Getting a higher education wasn’t easy from a small village in Pakistan, says Taswer Khan FCCA. ‘It was three hours to university, three hours back, every day,’ he says. ‘But I was the lucky one from my village. I was the first one to graduate with a degree.’
While he was considered very highly educated within his small community, Khan would soon realise that his training journey had only begun. Now he holds an ACCA Qualification, an MSc and countless other certifications, and is currently an executive MBA candidate at Rotman School of Managmeent while his family lives in Toronto, Canada. All this while leading the financial management operations of cooling systems manufacturer Güntner Middle East.
Higher aspirations
Khan decided to pursue the ACCA Qualification after a conversation with a colleague while at his first accounting job. ‘One day, a co-worker asked me what my qualifications were, and I proudly said: “BComm [bachelor of commerce]”. He replied: “Only BCom?”
‘Prior to that, given I was the highest educated person in my village, I was under the impression that I was well-equipped to achieve my career aspirations. It was quite an eye- opener to realise I had only begun my accounting training, and I decided I must go for higher education.
‘I wanted to be a chartered accountant but I was discouraged that with a full time job, I wouldn’t be able to.’
Khan would first pursue a local qualification as a public finance accountant. ‘That did two things for me,’ he says. ‘First, it allowed me to test the waters in terms of the type of further education I would need and, second, it gave me confidence to continue.’
His next qualification would be ACCA’s, he explains, and came about as a result of a move to Dubai. ‘As soon as I came to Dubai, I realised that local qualifications weren’t going to help if you want to succeed internationally.
‘If you want to work globally, then you must go with a global qualification. With its focus on understanding financial management and strategy in addition to accounting principles, the ACCA was the obvious choice for me.’
As CFO of Güntner Middle East, Khan is responsible for all financial reporting, management and financial strategy for the regions and reports to the headquarters in Germany and Austria. He also covers the full spectrum of leadership for the team, business partnering and problem-solving, providing solutions to the business and playing a major role on the strategy side as well.
His top tips
‘ACCA members come with a strong background in accounting and finance, but in a global company they’ll also need to focus on regulatory complexity, legal taxation and compliance.’
‘We are living in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, which makes it imperative to apply technological advances in financial management, such as Big Data analytics.’
‘To be a finance leader in any company you need to work on developing soft skills. Your communication, your relationship-building, your attitude and your behaviour are so important to succeed as an executive and as a person. These skills are transferable anywhere.’
‘You have to develop strategic thinking and keep abreast of technological advances.’
Source: AB Magazine
