I worked for nine years in practice and internal audit in my home-country of Bangladesh. I love working with businesses in different sectors and always planned to start my own practice. After arriving in the UK three years ago, I got my practising certificate, which gave me the confidence to set up on my own – my firm is now a year old.
Getting clients initially was a challenge. But I’ve always been passionate about entrepreneurship, and I motivated 15 entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. They became my first clients. Some have already started employing staff and boosting the economy. My firm has a vision to help 200 entrepreneurs start their own businesses over the next five years.
My clients are from different sectors – hospitality, recruitment consultancy, education and retail so far. I thoroughly research each sector to provide clients with well-informed, tailored advice.
One of the greatest struggles in the present economy is businesses’ ability to raise capital. I have partnerships with different banks and financial institutions, so I can support my clients with their financing. A challenge for my practice right now is unqualified accountants who undercut professional accountants. Some members of the public do not understand the difference.
I have expanded my service lines by becoming ATOL-registered and I am also a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors. The ACCA syllabus covers so much that you have extensive knowledge by the time you are qualified, and acquiring these additional qualifications only requires a small amount of extra learning.
Many businesses now outsource internal audit, so this will be a growth area for my practice
I loved my time in internal audit. Internal auditors have access to every department in an organisation and insight into every business process, so you develop huge amounts of experience. Many businesses now outsource or co-source their internal audit function, so this will be a growth area for my practice, which I eventually hope to grow into a multi-partner practice.
Work-life balance is very important to me. I believe it makes you more efficient and productive when you work if you have made time to relax your mind. I like to spend quality time with my wife, be it shopping or seeing a movie – even if it is only a couple of hours, it makes me happy, increases my confidence and makes me more efficient.
