How did you get into finance?
While studying in secondary school, I took a couple of modules on accounting and finance, which I really enjoyed. I knew a career in finance was for me, although I didn’t know exactly which area I wanted to work in. I then came to London to do a degree in accounting and finance at LSE. It has a great reputation – I was excited not just about the education, but also about being in London and everything a metropolitan city like that has to offer.
Tell us about your role as ICAEW ambassador at LSE
The role was advertised by the LSE accounting society and I thought it would be a good opportunity to find out more about the chartered accountancy qualification. The role was there to raise awareness and educate people about the benefits of the qualification. There are so many ways to become a chartered accountant, not always starting with a university degree.
As ambassador, I supported ICAEW at career and networking events at the university.
What experience did you gain while training for your ACA?
Straight after I graduated in 2015, I joined PwC’s assurance team in Milton Keynes. I worked on the audits of mainly private businesses, but also a large financial services company. I spent half my time doing the audit of Santander retail bank, which is based in Milton Keynes, and the rest looking at a range of SMEs based in the Midlands, including a recruitment agency, a forklift manufacturer and a supplier of laboratory equipment. It was really valuable having so much exposure early on. I enjoyed the study and the work.
Why the move to transaction services?
Audit is very much regulatory and compliance driven. However, I wanted to do something more commercial, forward looking and analytical. Transaction services presented the opportunity to really get under the skin of a business, understand the trends and get exposure to the senior management team such as the founder, the CEO and the CFO.
PwC was great in supporting an internal transfer from Milton Keynes assurance to the transaction services team in London. Once there, I spent a lot of time working with mid-market private equity houses and large corporates that were looking to do M&A or divest part of their businesses.
And from there to private equity?
A buy-side role at a PE house is a lot more commercial. You get to see the end-to-end deal process. You have to weigh the positives of a business together with the risks and decide whether, on balance, the risk reward profile fits your investment strategy. As an adviser, you present your views to the clients, but rarely have to make a commercial decision on whether to progress with the investment.
Moving to the buy-side provides further opportunities for learning and development, particularly as I am able to adopt a longer-term focus on an investment and build an in-depth understanding of the business and sector. A transaction services project takes a few months and you then move quite quickly on to another project. I’m really enjoying the contrast, having the opportunity to develop such in-depth understanding.
Why did you choose ECI?
ECI has a good culture and collaborative team environment. The team genuinely cares for your learning and development and actively promotes diversity and inclusiveness. I am from Malaysia and so have a very different cultural background. Also, I followed a career path that is less well-trodden to get into PE. People have been extremely supportive and given me enough time to progress up the learning curve. It’s for those reasons that ECI has established a very good reputation as a successful mid-market PE house. At the moment, I really enjoy what I’m doing. I hope I can get enough experience to lead and execute deals and, fingers crossed, hopefully one day become a partner at ECI. But that’s much further in the future.
