Getting it together

DAVID PERT OF ALVAREZ & MARSAL TAXAND TALKS TO ALLISON PLAGER ABOUT LIFE IN TAX

People who work in tax tend to be a bit quirky. Take David Pert, for example. He is managing director of Alvarez & Marsal Taxand UK LLP and has spent over 35 years working in tax, but likes nothing better than getting stuck into a building project.

In fact, I would like to know how many other tax professionals, possibly in the world, can claim to be a qualified bricklayer as well!

Back in Aberdeen

As with so many tax people, David had no particular intention of working in tax. He sat the Civil Service exams in 1970 as this offered him the opportunity of working somewhere other than his home town of Aberdeen.

He was successful and plumped for a tax officer, higher grade position with the then Inland Revenue in Edinburgh because it ‘offered three days more holiday and about £50 a year extra salary’.

As he says, he sold his soul to the devil for £1 a week. He had an ‘interesting time’, as the PAYE work was being moved out of London at the time and relocating to regional centres including Edinburgh. So he worked mainly on PAYE, running huge teams of people, and also captaining the office football team.

In 1982, David had the chance to emigrate to Australia, based first in Sydney and then in Melbourne. The Australian Tax Office was tightening up the legislation for corporates and private companies, and David was employed by an Australian private practice to respond to the changes in the legislation – a great opportunity and one that he really appreciated.

However, much as he enjoyed life in Oz, the call of home was too strong, and he and his young family returned to the UK after two years.

Return to the UK

At this stage, and back with the Inland Revenue in London, David became involved in the computerisation of PAYE. However, he felt the need to change direction and began doing investigation work. He spent around three years with a Revenue office in Hemel Hempstead, but was becoming increasingly frustrated with the Revenue.

He says the attitude was changing, ‘everything was becoming more impersonal’. He wanted a ‘different platform’ and joined Casson Beckman, a top 20 firm in London.

There David met Richard Freeman, a partner who ‘had vision and a passion to provide high-level investigation work’. He also worked with Andrew Watt, with whom he forged a great partnership that is still continuing, and they are colleagues at Alvarez & Marsal Taxand.

The years spent at Casson Beckman were interesting and allowed David to develop his career in the direction he wanted, but he began to yearn for a ‘bigger stage’ so he joined Moores Rowland.

However, shortly after that, he and Andrew Watt decided to go to Chiltern to develop the tax investigation team, and in 2003, he was asked to take over as managing director of the firm’s tax practice.

‘This was a great experience’, says David. ‘We dealt with high-profile tax fraud cases and were essentially the adviser’s adviser, having built up a really strong team to become the pre-eminent investigation practice in the UK.’

He feels that Chiltern’s great attraction was its independence from audit, allowing tax advice to stand in its own right. This was somewhat compromised when it was bought by BDO Stoy Hayward, a firm with a large audit practice.

New beginning

Fortuitously, in April 2005, David was approached by the Alvarez & Marsal to create the UK member firm for the Taxand network. Alvarez & Marsal Taxand UK was formed after the sale of Chiltern to BDO.

Alvarez & Marsal saw this as an opportunity to provide an independent option and an alternative to the big four in the US as well as in the UK.

Alvarez & Marsal Taxand only does tax and the Taxand network consists of 47 independent tax firms globally. The whole point is to offer clients a pure tax service, without any conflict of interest arising from audit work. Naturally, this was of huge interest to David.

‘It has been and still is a hugely challenging time’, says David, ‘particularly bearing in mind the current economic climate’. One of the great things about it has been the chance to ‘develop people’.

This is an aspect of the job that David loves. He had to recruit people very quickly because he had some big clients at the time, so it was necessary to appoint a variety of individuals with a range of skills.

There is great operational freedom at Alvarez & Marsal Taxand which gives people the opportunity to move outside their traditional skills set, allowing them to show that they can do more than might at first be apparent.

‘Talent is recognised, rather than just time served.’

Overall, David says that tax has been ‘very good for me, although I could have shaped my career a little bit more strategically’.

Oh yes, and the latent house builder in him is satisfied by renovation projects, and a bricklayer’s course which he completed at night school while in the Revenue in London.

Biography

David Pert, managing director and head of Alvarez & Marsal Taxand UK LLP

David began his tax career with the Inland Revenue, working there for 18 years. He also had a short spell working in Australia. Private practice called, and he was with Casson Beckman for seven years, and then Moores Rowland and Chiltern before taking on his current post.

In his free time, David likes hands-on building work and is a qualified bricklayer. He also loves Italy and spending time in the countryside.