Mark Lee - all about accountants | About Mark

Mark is a realist and regularly debunks myths and hype related to his areas of interest and expertise.

An accountant by profession, Mark moved away from the provision of professional advice in 2006. He is a man on a mission to help accountants disprove the stereotype. He is convinced that ‘Boring Is Optional‘ and now writes and speaks on the subject to help accountants challenge the stereotype and become more successful in practice, online and in life.

Mark has a full portfolio career that includes leading two professional networks and continuing to write regularly for his blogs, ebooks and for the accountancy press. He has also long been a popular speaker at events for accountants and for those who want to better understand the profession.

Mark has extensive network reach through his blogs, talks, social media activity and articles. In January 2011 Mark was described by Accountancy Age as “the most ‘networked’ accountant in the UK“. In March 2012, Sally Percy, erstwhile editor of Accountancy Magazine wrote that Mark is “probably the most socially networked accountant in the UK” and “ also probably this country’s leading authority on social networking for accountants.” His primary focus in this regard is now built around LinkedIn and, to a lesser extent, twitter, facebook, accountingweb and other lesser known online networks. He can often be found debunking media stories about accountants, networking and social media.

Mark’s talks for those seeking to build relationships with and to generate referrals from accountants have been collated into an ebook available here. His purpose in writing this was to share his insights and knowledge of the accountancy sector and, in so doing, to help reduce the amount of people who waste accountants’ time.

Background

Mark qualified as a Chartered Accountant (not the boring type) in 1982 and then spent over 25 years advising on tax during which time he was a tax partner at (Crowe) Clark Whitehill and headhunted to be Lead Tax Partner of the professional practices team at BDO. He has been a regular writer for the professional press since 1987 (as shown on this list). His full career profile is set out on his Linkedin profile along with dozens of ‘recommendations’ from those with whom he has worked. He has also amassed hundreds of endorsements on Linkedin.

Mark was elected Chairman of the ICAEW Tax Faculty from 2003-2005. During this time he was an ex-officio member of the Council of the Institute. He also has over ten years experience as Deputy Treasurer of Norwood, a top 100 children’s Charity.

Over a six-year period, from 1999, Mark represented the ICAEW in numerous discussions and debates with HMRC, HMT and other professional bodies. Since about the same time he has sat on and chaired various Institute committees and joint working parties with other professional bodies. In 2012 he cut back his activities here and is currently simply Chairman of the Institute’s Ethics Advisory Committee.

More recently

In 2006, as he approached the age of 50, Mark realised that he had stopped getting a buzz from giving tax advice. An entrepreneurial spark had been lit and he resolved to try something new.

Before establishing the Tax Advice Network Mark had spent a number of years running the tax support for professionals team at WJB Chiltern and has also been actively involved in a number of online communities.

In 2009 he was appointed Consultant Practice Editor for AccountingWeb.co.uk where he writes two (alternating) bi-weekly columns for accountants in practice and start-up firms respectively.

In May 2010 Mark joined the team at Winmark as Head of their Tax Director Network – thus fulfilling his ambition for a full portfolio career.

Networks

The Tax Advice Network, of which Mark is Chairman, is the UK’s largest independent network of expert tax advisers.

In addition to the provision of tax support the network also publishes a unique weekly tax update email written specifically for accountants in general practice. Try it for free simply by registering on the Tax Advice Network website.

The final element of Mark’s portfolio career is his position as Head of Network at Winmark where he runs The Tax Director Network.

You can find out more through the FAQs and other pages of this website or contact Mark directly: