...is accountancy boring?

Hey there, I'm Maiki Lynch and I'm an accountant. I know, I know... I work with numbers, but I like to think I'm a people person too. However, unless you're an accountant, or working in finance, or you are best mates with

I cried, to be honest. I cried with happiness.

To the bumps in the road.

My confidence was really knocked.

And the silliness in between.

Going out to t he tap room and drinking loads of free beer, which is brilliant.

Welcome to By All Accounts. Now, I did my accountancy training back in 2011, starting off working on the sales ledger and progressing through to becoming a management accountant. And even though I now work in education for ACCA, I still remember the looks I got when I told people

Hiya.

And Remi Allen- Bond. Hello.

Hi. Nice to meet you.

So, what do you reckon? Is finance really boring?

I wouldn't say it's really boring. I would say, for example, my current job, I'm involved in so many different things that you wouldn't typically think an accountant would be involved with. And I think that is what makes my job fun on a daily basis - it's the reason why I will continue to be an accountant probably for the rest of ... Until I retire! Yeah, I know

I was just about say that's quite a commitment there! Till death do we part!

Yeah. Maybe not in the same position I'm at, but I don't think, when I first started, I imagined I'll be an accountant forever. I think I wanted to get the qualification to open up a bit more opportunity for myself. But, it wasn't until I started my current role

Can I ask... you talk about what you perhaps expected it to be. Did you expect that it was going to be boring, potentially?

I did. I thought it was going to be a lot of data entry and Excel spreadsheets and that's all the job entailed. But, I think when I first started my job as an auditor, it was more just analyzing data, drawing conclusions from the data and then applying it to decision- making, which I obviously didn't expect. I definitely thought it was not going to be the funnest job. And definitely when I tell people I'm an accountant, I get some funny looks like, " Oh, you must be a fun person to be around!" I

Remi, if I can just bring you into the conversation about is it boring? Do you think finance is boring?

Not at all. No. I think like Angelika was saying there, it is massively varied. So, my journey in finance, I've done three different roles in the past four- ish years, from your day- to- day corporate accounting reporting to working in treasury for a bank, to working in strategy, corporate development. And all of those I've been able to do because

I love to hear that and I completely agree with what you both said about the breadth of roles that can be offered. Angelika, I wonder if I can come back to you. Where are you working at the moment and what is it that your job entails?

So, at the moment I work at Mercedes- Benz as a finance business partner. And my two areas that I look after is investments and facilities. So, I basically look at the projects that we invest our money into and also the costs of running our building and stuff like that. So, I work with a lot of my business partners to see how we can work more efficiently and to save costs where we can, but still get the same quality.

That's fantastic and that sounds like a very exciting workplace. What reaction do you normally get when people ask you where you work and what you do?

People are quite surprised that I work at Mercedes. I think a lot of people expect you to work for an accountancy practice. I think a lot of my friends, initially when I said I was an accountant, people come to me with tax questions quite often. So, I think people don't necessarily take into account that you can work for

Do you like it? And if you do, what do you like about it?

I do really like it. I like the people I get to work with. I get to work with and collaborate with many people throughout the business that are doing different things that aren't anything finance- related. And I really enjoy talking to them and being able to have an insight into... not the finance sector I guess, which I deal with, but also their challenges and what they're looking to do and then help them and have an input.

So, you're working with lots of different teams throughout the organization who aren't necessarily your finance function at Mercedes?

Yep.

Remi, I'd like to come to you and just to hear about your job. Can you tell us where you work and what it is that you do?

So, I work for Santander UK in their Strategy and Corporate Development team. So, what that means, we have essentially three main roles. The first one is determining the bank's long- term strategy. A second part is corporate development, which is your typical mergers and acquisitions.

Lovely.

And then the third part is strategic projects. That's like your internal consultants.

How did you get there? I know that so many people perhaps who are listening, they may be thinking, " Gosh, I'd love to have that job." How did you get there?

So, most of my team have backgrounds in either investment banking or in consultancy. The way I got there was a bit different. So, I did a graduate program at Santander after finishing uni. So, I went through a few rotations on the grad scheme. And in my third year my

Congratulations. So, you got to try out different areas of the business when you're saying rotations-

Exactly.

You got to try out different areas. And this particular area that you were working in, it was a good fit?

It was a good fit. Precisely. Yeah.

And how do people react when you say you work in finance, that you are a chartered accountant?

Like Angelika said, they asked me to do taxes for them, is the most common response! But, no. They're generally impressed because it is a recognized profession worldwide.

And is that what attracted you to the profession?

So, what attracted me then was one, yeah. Of course, it's recognized. There's a certain, I suppose, respect in having done it and recognition in having done it. I think also just being wholly pragmatic. If we look at salaries and salary growth over the past few years, especially, finance has been one of the few sectors in the UK

I completely understand where you're coming from there. Angelika, I wonder if I can come to you. What were your reasons for going into finance?

I guess I was a bit similar with the money aspect. That seemed quite attractive to me. But, also I quite liked problem solving and it all came about because I worked in retail during my gap year and I did some back- of- house admin stuff and looking into unusual transactions, etc. And that's what made me think that I would be good at audit, which was my first job doing accountancy, I guess. So, I guess a bit of

What is audit? I sometimes think of it as a little bit like detective work. But, how would you define audit or what do you think audit is?

I guess it is a bit of that. It's basically just going to a business and making sure their financial records are reflecting what they should be reflecting and the figures are correct and accurate. And I guess a lot of it is kind of questioning some of the judgments

So, you came out of retail and you moved into audit? Can you tell us a little bit about what you did at that particular point as your entry role into accountancy? And perhaps any study that went along with that?

