Partner
Stephen Bain
Qualifications
Chartered Accountant
Current role
Being part of the consultancy department means that I do pretty much anything going. I would say I specialise in diversification!
Why I’m with Henderson Loggie
Henderson Loggie put me through my CA training in the late 1990s and it was a great place to work then. I moved on after five years and spent three very enjoyable years in the Financial Services sector. Whilst that was a great experience, I missed the buzz of the profession, especially getting out of the office to meet clients and making a real difference to their businesses.
In returning to Henderson Loggie I knew I was joining a firm very much on the up.
Never a dull day
Dull’s certainly not a word you can ever use to describe my job. There is certainly plenty of contrast one day you’ll be regretting wearing your best suit in a dusty and smoky plant hire depot, and the next day you’re meeting a client in their plush Luxembourg office and you’re booked into a 5-star hotel. And whilst sipping coffee in one client’s panoramic boardroom you’ll wonder is this the same job that saw you being whisked down the M1 in another client’s transit van the week before?
A genuine interest in our clients
It’s two and a half days before the go-live of a new system, and the client wants a complete re-write of the structure which you’ve worked on for weeks. You have two choices: say it can’t be done in the time, or work round the clock to get it done knowing that the end result will be of massive long-term benefit to them. There’s really no choice to make…
Becoming a trusted adviser to clients
If we didn’t care for our clients we wouldn’t be in the job. Clients love listening to us. They may not always take our advice, which can be frustrating, but that rarely stops them coming back to us again and again.
Getting more responsibility
Unfortunately the higher you get, the less people there are above you to pass on the difficult questions on to!
Part of a growing firm/ my ambitions
I’d like to remain at Henderson Loggie and help the firm grow and become even more successful. And I’d like to pass on the running of the office football team to someone else, if only someone else was interested in doing it.
A good day is when …
… I leave the office at night feeling satisfied that my day’s work has made a difference to someone.
A bad day is when …
Bad days don’t come round too often, but usually involve being caught up in email chains. So many hours can be wasted typing emails when a phonecall can often deal with an issue in minutes.
Advice for someone joining the firm
Never be afraid to ask questions. No matter what level you’re at, there’s always someone who knows something you don’t.
