I started my career in audit practice at Deloitte in Aberdeen on my placement year in my second go-around at university.  My first audit assignment was a client based in the Falkland Islands and that immediately opened my eyes to the travel opportunities a career in finance could offer – flying out there with the RAF because there were no commercial flights was an adventure that didn’t align with what people had told me about accountancy being boring, and I knew even then that however my career turned out, it definitely wasn’t going to be boring. 

Once I’d completed my training contract, I wanted to work overseas and took a role with KPMG in the Cayman Islands, still on the audit side but moving into financial services, which for me was mainly large, emerging market venture capital funds. When I look back on that time, I can’t believe how ill-prepared I was for moving halfway around the world – I had next to no savings and ended up having to buy a jeep with suspension held together by plastic water bottles and tie wraps, and holes drilled in the footwells to let out the rainwater that would pour in through the leaking roof. I really had no fear back then though; I wanted to go so I just went for it and figured it would all work out fine! 

And it actually did, it was a tremendous experience all in all and I had some amazing highlights – working from a client’s office on Wall Street in New York, being part of a team with people from all over the world and travelling to places like Havana, Mexico and Chicago. The social aspect was great too, but it was a bit of a culture shock having beach days and boat trips with colleagues, and being highly introverted I never got over finding it excruciatingly uncomfortable being around work people in swimwear…

When I relocated back to Aberdeen, I wanted to make the move into industry and work for an oil and gas operator that offered potential for another international move in future. At the time, I had a flat on Howburn Place and used to stand at the kitchen window doing the dishes, looking across the car park into what was then Talisman House, and I thought it would be brilliant to get a job there, and that’s exactly what happened next. I joined Talisman in a corporate reporting role and ended up being there for thirteen years. During that time I had five different roles across finance and business planning, the company went through four changes of ownership (it was Repsol when I left), and there were seven different CEOs – so although I was there for a really long time, there was so much constant change that every year was a different experience from the last. To my surprise, I enjoyed being back in Aberdeen so much that relocation wasn’t something I pursued further. I was definitely outside my comfort zone in my final role there as Business Planning & Strategy Manager but gained so much valuable experience in working through that discomfort and interacting with a much wider group of stakeholders than I’d been used to in a purely finance role. 

After all that time though I was ready to progress, and I moved into my current role as Finance Director at Peterson two years ago – Peterson was known to me as a key supply chain player in the Aberdeen oil and gas market but it wasn’t until I applied for the role that I learned Peterson is part of a much larger, global business that extends far beyond energy. The opportunity presented was quite unique in that it offered a material step up in scope of responsibility but with the added support of a group structure at arm’s length. 

I think it ultimately boils down to the thing I love the most about my job is solving problems by working with smart people – the scope of my role is broad and presents the opportunity to get involved in all sorts of interesting things, way beyond just the core finance duties. Peterson is an organisation that takes its corporate social responsibility really seriously and being able to support the communities in which we operate – especially Aberdeen for me – drives a real sense of purpose and personal fulfilment. We sponsor the Aberdeen Football Club Girls Academy and it's just incredible to hear how much of a positive impact that has on the girls, and we also support the Visit Aberdeenshire Cruise Ship Volunteer programme – I recently met with some of the volunteers and was blown away by their enthusiasm and delighted to be associated with such proud ambassadors of our city and region.  

I never even considered becoming an accountant until I graduated from university with a degree in Biomedical Science and realised I was almost completely unqualified for any kind of well-paid job. 

I applied for a few science positions in the year after I graduated but it was clear that my path was pretty limited unless I went into further studies and I just wasn’t interested enough in a science career to take on a PhD. I also met my now husband that year – he was studying to become an architect and I remember thinking there’s no way he’s going to stick with me unless I sort myself out, and so I decided to go back to university to study accountancy and hopefully land a good placement in the third year that would set me up with a steady job and well-defined career path for at least a few years after graduation. 

In the end I enjoyed my placement year at Deloitte so much that I asked them to keep me on instead of going back to finish my accountancy degree, and because I already had the science degree they were able to put me straight onto my ICAS training contract. It would be easy to regret the degree choice I made on leaving school but ultimately it still got me to a good place, albeit with a little bit of a false start. 

For sure the rise of AI will remove some of the entry-level, transactional work and that’s a real concern because it’s where the learning comes from. Coming up through audit practice, working with a different team, different clients week to week and being exposed to such a variety of businesses and issues is the foundation that builds truly great finance professionals and it’s hard to see how that valuable experience can be gained when technology can do it for us. 

Earlier this week I heard one of the accountancy practices is putting its trainees out to pubs and restaurants to work in hospitality to learn how to serve clients – having worked in a supermarket for many years in my youth, dealing with the general public is a brilliant way of building resilience and learning to communicate effectively, and it certainly gave me a strong work ethic. 

Definitely. I spent most of the second half of 2019 in meetings in the office all day, every day and was really close to burnout – it was only the Christmas break that gave me a chance to catch my breath. I struggled on through the early part of 2020 but I remember very clearly being at home the first few weeks of the pandemic and how much easier it was not having to hustle in the morning to leave the house on time, and although the workload didn’t decrease any, the physical distance from the office allowed an opportunity to mentally reset. 

That period of working at home for an extended time really helped me get to know how and when I work best, and there are definitely aspects I’ve carried forward into post-COVID life – space for thinking (usually combined with outdoors walking), meeting-free time and being organised the night before office days so I don’t have to deal with home stress before the day has even begun all make a big difference to my personal effectiveness.

When I look back and analyse the moves I’ve made, there’s always been a tolerable balance between the fear of doing something new but retaining an element of familiarity – so I moved to a different country for a job but stayed in audit practice, and then I moved to industry but in a corporate reporting role which felt safe because I worked with statutory accounts so much in audit, then I moved into a very different kind of role but within the same company… so I guess the advice I would give would be to consider that balance between fear and safety, and if a new opportunity offers a good balance between the two, the transition should be much more manageable.

Predictable answer, but don’t be in such a hurry to grow up.

I don’t feel like I have a bunch of unfulfilled professional ambition, but I would like to lean into more non-executive work in the future – I have a couple of appointments at the moment which I really enjoy and I’d like to do more of that, across a variety of organisations in different sectors.

I’m a classic overthinker so don’t know that I ever truly relax, but anything that puts my mind to something else usually helps – I’m a serial hobbyist so flit in and out of different things but creative activities that require a lot of focus usually help get my mind off work. I still really enjoy travelling and like to be busy even on holiday, more often than not my trips away involve hiking or walking to shake off all that time spent sitting behind a computer.

Having worked for various international organisations I’ve tried where I can to pick up some of the home languages – Spanish when I worked for Repsol and now I’m attempting to learn some Dutch. 

Rather than being for professional purposes, this is fully motivated by nosiness to know what the gossip is that’s being discussed before meetings start, but I’ve been sadly let down to discover that it’s usually just football.