and the fast pace of change in legislation and regulation around the world."

The committee has responded to more than 40 consultations over the last two years about a range of issues from the onslaught of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to the general anti-abuse rule and changes to vulnerable beneficiary trusts. FATCA and how it will apply to trusts is particularly challenging, she says.

The responses may have peaked - there's not much more to say - but the tax landscape is destined to get harder anyway.

"We [BDO] need to ensure we've got the right resource in place," she says. "All the research shows that London will still be the top destination for wealthy people to come to and live over the next ten years, so I think the work is still there to be done and people's affairs need to be structured properly."

The last six months have been Walton's busiest ever and her work/life balance had to readjust. "I've got two children, 12 and 15, so I have to go home and see them from time to time, not that they want to see me necessarily," she says. "And I try to go running when I can. I just tend to fit everything in."

She remains unfazed by the rapid pace of change. "It's manageable," she says without a hint of fear.

Calming influence

Walton's steady rise to the top is befitting of her cool composure. It's a manner that has served her well. Even when asked what has tried her patience throughout the last 25 years, she can't think of anything, save for the 2008 recession. It's not always helpful, though.

"I was told I was almost dead once," she admits. "I took a personality questionnaire and I didn't realise how extreme I was in being laid back, so I had to work on impact when meeting people for the first time. Otherwise I think it's a good thing."

Walton names Daniel Dover, BDO partner since 1984, as a notable mentor, who offered early guidance, introducing her to potential clients. "Now he's my sounding board," she says. "We look at things completely differently. I'm very calm and measured and he reacts. But at the core we both understand it's about putting clients and the team first. Our values are very similar but how we go about doing things is very different."

Dover believes the pair complement each other perfectly. He says of Walton: "A successful mentor/mentee relationship must be based on equality - in effort, attention and thought. As Wendy's mentor, I have played the role of challenger, guide and supporter, although I haven't always gone about it in a 'regular', 'corporate' way.

"My view is that it's not always about the approach that's important, it's the message and output it delivers. What's wrong with bringing boxing gloves and cartoons into meetings while others bring notepads and pens?"

Trusted advice

Now Walton is the mentor - but she's not reaching for the boxing gloves. She wants her mentees to focus on building trust. "Always be open and honest, deliver what you say you're going to," she advises. "Deliver on time or exceed expectations if you can and develop that relationship over a long period. Some of my clients I've been with since 1990."

And she looks for a mix of new recruits. "Academic qualifications are important but it's about balance," she says. "I do like having a blend of graduates and A-level trainees coming in because you get different things from different people." It all boils down to empathy and a bit of entrepreneurialism. "It's whether they'll be able to put themselves into the shoes of their clients and the ability to think outside the box."

Walton maintains that she's part of a very "enjoyable profession". "I just love tax, which is quite a sad thing to say!" It's a more challenging world to the one she entered, but that makes it all the more engaging. Her advice is to just go for whatever you want to do.

They're sage words she's passed on to her teenage daughter, who is taking her GCSEs and deciding what to do next. "I just happened to fall into something that I really enjoyed," she says, "and that's lucky."

So has mum convinced her daughter to follow in her footsteps? "No!" Walton laughs. "She definitely doesn't want to be an accountant and do tax. She wants to be a lawyer."

Jennifer Palmer-Violet is acting editor of Private Client Adviser