I’ve worked for Maggie, but finance is just as fun
OnCE A roadie on an election campaign for Mrs Thatcher, Quentin Livingston went on to work in event management for 28 years.
But, eventually, the 51-yearold from Brockley, South London, decided it was time for a career change.
Last year, he completed his Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) Level 4 qualification and now works as a finance assistant.
AAT is the professional body for accounting technicians and offers the only non- graduate route into chartered accountancy.
‘i’d considered many career options and started several courses, but i found i kept coming back to the idea of working in accountancy,’ says Quentin.
‘i’d been ill, there was the recession and when my mother became terminally ill, i looked after her for the last six weeks of her life. it all made me take stock, and made me think i had to get on with it.
‘i’d heard about the AAT course and thought i would see whether i had the right aptitude.
‘i started the course six months to the day after my mother died, and i think she would have approved because she was a teacher and was passionate about education.
‘ i was 49 when i started the course, and my new career choice seems odd to many of my friends. They think i am far too vibrant to do something regarded as dull as finance. But that shows how wrong people are about accountancy.
‘it is very vibrant and exciting.’
Emily Barber, 21, joined grant Thornton, one of the world’s leading independent assurance, tax and advisory firms, after leaving Suffolk new College in ipswich.
She says: ‘ When i was getting to the end of college, i realised i didn’t want to go on to university and that i would prefer to work while i was gaining more qualifications.
‘i had always had an interest in becoming an accountant, and as my mum started studying for the AAT qualification a year earlier, i realised it was the career that would suit me, so i decided to get work experience at an accountancy firm.’