Nora Aziz

I am a recent Finance and Accounting master’s graduate from Brunel University London. Before this, I was enrolled at Swansea University, where I completed my undergraduate degree in Mathematics.

During my free time, I enjoy baking brownies, a victoria sponge and cheesecakes. I feel that it is a great way to unwind at the end of the working day. When I am not baking, I enjoy running my small business which can be located on depop. Within my business, I sell second-hand products such as clothing, jewellery, and shoes. Within the past 2.5 years, I have successfully sold 115 items to date and maintained a 5-star average rating. I believe that this is of great importance as 85% of clothes end up in landfills or are burnt. I feel like it is better to give these items a new home.

Recently, I have gained an interest in the cryptocurrency market. My initial interest sparked whilst I was completing my master’s dissertation on it, focusing on the factors that contribute to the price fluctuations in the market. A model was created that could value the price of bitcoin.

Those closest to me, have described me as a team player, as I make sure that I take ownership of my work. My communication skills have allowed me to excel within a group, and I do not shy away from voicing my opinions. I always approach quiet members of my team, to ask them for their opinion - making them feel more welcomed.
 

During my time at haysmacintyre LLP, I was part of the audit team. I specialised in not-for-profit and financial services client base. Each week I would be booked on a different client, working alongside managers, and senior trainee accountants. I was supervised by a senior trainee who would guide me on how to complete the testing effectively. Before we conducted the audit as a team, the attendance of a strategy meeting is required, to understand the areas of the audit that required the most attention, alongside the approach that we are required to take. Sometimes, we went to the client site, as it was easier to communicate with them and get the information we required immediately. As an external auditor, we must gather all evidence from our clients, these include invoices, emails sent as a form of proof that payrolls have been checked, or whether there have been significant changes within the business. Significant changes in the business include whether the business has opened a new bank account, or is planning on enlarging the business through renting a larger office or increasing the number of employees.

Haysmacintyre LLP had their internal accounting software that was used to manage client files, called eAudit. Alongside communicating with clients, my role mainly consisted of managing the eAudit file for my assigned client. I would attach files that represented significant evidence and prepare files for testing. The testing that I would part take in includes expenditure testing, cash testing, and sampling. To do this, I would look for specific invoices on the accounting software, Xero and input values onto eAudit. Any differences must be investigated further as this could signify fraud. After this, I would have to check financial statements to see if all values are accurate according to the testing. Any issues are addressed to the manager who will conduct further checking to clarify the errors.

I hold a masters in Finance and Accounting from Brunel University London, in which I successfully graduated with a Distinction.