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It’s all change for Safia this summer. After four years with KPMG in Liverpool, qualifying for her ACA and working in audit, she’s decided it’s time to move on and has taken a job with North West water and electricity company United Utilities.
‘I’ve been thinking of moving for a while,’ she says. ‘I’ve been at KPMG for four years and given the way the market is going I wasn’t going to get the corporate finance experience I was looking for. I felt I needed a change.’
But the move isn’t into corporate finance, but rather internal audit. She admits that the move is not one that everybody would appreciate, but ‘the job spec really appealed to me’.
The choice of company was important to her as well, and fortunately she had the inside track on United Utilities. ‘One of my former colleagues works there, so I got some inside info and she is really happy there.’
Safia doesn’t see herself working in internal audit forever, but said it is ‘good for 12 months or so’ but that there is lots of scope to move around within the company. And if the corporate finance market picks up again, that may also be something she will look into.
She moves over to United Utilities on 26 August so the process of handing over her workload at KPMG is well underway, but there’s no time to get demob happy. ‘It’s still full on until I leave,’ she says. ‘I want to get everything done that I can before I go.’
There are other changes in her life as well. Safia has stepped down as chair of LCASA following the completion of her term, but is now involved in another project aimed at improving the image of muslims in the UK. The ‘Spirit of Cordoba’ project has already seen her take a trip to 10 Downing Street and she is helping with work on the website and undertaking phone interviews. Alongside that she continues to study for her Securities and Investment Institute qualification, but she still believes the changes that are taking place should give her more free time, as there will be less travel.
Veronika
For once, the pressure of working as an internal auditor for a major investment bank is not so heavy. While Veronika is certainly not sitting twiddling her thumbs at JP Morgan, a holding pattern has emerged while the company is in the process of acquiring Bear Stearns.
‘Because of the Bear Stearns merger, a lot of areas will be undergoing changes, and there is no point in auditing something if it is changing in the near future,’ says Veronika. ‘At the moment we are finding areas that are not changing. It’s enough to keep us busy, but not as hectic as it can be.’
All that means she has been able to enjoy her free time much more. She even managed to become a football fan over the summer during the European Championships.
‘I had to move to England to become a fan of football, but it was really exciting watching Russia make it to the semi-finals of Euro 2008. I was very proud of the nation.’
Russia’s match against Spain, which Russia lost 3-0, did have another unfortunate consequence for Veronika, as it took place on the day of her 30th birthday celebrations. ‘It meant that at 8pm, most of my Russian friends disappeared somewhere to watch the football,’ she says.
Veronika has also been on a trip to Switzerland, which saw her abseiling down waterfalls, and she is soon off on a two-week hiking trip in the Altai region of Russia.
She will return to her homeland for another visit towards the end of the year, but this time it will be work related. She will be part of a team auditing the bank’s franchise in Moscow and she will be acting as point of contact for the team, being the only Russian-speaking visitor. This also means she has been put in charge of the entertainment programme for the visitors, so at least the auditing will be interspersed with visits to tourist attractions.
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