I started my career as a 16 year old school leaver, gaining a trainee position in a national firm of accountants & a 35 mile commute into Aberdeen every day. I started studying towards AAT, which later gave me my entry route into ICAS, qualifying as a CA in 2006. I was keen to progress and gain experience across accounts, tax and audit so that led to me working for a variety of accountancy firms, from mid tier national firms to a small firm with a team of 6. 
I worked my way up to director at a national firm before leaving to set up on my own during Covid.
(There’s much more detail on my LinkedIn profile – didn’t want to write chapter & verse here).

I thrive on the buzz of running my own business, daring to be a bit different & doing things our way, supporting clients, being part of their journey as a trusted advisor, helping team members grow & develop, and offering opportunities to school leavers who want to pursue a career in accountancy.

Yes – a primary school teacher sowed the seed about being an accountant as I was a numbers person. I always saw myself as a business woman & fancied running my own business.
I didn’t want to go to university, I wanted to go straight into the world of work and earn a wage.

I was born & brought up on a farm. I always saw myself as having some sort of connection to farming. In 2009, my husband & I were successful in purchasing a farm and launching our farming business alongside full time jobs. That business has grown over the years too.

The job is always evolving. AI will change some roles, just the same as cloud software like Xero has changed roles over the last decade or so. AI makes data analysis & insights more powerful and we will see increased automation in routine work especially. But accountancy is a relationships business. People want to work with people. The data & insights that we obtain from AI will elevate the work we can do for clients by allowing us to offer new services at sensible prices.

No. I was craving more flexibility in my working life before Covid as I had 2 young daughters & that was one of the many reasons why I made the jump to self employment during Covid.

Think about what’s important to you, and what sort of team & culture you want to work with. Think about what you are not happy with just now. What are you happy with? Where do you see yourself, what goals do you want to achieve? Think about what experience you need and what else you might need to do to get there. Be really honest with yourself. With any prospective employer, you should consider their track record with developing their people & how you fit into all that. You are interviewing your potential employer, it’s not just them interviewing you, so be fussy.

And if you think it’s easier to just stay where you are, even though you are not entirely happy, it means you really need to be asking yourself those questions.

One of the important lessons I learned was that there’s always 2 sides to every story. Be open minded to what you are being told. Also focus on developing communication skills, like listening & speaking, and asking why. Don’t just focus on technical skills.

When I set up my own in 2020 I knew there was an opportunity, I just wasn’t sure if I would be able to tap into that, and whether I would be able to attract interesting clients with work that would keep me challenged. I also wanted to build a small team.

We are now a team of 15 which is a bigger team than I ever imagined, with a turnover approaching £1m. Our client base is predominantly agricultural and rural based businesses, good hard working people with lots of varied & interesting work that definitely keeps me challenged!

We have just started work on our office extension which has the potential to accommodate a team of 30.

I want to see how far we can go, while still holding onto our values, delivering good work to our clients and with a happy motivated team. I’ve been told that I can’t build a business based on soft & fluffy values, and that sort of thing pushes me on to prove the doubters wrong. I’ve got lots of ideas for the future.

According to my 10 year old, I work, eat & sleep. She’s probably not far wrong. I enjoy being outside & going for a walk in the countryside or at the beach with my family. I used to help a lot on the farm which was a great way to clear the head, but longer working hours & family life has made that more difficult these days. I’m looking forward to heading away on holiday soon, and for the first time in a few years, I’m determined I’m not checking emails or social media while away. 

I really enjoy the job of rolling wool (fleeces) at shearing time – it’s a busy mix of physical work, fresh air, banter, tunes playing & farm life. Even better when it’s a warm sunny day!