Our People in Their Own Words - Transcripts
The following questions and answers are transcribed from videos
recorded with our people.
To read an interview, click on a name below, or click here to view the videos.
Sacha Romanovitch
Kathrine Webb
Allanah Steadman
Sachin Dosani
Sacha Romanovitch
What are you most proud of in your time at Grant Thornton so
far?
The thing that I'm most proud of is the amount of people we've
actually seen come through to partner, and the people who's careers
I've helped develop, and helped them maybe address some things they
didn't think they could do and helped them realise what it is they
really want to do in their professional lives. That's been
fantastically rewarding because each person has different stages in
their careers where they hit blocks, or speed and seem to be
storming ahead - helping support them through that and helping to
bring them through to partnership is a great challenge. I'm
delighted that in my business unit we've brought 6 people through
to partnership in the last year, which is great.
Have you ever taken any time out in your career?
I was very fortunate in 1998, just before I was due to go
through our formal partnership process, I asked to have a years
sabbatical. I travelled for 13 months and went to India, Thailand,
Nepal, Sri Lanka, I managed to do a 10 day silent meditation course
- no one believes. I also spent 5 weeks at an Ashram in the South
of India studying yoga. I think it was great for me, I learnt a
number of things: one, I completely lost my fear of negotiating
because every night I was going into hotels and having to negotiate
prices and say 'Right, I'll stay here, but only if you change all
the sheets.' and all that sort of stuff. And then also being able
to relate to so many different types of people, and to a certain
extent, to work out who you are as a person, because when you're
out there travelling on your own like that people aren't relating
to you because of your age, where you went to school, what you did
at university, what sort of career you have - they just relate to
you as an individual and you learn an awful lot about yourself. I
think certainly I got a lot more self confidence from taking that
time out.
What's the biggest issue for accountancy in 2006?
I think the biggest challenge is going to be addressing the
ongoing ethical issues in terms of what work you can and can't do
if your doing the audit and how that's coming through from the
European courts. If I was to pick one other it would be the sheer
amount of financial reporting change that's coming through with the
international financial reporting standards and how that's going to
impact on companies. I think it's going to be a massive change and
I think a lot of businesses just aren't geared up for it. So it's
going to be a great opportunity for us to support them through
it.
If you could change one thing at Grant Thornton what would you
do?
If I could change one thing at Grant Thornton what would it be?
I think it would be to help people understand that it's all there
for the taking for themselves. Often when people come into the
business they will have made their own assumption of what you can
and can't do - and if you imagine a maze, they will have
constructed walls where in fact there are no walls. So if there was
one thing I could to it would be to encourage everyone to actually
realise the only walls that are there are the ones in their minds,
and if they could just let them go then we could achieve even more
than we do today.
What is your funniest moment?
One of the funniest moments that strikes me, going a number of
years back now, was when I was out on site with a team and I had a
trainee who was in his first week - it was out at a building
services firm, so it was quite muddy around. And the foreman came
and said 'Does any of you lot own a BMW, because it's blocking the
path?' and I looked up and said 'Oh don't be silly, do any of us
look like we own a BMW' sort of thing. Then there was a moment of
silence and then the brand new trainee sort of piped up 'Ah, yes
actually it's mine' and we were all like 'Great, the brand new
trainee's got a BMW'. But there was quite an interesting story
behind him, and I think it shows something about the sorts of
people that join the firm because he'd actually run a fish
importing business from Kenya while at university, which was his
way of supplementing his grant.
When you talk to a lot of people who join the firm, you've got
people who are fantastic technicians, who love their clients and
have got all of those skills but there's also an entrepreneurial
spirit of wanting to explore what you can do, help their clients
understand what they can do, and my personal case how, as a
business, we can explore, develop and change. And that spirit is
fantastic! And it means that one of the fantastic things about the
firm is that if you come in and you've got lots of ideas, and lots
of energy, and you want to take it somewhere you'll find that you
can do it and that I think is quite unusual and that's why I've
stayed here longer than I ever thought that I would.
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Kathrine Webb
What is your largest client turn over?
The largest client I've worked on to date with the team was
around £150 million turn over.
What time did you get in this morning and what time will you
get home?
I got in at 8.30 this morning, and I'd expect to be home around
7.00pm.
How often do you work from home?
I can work from home whenever I like actually, as long as I
don't have to be at the clients' or anything. But I tend to prefer
to work in the office because I like the interaction with
colleagues.
Do you look forward to trips away?
Yes! I quite enjoy travelling, both personally and
professionally and I travelled before I joined Grant Thornton for a
year. As part of my job I travel quite a lot to clients - but
that's primarily my choice and it's made easier as I'm allowed to
be based wherever I choose to be. So I base myself in Bristol
although the team are primarily based in London.
What's your bosses favourite drink and when's the last time
they bought you one?
Yes, he likes a pint of cider - he's quite good at buying us
drinks. In fact he took the team and their families away for a
weekend before Christmas and he bought several drinks then.
If you could change one thing at Grant Thornton what would you
do?
I would probably like to change some of our clients'
perceptions, or the market's perceptions of what Grant Thornton can
offer. I think that some people don't appreciate the level of
service that we offer at the moment.
Have you had any papers published or addressed any major
conferences?
I had a paper published in biochemistry, but nothing in
accountancy.
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Allanah Steadman
How often do you work from home?
I probably work from home around two to three times a month
maybe - a lot of the work I need to be in the office for, but the
senior partners are quite happy for people to work from home.
What time did you get in this morning and what time will you
get home?
I got up this morning at 6.10 and got in at 8.30. I'll probably
leave work around 5.30 - I like to go to the gym at lunchtimes, so
it gives me the extra half an hour to do what I need to do down at
the gym.
What's the biggest issue for Financial Markets for 2006?
The biggest issue in the Financial Markets in 2006 is a European
directive called MiFID which will make it easy for firms to
passport a lot of their business across Europe. That will come into
effect in 2007 but the regulations need to be complied with this
year.
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Sachin Dosani
What does your largest client turn over?
The largest client turns over probably about a billion pounds -
and that's probably one of Audit's largest clients as well.
How many clients on board level are you on first name terms
with?
Some of the clients tend to be a little bit smaller than the one
I just mentioned. So in terms of how many clients I'm on first
names terms with at a board level - at least about 80-90% of them
I'd say.
What time did you get in this morning and what time will you
get home?
I probably got up too late - like most mornings - and I missed
breakfast. Got up probably about 7.15ish, left the house at 8 to
get in for 9, which is pretty much a typical day, and will be out
of the office at 5.30.
What did you do on your last day off?
Last day off was pretty cool actually. It was new years day and
I was sitting on a beach in Kenya with a few mates.
If there was one thing in the office that you could take home
with you, what or who would it be and why?
Well if I could take home anything from the office, I guess it's
going to have to be the senior partner's payslip - so I'd be a lot
better off I think.
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