Empowering and Encouraging Women into Finance for Faye Watts

Neala, tell us about your work

“I deliver finance seminars/talks in colleges, universities, local community groups, churches etc.  I have also just completed my second book on personal finances; this book is in a series of finance books I aim to write over the next few years of which I have now completed two. The aim of these books is to address the often-complex issues of financial planning and money matters making it simple, easy to use and easy to apply the principles and concepts learnt from the books. I took the knowledge and experience I acquired from my years in the corporate world and have tailored the information to individuals and families”.

How did you get into this?  I.e. did you attend university, and/or fall straight into a role or was it a more roundabout journey?

“I completed my A-levels in Trinidad and Tobago and came to England as a foreign student to study ACCA (Association of Certified Chartered Accountants) in my very early twenties in1998. I did not pursue the university route as two experienced professional accountants I knew personally, advised that studying ACCA was the better option than having a degree in Accounting. It was an unconventional route to take and I was grateful I had people around me with the right knowledge and information to guide me in my career path. After completing the ACCA I worked for a short period of time as an accounts clerk in the city until it was time for me to go back to my home country Trinidad. During that time as a clerk I took the opportunity to not only do my job to the best of my ability but also to learn as much as I could in the organisation I worked at. I would complete my job as quickly as possible and then assist others with their finance roles. I used this chance to absorb and gain knowledge on how a finance department worked. I learnt the workings of the purchase ledger, the sales ledger, bank reconciliations, creditors and debtors report etc. to deepen my knowledge and develop my skillset. I won an award from the agency that outsourced me as “Best Employee of the Month”.

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