Up, Close & Personal with Grant Hamill.... 

I have always been a ‘numbers person’ – you’ll find me happily on holiday with a Sudoku book or diving right into problem solving. I had a natural affinity for maths at school, though my 14 year old self could not appreciate that at the time. Numbers weren’t cool. Maths isn’t fun. Why would anyone want to spend all of their time working with numbers and figures?

Fast forward to 2015, and my outlook could not be any different. I have been with Genie Accountancy a little over 16 months, and am quickly coming towards the end of my AAT Accounting qualification, which has been extremely informative and rewarding. I am interested in taking the next step in my studies later in the year to progress onto the CIMA qualification.

And just to think my career path could have turned out altogether differently - I had schoolboy dreams of becoming a geography teacher and travelling the world, which on reflection were highly unrealistic! Having spent a year at university studying the subject, I unfortunately came to the realisation that my choice of course was not as suitable as I had first thought, as I struggled to grasp the more scientific concepts that I had not previously held grounding in.

With perhaps a more pragmatic perspective, I decided to return to what I was good at – mathematics and figures. Having recently left university I was very tentative at the thought of returning to study and the possibility of yet again ‘failing’ myself. All doubts were quickly erased after a chance visit to my then workplace by a local careers officer from the local college. Upon researching my options, I shortly enrolled onto the introductory AAT course, and as they say, I have never looked back since.

I quickly realised that I had made the right decision , and within two months of embarking on the course, I was contacted by a local contractor who specialised in film and documentary making who was looking for a bookkeeper to maintain his records – A precursor to the role I take now, perhaps? Since then, my knowledge and personal development within accounting has gone from strength to strength, and I continue to work further into a career in accountancy.

Accounting is not the boring profession that it is often thought to be. I have had the pleasure of representing my company within a local dragon boat race, and have pitted myself alongside my colleagues at a survival day in the wilderness that is otherwise known as Epping Forest. I also have recently taken to playing tennis at the local park with friends, though my lack of proficiency has become something of a running joke – Roger Federer, I am not.

Accountancy is also very much a service based industry, and there is nothing more rewarding than providing a thoughtful, detailed and concise service to our clients. If a client can head home assured of his financial situation, or can leave a call imbued with a little more knowledge himself, then I too can rest assured that I have done all I can to help. Knowing where I came from just three years ago, it is wonderful to know that imparting my experience to help others, if even only a little bit, can pay dividends in the future.