I have been in finance for most of my working life. I began with a BA in Accountancy Studies and then went on to become a fully qualified CIMA management accountant, working in such big name companies as Co-operative Retail Society, Coca Cola Enterprises and Comet.

My whole life changed when I became a Mum to 2 beautiful girls. I decided that a job as a childminder would fit in perfectly with Mummy life, and it did but the numbers kept calling to me.

After helping the daughter of a friend by tutoring her a couple of times for her AAT exams, my husband suggested that a career as a self-employed bookkeeper might fit with the family just as well now that the girls were getting ready to go to school.

I jumped at the chance, however I knew how different Management Accounts in a big corporation was to bookkeeping for SMEs, I knew I would have to retrain – the bits I learnt on my degree were such a long time ago. After a bit of research I found Ideal Schools – the best decision I could have made was choose them to do my studies with. I took the ICB Career Path package and 10 months later I opened my shiny new practice and took on my first client – a friend of a Mum I spoke to on the school run.

Since then, my practice has gone from strength to strength. I now have two part time people working for me. I have over 100 clients ranging from twice per week bookkeeping to once a year self-assessment tax returns.