Yeah. Sure. So I started on a school- leavers program, the same as an apprenticeship, I guess, for a practice. They did audit and accounts, but I was mostly in the audit department. I left the practice, because I wanted to focus more on some accounts and tax work, which I wasn't exposed to very much at the time. So, then I moved into a smaller practice to do just

So you're qualified-

Yes. I'm qualified now-

qualified?

Recently. Not too long ago, actually. I got my results in October.

Oh, congratulations.

Thank you.

Congratulations. How did you feel when you passed, when you'd realized that

Thank you.

after five years of study it's all done? It's all done and you're chartered?

Yeah. So I wasn't as cool about it. I wasn't very confident. So, I cried to be honest. I cried with happiness. I was really, really happy, because I wasn't expecting to pass my last exam. I have passed all the other ones first time, luckily. But, the last exam I felt was so tough. I really wasn't expecting to pass. And when the results came through and I actually did

That's fantastic. And I can see you just glowing, just reliving that moment right there. And now that you are qualified, do you feel it's turned out how you expected?

I guess yes and no. I don't know. I built it up in my head so much that I didn't really know what to expect. I was just looking forward to the end of my exams and just having all that extra time, because I feel like after school I had my gap year and then I went straight into studying again. But then, in the other aspect is I

And so, you've moved through so many different bits of the various roles that you can have within accounting, finance, even within such a short time. Do you feel that there's room for creativity? I don't want to say " creative accountancy." That's not

Yeah. Definitely. I think we always have to think outside the box of how we can be the most efficient we can and cut costs. And when I collaborate with my business partners and they have ideas of how they want to carry out the business, I can then look into the financials. And we can consider multiple options, compare how much is it going to cost us? What benefits

I think that leverages on some of the things that you mentioned that you enjoyed earlier on in your career and that you realized that you had those skills for problem- solving essentially, and coming up with those ideas and sharing them within the business. Remi, I want to come back to you. Would you say the job has turned out how you expected?

I would say so, yes. I didn't really go in with a vision of how it would be in the end. The kind of role I'm doing now is what I wanted to do when I first joined them, but didn't know it actually had a name. I didn't know that my actual current role was actually a role that existed. So, it turned out as I hoped it would, but not really as I'd expected it would.

That's interesting. Would you say that there's space for creativity in what you are doing?

100%. My role is so massively varied in what we do. No two projects are going to be the same. Every year the strategy evolves. The thing I like about it most is the variety involved in it and the need to adapt. I didn't want to have a role where it was monotonous, or where there was too much routine involved. I wanted a role that challenged me to come to work each day and not quite know what's going to happen,

I really like the way you explained that, the point in your career when you're acquiring those skills, you are perfecting that particular task. You are acquiring that skill and I guess you're at a point now where you've moved on and you're able to deal with change, basically. Change that's happening and change that's happening faster than perhaps it's

I feel like there's definitely some perks from, especially my current job at the moment. For example, now in my current role, I get to drive one of the Mercedes cars, so that's part of a, I guess, staff reward scheme where I basically get given a car to drive and experience. So, it's significantly cheaper. I'd definitely not be able to afford to get the same car I drive now if I was to buy it, for example. So, yeah. That definitely helps, especially that I really like the cars!

I suspected you may do, if you work for Mercedes. It would be a perk if you were enthusiastic about the car industry.

Yeah.

Remi, also coming to you. Can you talk to us a little bit about the lifestyle that choosing accounting and finance has giving you?

Well, no free cars, unfortunately.

Sad times.

I know. So, I think that a lot of finance firms, banks specifically, do reward their people quite well and do treat them quite well. Speaking solely from Santander, it's all very nice. The salary we've touched on already, is good for the industry. There are other perks, pension providing, tons of annual leave. Then there's other things like annual bonuses, which is

I want to ask you, are careers in accountancy and finance boring and uncreative therefore? And how do you feel?

I feel like that is a wholly undeserved stereotype. And I say that, because if you look at even just Angelika and me, our roles are both in accountancy and finance, but wholly different roles. And both require creativity to do them.

Angelika, can I come to you just to hear your thoughts on that question?

I completely agree. I think there's so much variety in what accountancy and finance is and you can pretty much make of it what you want. You can definitely personalize it to yourself and what you're interested in.

I agree. And I think you both work in some very exciting industries. And I like that you've also recognized that there's the opportunity to move about, to move from one industry to another, from banking to cars. And so, I guess my last, question for you, Angelika, what advice would you give someone perhaps who's listening now, who's considering a career in accounting and finance. What advice would you give them?

I would probably say to do a bit of research into what does interest you the most. And if you don't have a complete plan of where you want to end up in a few years time, that's fine. But, I think looking into the type of accounting and finance that you want to do helps. And I think then if you know any accountants, then also talk to them

Thank you. I think that's really sound advice. Remi, coming to you just with the same question.

Yeah. So again, I'd echo first of all, do a bit of research. Speak to someone who's in the industry and see do they like it? I think that if you can join a rotational scheme, like a grad scheme, that's a great option, because it gives you ... It's built in that you'll have opportunities to look at different areas within accountancy and finance as part of that program. So, you'll have the chance to see... to try this and try

That's it from this episode of By All Accounts. Thank you Remi and Angelika for chatting with me today. For a link to watch the video version of this podcast, check out the show notes. With skills and accountancy and finance you can work in any business anywhere and turn your passion into an exciting and rewarding career with an ACCA qualification. You can sign up to find out more by heading to accaglobal. com/ buanywhere. That link is also in the show notes. See you next week. I'm Maiki