Nicole-Anna de Silva FCCA is a rarity in the professional world: she is fully qualified in more than one profession. She is both a lawyer, currently employed by a multinational financial institution with operations throughout the Caribbean, and a fully qualified ACCA member.
Lawyer, accountant and business expert – she also has an MBA – de Silva has mastered working across multiple disciplines offering wise counsel at the highest levels. Yet she is quick to point out that she still has moments when she has to turn herself back into a researcher starting from scratch.
‘Multidisciplinary qualifications have given me left and right brain skills’
‘Last year I would have celebrated 15 years of being an attorney, and I still feel in some areas that I am a novice and in others an expert,’ she says. ‘With that quagmire of feelings and at this stage in my career, you have to invest the time to make sure that you provide the right advice.’
Launchpad
De Silva graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in law in 2008 and qualified as a lawyer two years later. After winning a national scholarship, she moved to the public sector to work in the Attorney General’s Office of Trinidad and Tobago.
Four years later she moved to the Ministry of Finance as a legal officer for two years. It was a move prompted by beginning her ACCA studies, as she wanted to ‘dovetail both accounting and law while still giving the requisite service to the government’.
As she ‘wanted to see what else was on offer’, in 2016 she took a job with a financial institution as legal counsel. She has been there ever since, and last year was appointed Senior Corporate Counsel.
‘You just throw your hands in the air and take a leap of faith’
The rollercoaster
She provides advice on legal and compliance issues across the various Caribbean jurisdictions, and has colleagues across myriad disciplines. ‘I don’t think I have a typical day at any point,’ she says. ‘Every day is different.’
While she began with a transactional role her portfolio has expanded to strategy. The days are long (‘I have to burn the midnight oil or light a lamp in the morning’), as she speaks not only to colleagues across the Caribbean but also around the world, including the UK.
She has ‘no regrets whatsoever’ about moving to a globally recognised financial services organisation. The transition broadened her professional scope from local to regional and international responsibilities, while also making a new chapter personally—she was getting married. She reflects on the experience as being on a ‘rollercoaster and slipping down a huge dip where you just throw your hands in the air and take a leap of faith’.
Risk insight
The leap has, of course, worked. And all the multidisciplinary qualifications gained along the way have helped. De Silva says they have given her both ‘left and right brain’ skills. ‘It allows me to connect better with my business partners both internally and externally.’
‘Any professional risks being siloed into what they are qualified to do’
Her financial knowledge has helped with understanding credit applications and developing big transactions. She describes her skillset as like a ‘passageway’ that brings ‘added value’ from a business perspective, but also for ‘risk mitigation’ in a way that would not have been possible without ACCA. ‘I think a difficulty that is experienced by any professional is being siloed into what you have qualified to do,’ she says.
She adds: ‘The notion is that lawyers tend to be risk-averse, and operating in a highly regulated industry, such as the financial services industry, they tend to be very risk-averse.
‘While my attitude to risk may not be at the same level as someone who may not be fully informed of the commercial benefits of certain decisions with a transaction, I maintain a strong, considered attitude towards risk, also taking into account the commercial reality of certain decisions.’
‘Closing your laptop at the end of the day may not be sufficient’
What keeps her awake at night is the need to stay on top of regulatory developments in multiple jurisdictions. ‘It takes a combination of reading widely and keeping connected to different territories.’ The network of lawyers she met at university helps here, offering her contacts to ‘bounce ideas off’. ‘It requires focus and discipline to manage the demands of the role effectively. By maintaining connections, clarity and perspective, you can provide the most sound advice without being overwhelmed by the weight of your decisions.’
The lessons
After 15 years as a lawyer, and with expertise across multiple subjects, she has some lessons for young professionals. The first is simple: ‘Sit at the feet of your elders and learn from them.’
The second is: ‘Take your own path and create your own legacy,’ although she warns against seeking ‘instant gratification’ at every step of your career journey. ‘Simply stopping your life as a professional when you close your laptop at the end of the day may not be sufficient if you want to build a legacy,’ she says, reflecting on her own long hours.
‘It’s a beautiful ability to look at numbers and see a story’
She believes there is a growing demand for multidisciplinary advice. ‘Subject matter experts are important. Notwithstanding this, it is equally important to remove yourself from solely the specific silo that you are an expert in and become a novice in something else.’
She also has advice specifically for accountants. ‘Speak up early and often. Accountants have the beautiful ability to look at numbers and see a story. Sometimes translating that story early, to the right persons at the right time, can bring great success to organisations.
‘The speaking up aspect of being an accountant is important. We all want to hear their voice.’
