It wasn’t a specific person who inspired me to become an accountant. Rather, when I was deciding my future, I realised that accounting offers numerous opportunities. It is a profession that has a valuable skill set that can be applied across all kinds of business.
After studying business administration at university in Greece, I began my professional career in Prague, where I joined Honeywell. I later worked at a recruitment company while also studying for my ACCA qualification before moving into an FP&A role at Tesco. After four years in Prague, I relocated to Denmark, where I worked as a business controller for Flying Tiger Copenhagen. I then became financial controller, based in Warsaw, and now work as commercial manager for the CEE cluster.
Rising fuel costs have affected many of our markets
Several impacts have resulted from the conflict in the Gulf. The most significant has been the temporary closure of our stores in the Middle East, which has created considerable uncertainty regarding the future of the business in the region. Additionally, rising fuel costs have affected many of our markets and, because we rely heavily on discretionary spending, further increases in the cost of living have led to reduced foot traffic in our stores and lower customer spending.
I stepped out of my comfort zone every time I moved to a new country. This was always a challenging process, but one that greatly helped me grow both personally and professionally.
This has always been my favourite mantra: ‘Stay curious.’
What is best about my job is that I really enjoy helping people and in my current role I get to support the store teams with their daily operations. I like improving the company’s processes and our ways of working, and it is also satisfying to develop new tools for our stores and offices.
I believe my biggest achievement so far has been successfully balancing my professional career, personal life and ACCA studies.
I really enjoy analysing and visualising data to support better business decisions
If I had law-making powers, I would create a strong politician accountability law with real consequences for misconduct. Every elected official would be required to publish a clear, measurable set of goals on which they would run for elections – things like specific improvements in debt reduction, healthcare costs, education or security. If they fail to meet their stated goals without a legitimate external crisis, citizens could trigger a binding recall election. Additionally, any serious ethics violation or conviction would result in immediate removal from office and the loss of all pensions and benefits. Politicians must be held to the same standards of performance and honesty as everybody else.
If I weren’t a finance professional, I would have liked a career at the intersection of data analytics and international relations. I really enjoy working with data, particularly analysing and visualising it to support better business decisions. However, I have a strong interest in international affairs, too, so combining these areas would be very appealing to me. That said, I am truly happy that I decided to become a qualified accountant. I have no regrets and am very satisfied with the choices I have made so far.
Currently, I am pursuing an MBA, which takes most of my free time, but when I can I enjoy listening to podcasts on international affairs. I also like exercise, especially going to the gym, walking and ‘rucking’, which is walking with added weights.
