For Anwar Ali ACCA, tragedies such as 2017's Grenfell Tower fire are an important reminder of the huge responsibility for both government and the construction sector to ensure that structures are designed and built to the highest standards.
‘We’re seeing the same thing happen in Turkey,' says the head of finance at Guildmore, a London-based construction company. 'Many buildings collapsed because of poor construction, put up by developers seeking to make money quickly. They didn’t follow regulations to make construction earthquake-resilient – but the government had only loosely enforced these rules anyway.’
Other current challenges for the construction sector, says Ali, include its 'notoriously tight' profit margins due to current price inflation, and the fixed-price nature of contracts where clients are reluctant to reimburse increases in costs.
'After a few months I thought to myself, “I have to do better than this”’
Back to the start
The challenges of working in a notoriously tough sector mirror Ali's own difficult route to a senior position. After gaining an MBA in his home country of Bangladesh in 1998, he became a lecturer in finance at the University of Chittagong. Three years later, he was promoted to assistant professor of finance, before moving to the UK in the 2005 to pursue a further degree that would help his career. Personal reasons, however, forced him to leave his studies and he was unable to return to Bangladesh.
Finding a job proved difficult when employers did not recognise his academic qualifications. ‘I was at a low ebb,’ he recalls. ‘I had worked at a top level at the university and I now found myself working at street level, distributing free newspapers on the London Underground. After a few months I thought to myself, “I have to do better than this”.’
‘Our industry has struggled to find skilled staff in accountancy partly due to Brexit and the Ukraine war'
In 2006, Ali found work at an Indian restaurant, followed by jobs with supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Budgens – but he never lost his desire to work as a finance professional again. So he started self-studying for the ACCA Qualification after a friend did the same.
‘I realised the only way to break into finance again – to get to the top again – was to do a recognised, prestigious qualification,’ he says.
Opportunities came once Ali embarked on this new path. A contact at Guildmore, recognising his ability and self-motivation, offered him part-time work. ‘I was a part-qualified ACCA at that point, and there were only two other people working in my department,’ says Ali, who now has six in his team.
Ali completed his ACCA exams in 2015, became finance manager the following year and an ACCA member in 2018. In 2020, he was promoted to head of finance and was appointed a director in 2021.
‘In times like these, the UK should look to grow economically through its construction industry'
Staff shortages
In addition to profitability, finance teams in the sector– as in so many other industries – are facing a recruitment crisis. ‘Our industry has struggled to find skilled staff in accountancy due to Brexit, the Ukraine war and general skill shortages,’ Ali says. ‘We’ve also faced skill shortages more generally – such as a lack of trained surveyors. There seems to be a revolving door for these professionals at the moment.’
The implementation of the new Building Safety Act will further impact the industry, he adds, due to the legal obligation for all individuals and companies to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations in both design and construction. However, the real challenge is to create a pool of competent and trained professionals in a short period to enforce the act.
‘In times like these,’ Ali says, ‘the UK should look to grow economically through its construction industry, like China has done – especially through housing.’ Construction companies, he says, ‘increase productivity by 2% to 3% of GDP’.
Value of ACCA
Ali credits ACCA with getting him back where he wanted to be in professional terms.
‘The ACCA training has helped me a lot; I am more confident and can solve a range of problems for my business,’ he says. ‘As an ACCA, the other directors value my knowledge and advice. It’s like winning the lottery.’
