Safia

KPMG has been keeping Safia busy while she awaits her case study resit in July. She was placed in charge of the audit of a US company with a tight reporting deadline. With last-minute issues arising and the workplace quite some way from home, Safia ended up pulling a few late shifts to get the job done.

She is currently working on the audit of a plc, having taken a step up from previous work on similar companies. This means additional responsibilities and an assistant to order around.

It’s a nervous wait for the case study exam, but Safia is not twiddling her thumbs. ‘The case study is in July, but there’s nothing to do until a month before the exam when we get the background papers. In the meantime, I’m taking a writing skills course with KPMG to help improve my report writing, which should help with the exam.’

Safia’s social life has also been busy, with ball season in full swing. She recently attended the LCASA annual black tie dinner, which raised money for the Bernado’s charity as well as several others. Safia intends to stand for chair of the society next year, with elections this month.

Exam aside, the future looks exciting for Safia, who hopes to start a secondment in transaction services or corporate finance soon. That means she could end up moving to London, or being whisked off to Europe.

Kate

Kate will be peering closely over her boss’s shoulder for the next month or so. Having completed the budgeting process and helped present the report to the British Heart Foundation’s board of trustees, she is now in the midst of the year-end figures.

While not leading the process, she is shadowing the current chief accountant, who leaves in June, in preparation for doing the work herself next year. ‘I’m trying to absorb as much information as I can. I’m picking it apart so I can understand how it has been done for the past 30 years ­ although that’s not to say it’s the way I’ll do it in future.’

Kate says her boss ‘tolerates’ her close attention and questioning of everything. She tries to be as tactful as she can when questioning why things are done a certain way. The figures need to be tidied up, put into presentable format and run by the board of trustees by the end of this month.

The date of Kate’s promotion into her current boss’s role is only months away, and much of her attention is focused on what she will be doing from then onwards. ‘I’ve got some ideas on how the department will look once I take over,’ says Kate. ‘There will be a name change and rebranding. There are no significant structural changes planned, but that may be necessary in time.’

Kate will be responsible for 11 people in her department ­ 12 once she has replaced herself. She says her management style is different from what has come before. ‘I’m keen to delegate work to my team. Giving people more responsibility helps them understand the big picture rather than just the outstanding tasks on their desks.’