Becoming a qualified accountant was a bit of an accident for me. I’m dyslexic, so at school I found that I leaned more towards numerical, science-based subjects than those that involved a lot of writing. I ended up going into the charity sector as a finance assistant, where they paid for me to embark on my accountancy qualification, starting off with AAT and then moving on to ACCA. As soon as you get ‘part-qualified accountant’ on your CV, even in the absence of a university education, the doors do start to open for you.
I haven’t ever practised as an accountant – I’ve very much been in business-centred roles
I left the charity sector with three of my first ACCA exams under my belt and went to JP Morgan. This set me on my path of having a career within financial services, initially within investment banking, but now also within retail banking. Having an ACCA Qualification doesn’t limit you to working in accountancy. I haven’t ever practised as an active accountant in that respect – I’ve very much been in business-centred roles.
Officially my role is product owner for current-account opening at NatWest. I work with software and journey developers, testers and technical analysts who help me deliver new digital journeys for account opening. I also work with legal, financial crime, fraud and credit risk teams to make sure we’re keeping ourselves and our customers safe. I connect with my team every day to check in, discuss any blockers to our work, and call out successes. It’s really important to celebrate the successes.
Using data and insights is fundamental to my work. You can’t just go with your gut feeling, especially as we have such a broad customer base. We have to see what the data is telling us, what trends it is presenting, and what we can learn from it. ACCA gave me the tools and skills to be able to take a massive spreadsheet of thousands of lines of data and start to analyse it to look for emerging trends.
Don’t worry about having a ‘squiggly’ career. There’s a lot to be said for a career you feel passionate about
To anyone considering a career in accountancy or financial services, I’d say go for it and don’t limit yourself once you’re in the door. At JP Morgan, it took me a while to realise it was a huge organisation and the opportunities were endless. Explore different areas, including through secondments or shadowing opportunities, especially if you’re very young in your career.
Consider how fulfilled your current job makes you feel. I’ve had roles where I’ve been very capable and competent, but the fulfilment just wasn’t there. Don’t worry about having what some people call a squiggly career. There’s a lot to be said for a career where you stay passionate about the work you do.
My biggest career achievement to date is setting up and leading a series of technology-specific awards during 2021. Ultimately, they recognised and celebrated thousands of diverse role models across the space for the amazing work they’d put in during the pandemic. This resulted in me winning the WeAreTheCity Rising Star award in 2021 for diversity.
