Crowe Connections

Having worked for a small local practice and gained some foundational skills in Accounting, I wanted to broaden my knowledge through working with a variety of clients – of different industries, sizes and structures. Crowe’s Business Solutions department provided a wonderful opportunity to do just that; in a team that fulfilled a range of client requirements and supported both my on-the-job development as well as providing study support towards my ACCA qualification.

Crowe truly promotes a people-focused culture and this is reflected in the connections I made both personally and professionally during my time at Crowe. Having joined within a cohort of training accountants, we pushed and encouraged each other to succeed and aided each other’s development. Crowe’s approach to best practice and processes provided me with the fundamental considerations to tasks and solution seeking that I still utilise every day; I often look back and deduce how we would have approached a task at Crowe, and then take that mindset forward in my current role.

I do miss the people at Crowe, but have been pleased to see the ongoing development and promotions of those that are still with the team with whom I shared some time with during my journey. Working in a team with a wide variety of responsibilities also provided an excellent opportunity to learn and develop, and these opportunities do reduce after moving into industry, so I am glad to have had the opportunity to have experienced this at Crowe during my career.

After Crowe, I extended my time in Practice for a short while with Deloitte. At this point, I felt I wanted to move into industry to get more deeply involved with a business; to help it navigate change, seek improvement and maximise growth opportunities. An opportunity had arisen with Drover; a fast-growing start-up in the Automotive industry utilising tech to its advantage. After joining, the business scaled rapidly before being acquired by Cazoo. A wider pool of resources within a much larger business environment led to Cazoo gaining Unicorn status in record-breaking time. With great opportunity comes great challenge, and my roles there allowed me to expand my skills and knowledge and really make an impact representing Finance.

My latest role is with FreedomPay, the world’s largest independent payment gateway. While established in the US, the business is going through rapid growth in the UK and Europe. As a result, I took the position as the first UK-based Finance representative. My current focus is on ensuring best practice towards tax compliance, as well as developing controls, processes and systems to provide the foundation for which future growth can be supported.

I am pleased to have maintained connections with the people at Crowe, and am often in contact both professionally and socially with my former colleagues. Crowe has assisted with various engagements for the companies I have since worked for, and in this way I am still benefitting from the knowledge and skill pool Crowe can be proud to offer. As a client of Crowe, I see the same drive, energy and attention to client needs that helped develop my career.

As a client, I have benefitted from Crowe’s professional knowledge, skills and ability. Being able to have confidence in the people at Crowe, the company culture and its wide breadth of expertise has allowed for a smooth and collaborative working engagement. 

Crowe’s social media content has often been highly relevant to the industries I work within, and I have benefitted from various key issues, changes and considerations having been brought to my attention.

It has also been beneficial to maintain social relationships with like-minded individuals, with whom I can bounce off ideas, discuss life events and catch up with regularly.

I aim on continuing my contribution at FreedomPay and growing my expertise in the industry sector. Being a part of sustained growth provides lots of opportunities and challenges that I want to tackle and develop as a finance professional as a result. I hope to continue to maintain relations with Crowe and continue to hold the firm, its people and its values in high regard.