With his father and grandfather having worked as accountants, James Symes ACA may have seemed destined to follow in their footsteps. Instead, it was studying economics at the University of Exeter that led him back to the profession. “I really enjoyed the accounting and finance courses that I was doing as part of the degree,” he recalls. Soon enough, an economics degree was switched to an accounting degree, and James joined KPMG’s audit team upon graduating in 2010.

During his eight years with KPMG, James’s work included high profile projects such as advising HM Treasury on Brexit response planning. James also served as executive assistant to KPMG’s then-chairman - a unique opportunity to see how the organisation worked from the highest level.

"Getting to sit in the cockpit of a multi-billion turnover practice was just an incredible experience," explains James. "You got to understand how leadership truly worked in that type of organisation." It also proved to be a valuable training ground for running his own business in the future. "Being in the chairman's office very much allowed me to see how risk management needs to be a key and prevalent part of your job as a CEO,” he says.

Becoming an entrepreneur

A secondment at Lloyds Bank in 2015 also gave James vital insight into consumer finance and product-based banking - but it was reading a report by research agency Mintel that sparked the idea for Bike Club. "The report identified children’s bicycles as a hugely voluminous segment of the market," he explains. "That's when the idea came to me - pay monthly for children’s bikes and exchange the bikes as your kids grow." 

James left KPMG to work on Bike Club full-time in 2018. The business had quickly grown from a side hustle - James began by renting bikes from his flat in London - with the raising of seed investment and bringing in key figures like Mike Balfour FCA, founder of Fitness First and a fellow ICAEW member, as chairman. Milestones since then have included the securing of private equity investment in 2020 and 2022; and launching the business in Germany in 2023.

Now, James is focused on continuing to grow the business across Europe. He also sees Bike Club as an important example that businesses based around sustainable consumption can be successful and profitable. “We want to be one of the leading circular economy businesses in Europe,” he explains. “We want to prove that the circular economy works in this sector. We want to be a pioneer.”

Bike Club achieved the B Corp Certification in 2023. The certification enables businesses to communicate their commitment to social and environmental impact to customers and investors alike. “We aren’t dressing up as a sustainable business. You can be massively more sustainable when you’re sharing products around the economy,” says James. “Staff are with us because it’s about having more of an impact than working on a relatively straightforward, linear consumption process.”

Accountant at heart

The skills and knowledge James gained while completing the ACA qualification continue to serve him as a chief executive. “I still use the financial mathematics side of it every day,” he says. “Understanding how your P&L, balance sheet and cash flow interact, and build up into a set of accounts, is super valuable.” 

Financial expertise is especially important when managing a business with a subscription-based model, James says. “We charge a low amount of money to rent what is quite an expensive product. It doesn’t work unless our customers stay with us for a long time,” he explains. “Being able to analyse and understand what that means for the life of a bike - things like the internal rate of return - is key for us.”

For those at the beginning of their careers, James recommends finding a mentor. “Mentors help as a sounding board for what you’re doing with your career at the time,” he says. In particular, James recommends finding someone from outside your immediate team, who can bring a fresh perspective to reaching your goals. “I've had various senior mentors in my life,” he says. “You meet up every few months for coffee and just talk through what you're trying to achieve. They help keep you on track.”

James also outlines perseverance and resilience as essential elements for completing the ACA qualification. “Juggling priorities was really hard - I remember not going out on weekends because I was revising - but you’re going through a transformative experience for your character and your life. You’re becoming a professional. The reason it’s hard is because it’s worth it,” he says. 

“I look back quite fondly on those times. I trained in a cohort of 12 and that group of people became my friends. Now, a couple of them are partners at KPMG, one launched a private equity fund, one runs the finances of an energy company, I founded Bike Club, and so on. We’ve all come from training together as ICAEW Chartered Accountants in the audit department - and we’ve all gone on to fascinating, interesting careers.”

Access ICAEW support and resources during your ACA studies.