Tanya Craft has recently been promoted to Director, Corporate Finance. Tanya first joined HW Fisher’s audit department back in 2011 as part of a three-year ACA programme. Once qualified, she moved to the corporate finance team where she now specialises in audit, due diligence, valuation and financial modelling.
Tanya shares an overview of her journey into accounting, her career highlights so far, the main advice she is sharing with clients and her goals for the next 12 months.
How would you describe your role in three words?
Interesting, engaging and teamwork.
Favourite thing about your role?
My team – they are great. I have been lucky during my time at HW Fisher to work with some brilliant people. Having great people around you means that you can pull on their strengths and expertise to ensure you deliver the best results to your clients. I also am very fortunate to have some lovely clients.
When you genuinely enjoy working with people, it makes all the difference.
What is your career highlight?
Becoming ACA qualified at 23 years old. It felt particularly good that I was one of the youngest people to do so. It came just after my birthday – a great birthday present!
What area do you currently specialise in? Tell us what your work involves.
Audit, due diligence, valuation and financial modelling.
How did you get into accounting?
I always wanted to be an accountant, or since I was 5. There was a lady who lived up the road from me, she was an accountant, she was successful in her own right, clever, funny and she played golf half the day, I aspired to be like her.
I got into accounting at 16, I didn’t particularly enjoy the school environment, so I took an AAT course at college which was more flexible. It allowed me to work and study at the same time. I have been an accountant ever since – unfortunately, I don’t spend my days playing golf…
Tell us about some of the top trends you have been following in the past year – is there something that businesses should be aware of?
I’ve mainly been following the war in Ukraine and its wider impact. I’ve also been looking at agile working. Agile working, after a couple of years of remote working, has shown that a physical office is not always required. Agile working allows an opportunity for some businesses to widen the staff talent pool available to their businesses as they are no longer tied to where they are located and standard working hours.
What is one piece of advice you would give to clients at the moment?
Look at the bigger picture. Clients often get buried in the basics, with a lot of focus on getting the accounts done or tax filed. They don’t take a step back often enough and look at what they are trying to achieve with their business, where they want to be and how to get there. I would recommend that they think about this.
What are your goals for your area of the business over the next 12 months?
Service the clients we have to a high standard and help them to achieve their goals.
How do you keep up to date with industry news?
I receive notifications through accountancy publications, including Croner-I or Accountancy Daily. Also, through training updates, both internally and from external training providers.
What do you enjoy most about working in accounting, and at HW Fisher?
At HW Fisher, there is a whole pool of expertise that you can draw on to service a client. It takes the pressure off having to know absolutely everything. You can then focus on what you are good at.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
Outside of work, what would you be doing?
I would be outside, probably in the woods, walking the dogs or playing with my two children. Either that or DIY, I love a building project. I come from a family of trades – if I wasn’t an accountant, I may have been a brick layer / chippy or project manager.
Get in touch with Tanya for any queries or if there is anything we can do to support you and your own circumstances.
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