insights
After spending 4 years studying at PEM within the Audit & Accounts team, Cameron Rothwell completed his ACA in November 2022. Since completing his studies, Cameron has taken on a new challenge by joining our PEMCF team to embark on his M&A journey and develop within his role as Executive.
It all started really with a taster session that I attended in year 10 for the Economics A level course, which showed me how mathematical and analytical skills could be used to really make a difference in people’s lives. I enjoyed that taster session so much that from then I knew I wanted to do an Economics degree, and so off I went after A Levels to spend three brilliant years studying the subject down in London at UCL. It was there, after selecting several more finance-focused modules and really enjoying them, that I knew I wanted to work in the finance industry. However, the finance industry is certainly rather large! Therefore, after taking a bit of time to find out exactly what I wanted to do after University, I came across the idea of working in Audit and decided to give that a go.
I joined PEM back in January 2019 as a new trainee in the Audit and Accounts department, and after four years of study, I passed my final ACA exams and became a Chartered Accountant in November 2022. During my time in Audit and Accounts, I worked on a number of small, medium and large clients in a wide variety of industries, and there were three main areas of the role that I did really enjoy.
Firstly, the variety of businesses that I worked with in audit was very interesting, and this has given me a great amount of experience of not only dealing with financial information but more importantly knowing what this information actually means. Secondly, building and fostering the client relationship during the audit cycle was also really enjoyable as this allowed the audit to function smoothly and efficiently.
In addition, another aspect of Audit that I thoroughly enjoyed was working in a team in order to get an audit over the finish line. My favourite times in Audit were always when the team would all pull together during the fieldwork in order to get the work done, and this camaraderie made all those long hours all the more worth it once the audit was taken over the finish line.
This was a question I was asked several times (as you can imagine!) when I decided to make the move across from Audit. Whilst it is a well-trodden path (with my esteemed colleague Sam Reynolds showing it can be a very successful path as well!), the two worlds are obviously quite different, going from a compliance focused area of finance to a more advisory role. However, from reading about Corporate Finance and specifically the work that PEMCF does, I realised that it had the areas of Audit that I really enjoyed, but in more of an advisory setting. This advisory side of this role, being able to be that person that provides guidance all the way through a transaction process has always been something that I have really been interested in. Especially with owner-managed businesses, where the business is something that has been built right from the start by the owner and therefore is something that is incredibly precious to them, being able to work with them and help them navigate a process that can be rather complex is something that I think will be very rewarding.
It therefore seemed that Corporate Finance was able to combine my favourite areas of Audit, with that ability to really help clients and make a difference to their lives. Together with the ability to join an award-winning group of brilliant people at PEMCF (and the chance to have a glass of champagne every now and then to toast a deal well done!), I made the decision to move across to Corporate Finance, and I am certain it is one of the best decisions I will ever make!