The Career Journey of Miles Davies
As a forward-thinking practice, we’re committed to finding the future leaders of Shenward. That’s why in 2018, we launched a dedicated Graduate Training Scheme which helps newly graduated individuals build a career in Accountancy.
Our scheme to date has seen many of our graduate employees become Chartered Accountants with many more on their way. One of which is Miles Davis, who recently became fully qualified and was promoted to Senior Accountant.
Let’s see what Miles had to say about his journey.
What first made you decide to join Shenward?
I became a member of the Shenward team through an acquisition Shenward undertook in 2018 of a Leeds based accountancy firm. A lot of financial companies are based in Leeds and so I felt I could learn a lot about the trade being at the heart of it. I’d always wanted a job involving analytics and number crunching, so when I discovered the wide range of services Shenward offered to its clients, I was excited by the opportunity to have so much exposure to different elements of Accounting and Finance.
You’ve just completed all of your exams – and passed with flying colours – was that always a dream to reach the top level?
I have always performed well academically (I achieved MSc Chemistry at University) and so when I joined the practice, I knew I wanted a role that would allow me to achieve the top qualification possible. Shenward has been brilliant with their support on this journey, covering the cost of exams and allowing for study leave and adequate additional training opportunities. It’s been hard, but their support has made it easier.
What difference has it made studying whilst working?
It’s been great to be able to understand what I’ve been taught in classes by seeing it in real life. When you’re studying and then working in a completely different role, it’s a whole lot harder. Whilst the COVID lockdowns were not nice for anyone, I did gain a lot more time to invest in studying for exams and so I passed them a lot quicker than expected. I would usually study after work at home in the evenings for about 3 hours and then sometimes on the weekends, as well as on study leave days.
What have you most enjoyed about studying?
The practical application in the job gives you much better understanding of the work. Problem solving issues for clients has been fun because knowledge was gained, and help was much more accessible. Also, results days were always a bonus.
Olivia, my colleague, has also been doing studies and so it’s been great to have someone to talk to and for us to share tips.
How have you applied your learnings to your work?
It comes up all the time in tax planning, audit field work and the preparation and planning of disclosures in the financial statements. Before I knew what to do. Now I know why to do it – and also other avenues to go down if necessary.
Have you faced any challenges?
The social life balance is hard to maintain when studying alongside working. Going home early or missing things altogether as I needed to be productive the next day. However, to anyone considering our Graduate Programme, I would say it’s totally worth the effort to finish it in the end. Not only do you have the opportunity to build a really secure future for yourself, but you can control how quickly that happens. The firm has a supportive environment and an empathetic attitude towards staff who are balancing studying with their role.
Now you’re qualified, what’s your career plan?
There are other smaller courses that I think would be useful but for the time being, I think I will take some time to enjoy not having to study in my free time. In terms of the distant future, now that I am part of the management team at Shenward, I foresee progressing through the ranks towards becoming partner.
Interested in joining our Graduate Program? Send a CV to gemma@shenward.com and we’ll be in touch.
