Before Catalys
Before this I was a certified public accountant at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, working on audits of mid-sized listed and unlisted companies across industries from consumer services to financial services, and on audits and support for companies preparing to list.
In practice that meant fielding clients’ questions on accounting treatment while checking evidence for revenue and costs, reviewing business plans in M&A, testing impairment of shares and fixed assets, and examining deferred tax, carrying out audit procedures to see whether the financial statements investors rely on were materially misstated.
IPO work and some audit procedures around M&A brought me into moments when a company was growing, but I increasingly wanted to be involved in those moments directly, from a management point of view rather than only an accounting and audit one, so I decided to move to a consulting firm.
Why I joined
I joined this firm because of the environment, and because I agreed with where it is going.
The attitude symbolised by Cortisol Management: building an environment where each person can perform at their best. That is not just words; it is carried through in a well-designed compensation structure and a clear system for assessing results, and it gives us a base from which we can genuinely contribute to clients.
Through several conversations and interviews, agreeing with the direction the firm is taking, and finding the people I met to be decent, also counted for a lot.
In this environment I want to grow and deliver value to clients at the same time.
Growth and results
Right after I joined I had to adapt to a way of working quite different from my last job, and there were days when I did not even understand the terms flying around in meetings and was scrambling to catch up.
With thorough on-the-job coaching from my leader, and by drawing on the knowledge and frameworks the firm has built up, I was able to raise my working level quickly. From basic analysis through to building proposal decks, I feel the range where I can contribute to client work has widened.
Now I carry a defined role on projects, and I feel I have grown to a level where I can deliver value to clients.
Moving from audit
Unlike my last job there is no clear anchor for your thinking such as accounting or auditing standards, so you have to draw out the questions on a project yourself and build the answer and the explanation logically. Early on I found that hard. But put the other way, that is where the interest and the reward are, and it is what the client is paying for.
My grounding in accounting, and my experience reviewing business plans in M&A, feed into the work now.
On a BDD project, when analysing and modelling revenue and cost structures, that accounting knowledge and that experience with business plans help. What the work really rests on, though, is logical thinking and a broad knowledge of business questions, and I keep studying and practising every day.
What I want to achieve at Catalys
My goal is to become a consultant who can identify a client’s real problem and support them all the way from designing the strategy to carrying it out.
Specifically, I want to be able to deliver value on management problems — business strategy, mid- to long-term plans, M&A support, value creation at portfolio companies — by combining business strategy with knowledge of finance and accounting.
As AI and other technologies keep changing the business environment quickly, companies are asked to decide fast and execute reliably at the same time. Drawing a good strategy is not enough; real results only come when you get right inside the client and stay with them through execution. Through that kind of end-to-end support, I want to contribute to our clients’ growth and to society more widely.
* Roles and details are as they were at the time of the interview.