Looking forward, the biggest changes to our organisation
in the post Covid era will be ... flexible / hybrid
working. Although we had started to action this and put a
longer-term plan in place, COVID accelerated the process.
We already have clients across the UK and abroad that we
communicated with via Zoom and the like before the pandemic,
however I also think there will now be more opportunities for this,
as other business owners will be more open to speaking with
advisers who aren't local to them.
The future vision for our organisation in Glasgow is
... to grow the business to a team of 25 who love coming
to work and enjoy working with their clients as they can add value
to them.
The three best things about working in Glasgow are
... being so close to Finnieston. The big 3 are the Hydro,
the restaurants and the bars.
My favourite part of Glasgow is ... where our
office is situated, the old buildings and the proximity to
Kelvingrove Park for a walk at lunchtime or the aforementioned bars
and restaurants for a post work refresher.
The two most satisfying things about my job are
... firstly helping to train and grow the team and seeing
them excel and carry out work without any input from myself and
secondly, when you have a productive meeting with a client, help
them to achieve their goals and they take action.
Financial services is a great career choice because
... people will always need accountants/advice. There is a
lot of fearmongering about automation replacing accountants, but
that's been happening since the introduction of spreadsheets over
manual cashbooks, then Sage/desktop over spreadsheets and now cloud
accounting. It's just a variation on a theme.
Ultimately, they help to remove some of the more mundane
tasks/help to make you more efficient, but people still want to
speak to people and, ultimately, business owners still need advice
interpreting the figures.
Contrary to what people believe, a lot of our time isn't spent
holed up in a room crunching numbers, it's out and about speaking
to business owners and understanding their personal goals, then
putting a plan in place so that the business can help them to
achieve them.
The biggest challenge I have faced in my career to date
was when ... I decided I no longer wanted to be a
physiotherapist and wanted to retrain as an accountant! Just
getting an interview was a challenge.
The businessperson I most admire is ... again
for me a tie. I admire Ken and Alastair Russell, who formerly ran
our firm, for what they've achieved and the business they've grown.
They were way ahead of their time when they started to focus on
advisory. I also admire Andrew Shepherd, who worked at Johnston
Carmichael who gave me my first job. Like Alastair and Ken, he is
commercially minded and it's not about getting a set of accounts
out; it's about what impact the figures have on the business/the
owner and the future.
Outside of work, apart from the family, I am passionate
about ... cinema - I love going to the movies. It's such a
different experience switching off your phone and sitting in a dark
room with other people enjoying the communal experience of watching
a film free of distractions, compared to watching something on your
phone on the bus in the morning.
My approach to achieving work life balance is
... you need to enjoy your work, the clients you work with
and your colleagues. There is always going to be an "imbalance" as
you're going to be at work most of your week, so why spend it
somewhere you don't want to be?
First ever job? Working on the farm.
Favourite boxset? The Omen Trilogy (for the
design of the boxset itself as much as the films!)
Favourite band? Hot Chip
Sunshine or snow? Snow
And, finally, what three words best sum you up?
Passionate, Innovative and Helpful.
Also tired as I've got a small child who doesn't sleep!