Ella's LinkedIn profile

I’m often asked about how I became a chartered accountant - it was not a direct path!

When I was at school, I was very artistic and qualified as a dressmaker and pattern cutter as a result. I’d decided that I was never going to be trapped in an office 24/7. However, I found that this didn’t suit me, so I went back to college, worked in various roles, and after qualifying as bookkeeper, I worked freelance in various businesses.

The fact that I have worked in industry with both struggling and successful businesses and even ran some pubs helps me to empathise with my clients, as I have been where they are now, and of course am again now that I run my own practice.

I am very thankful that I have had great mentors and good guidance in the past, from previous employers and mentors. Sometimes others can see the potential in you that you cannot see yourself, and it is worth listening to any advice before you make any decisions. 

Being in practice is actually rather enjoyable because ironically, I’m not trapped in an office 24/7 –I’m often visiting clients discussing how they’re running their businesses and helping them with their compliance or to catch up with where they are with their plans.

Accounting has always been progressive, and over the last 10-15 years in particular the advances in various bookkeeping software has revolutionised how clients record their data and connect us to it. It is up to us to work with them and their software rather than to dictate to them what they should be using, so my practice currently has access to at least seven bookkeeping packages, both cloud based and desktop based.

I didn’t originally want to set up my own practice as I loved the practice where I worked before, but there was no path to partnership there. So after looking around and seeing that any partnership would pigeon hole me, I decided I would set up my own practice with the systems and processes that I wanted that would be more efficient for myself and clients. 

Ever since I was a girl I had wanted to fly, however it seemed that only boys could be pilots. Finally, I got the chance to start learning a while ago and in talking to aircraft management companies and pilots, I realised how different accounting is in aviation and that there was a gap in the market, so when I set up for myself I decided to specialise in Aviation and Transport.

When looking at Aircraft accounting you have to take many things into consideration - how it is owned, how it is managed, whether it is in on an AOC (Air Operators Certificate) where it is registered and of course where it is kept.

Accounting for that aircraft to spread the cost requires accrual and the best way to accrue is over the engine hours. Charter planes can run many hours every day, so those engine hours need to be kept track of. It makes my job interesting and gives a different dimension to the figures that we look at for our clients.

It's similar in transportation although there you are keeping track of the mileage of trucks and ensuring that drivers do not drive for more than eight hours in one go and then rest for so many hours before they carry on their journey. That’s why you see separate areas for trucks at services. Tachometers are used to keep track of the hours spent driving so there are tools to help you keep on top of it. 

With both my jet management and transportation customers, Brexit has raised new challenges with international travel and also being multi-currency businesses. However, at Aviatrix, we are using the latest accounting practice software platforms (we use all the well-known and established software tools), so if a customer has a preference, we’re able to support that, which enables better management for on-boarding new clients and growing our relationship.

I definitely enjoy running my own practice and try to make the most of the technological advancements that have been made in our industry.  

Given my background running and helping to run so many varied companies, it is nice to be able to help my clients with the challenges that they face and to listen to my clients talk about their whole business and not just their compliance.

After all the best bit of what we do is problem solving!