Meet the Team - Jayne McKee

In the latest sit-down with the team, I chatted to Jayne McKee, our Financial Director about finding your path, creating a work/life balance, and a little bit of travel!

How did you end up working in R&D Tax Credits?

After having read law at Edinburgh University, I switched career paths to become an accountant after I realised that accountancy aspects within the law course appealed to me. I actually liked working with figures. My accountancy career began with Coopers & Lybrand which later merged to become PwC. They had an office in Bangor which suited me very well, but even then, with 4 young children, I wanted to have more time at home, so I decided to become self-employed, working from home, building up a substantial private client base.

This enabled me to do the school runs and be at home with the kids and allowed me to work at times which suited me best. I frequently ended up working in the evenings when the children had gone to bed.

With the children grown up, I decided that the time was right for a new challenge and I took up the position of Finance Manager with Herbert Smith Freehills, a global law firm which had recently set up in Belfast.

However, with travelling taking up two hours a day, I decided to look for a more suitable and interesting position closer to home – fortune smiled upon me when I spotted a vacancy with Momentum as an accountant. I didn’t hesitate to apply as R&D is a specialist area which interested me greatly. Whilst the majority of my work involves identifying the qualifying costs of a claim, it is the tax-work where I get most satisfaction when I calculate how much each claim is worth to a client. It has always intrigued me to see how innovative NI companies are in exploring, adapting, improving and innovating their products and processes.

Why would you recommend R&D Tax Credits to a potential client?

I would always recommend that a potential client consider R&D tax credits and to engage Momentum to carry out the work on the client’s behalf. The client has absolutely nothing to lose as one of our Technical Consultants from Momentum will carry out a free assessment to assess whether the company is involved in any qualifying R&D. If it is, we will guide the client during the remainder of the process to identify qualifying costs, prepare the report and will provide the company with a value of the potential claim. It is a straight-forward process when specialists, like Momentum are involved.

What do you do when you are not at work?

In my free time, I enjoy coastal walking, improving on step counts! Since lockdown, I have enjoyed gardening and baking. However, I particularly like to travel to the south of France and Portugal and to visit my daughter in Amsterdam. I also intend to join my husband on the golf course and take up golf.

What is the most important piece of business advice you’ve been given?

The best advice I ever received was from my mother, ‘Your attitude determines your altitude’. She always encouraged me to be positive and to do whatever I chose to do to the very best of my ability.

If you were able to tell your 18 year old self one thing, what would you say?

Never be afraid to change the road you are on (because you Cannes!).