From tax consultant to ForrestBrown Director in just six years. Katy Long reflects on her career journey 

Katy Long, ForrestBrown’s established SMEs and large company lead, was recently promoted to Director. Here she tells Sarah Jackman what motivated her to pursue a career in tax and reflects on the things that have helped accelerate her career progress 

“I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do” says Katy, reflecting on her school days. But that all changed when she visited a parents’ evening with her dad, who suggested that pursuing business, accounting and economics at A-level might be a good fit with her interests and skillset. 

Fast forward to 2013 and, armed with a first-class honours degree in business and accounting from The University of Exeter, Katy began her career at Big Four firm, EY. “I worked at EY in my placement year at university, then returned after graduation and completed the professional qualification to become a chartered accountant.” 

The tax modules proved to be particularly enjoyable, prompting Katy to take up a secondment to the private client tax team. The move from audit to private client was made permanent in 2016, marking the start of her career in taxation. 

Despite having accrued several years’ audit experience, Katy’s lack of tax experience presented a challenge in terms of the role and level to bring her in at. “I’d done my ACA and become a qualified executive within audit. But because I had no tax experience, it meant taking a step back. The quickest way I could return to an equivalent level was to do my CTA. So, I did. I undertook it start to finish in six months.” 

The hard work paid off and Katy returned to the level she was at before the move. The work provided a mix of compliance and advisory, which proved broad and interesting. 

Transition to corporate tax and ForrestBrown

In 2018, word began to reach Katy of opportunities at a high growth business specialising in R&D tax relief. Katy completed her due diligence and, in late 2018, interviewed for a role as a tax consultant at ForrestBrown.  

She joined in early 2019 and quickly progressed through the business and profession. Again, this meant taking a brief step back to reach her next goal. 

“I wanted to join as a manager but couldn’t as I had no corporate tax experience. Straight away, I looked at what I had to do to get to the next level as quickly as possible”, she says. 

In terms of what helped her on that journey, Katy cites a mix of things. “I was ambitious and hungry for the next step”, she says. Rather than “sitting on the sidelines” she dived headfirst into accepting any opportunities presented to her “taking on more responsibility and always looking at what else she could be doing.”  

Once she’d demonstrated that attitude, she became “someone who people naturally came to for things. It snowballed.” It gave her exposure to lots of different things, which helped her to identify which elements of the role she was good at and, importantly, which elements she enjoyed. 

The people around her have also played a key role in her professional development. “Having strong leaders, line managers and people that I admired and respected, and wanted to learn from, has been important. In turn, I worked hard for them, so they wanted to see me do well.” 

She also cites the accessibility of the leadership team at ForrestBrown as being helpful, enabling her to learn from others. “From day one I’ve had access to the people who run the business”, she says. “That gives you opportunities to learn what that looks like, understand business priorities, develop a more commercial mindset and see how decisions are made. If you’re open to it, you can learn so much.” 

There has also been the inevitable focus on academics and qualifications, as well as structure and milestones. “I’ve always been very focused on ‘the ladder’”, Katy says. “I set myself an ambition of being an associate director by 32 and I did that, and a director by 35. I’ve now done that. That approach isn’t for everyone but having that next goal to aim for has always helped me.” 

She’s keen to emphasise that building relationships and having open conversations along the way have been crucial in supporting that. Receiving honest and constructive feedback throughout her career helped Katy to play to her strengths, while also allowing her to identify, understand and address her development areas. It’s been about “being proactive, putting realistic timelines in place and building a plan around that.”

What’s next?

As this new phase of her career at ForrestBrown begins, she’s approaching it with typical enthusiasm and ambition, ensuring first and foremost that client processes are as robust and seamless as ever for established SMEs and large businesses – the business unit she leads. 

She’s also looking strategically at 2026 and beyond, working out how she can best leverage her knowledge and expertise across the business. As ever, she’s eager to add value and seize opportunities, but also understands the value of patience. 

“I was impatient for the bigger role and salary. When you’re in the middle of exams, it can feel frustrating; as though you’re never going to get there. But spending the time putting in the work to get a solid foundation has accelerated my path in the long term.” 

Hearing her talk with such passion and honesty, it’s hard not to feel inspired and that the future of ForrestBrown is in good hands. To inspire others, she has a word of advice too: “Be patient and trust the process. It might not all come tomorrow but put in the graft and it will pay dividends.”

Read more on what Katy loves about tax in her “Five minutes with” column in International Tax Review.