Education
I was born in Huntingdon and went to school in Cambridgeshire, both in the United Kingdom. In primary school and in the first half of secondary school, my skills focused around physics and mathematics. However, in the later half of secondary school, my focus moved to business and more specifically, finance and economics. This being said, I still maintained an interest in physics with astronomy being a particular interest. As such, before attending university, I decided to take my A-levels in applied business studies, mathematics, physics and general studies. Preferably, I would have replaced maths and physics with accounting, economics and politics, but those choices weren't available at the sixth form I attended.I recently graduated from the University of Hertfordshire (Class of 2013) where I studied BA Accounting and Finance with Study Abroad. I spent my junior year (third year of a four year course) studying at the IPAG business school in Nice, France where I studied the final year of their programme in BBA International Business. In addition to these programmes, I passed an invigilated foundation course in the accounting software SAGE 50 endorsed by CIMA requiring 30+ hours of work time and a 90 invigilated test to be completed.
Current Plans
I am
currently seeking job opportunities in the accounting and finance fields both
in the UK and abroad. Over the next three or so years, I will be completing the
ACCA accounting qualification in which I have six modules
remaining. When
carrying out this qualification, I plan to specialise in Taxation and
Performance Management. These will be carried out in addition to
fulfilling my full time work based duties and likely through
self-funding.
Upon gaining
the ACCA qualification along with three years relevant work experience, I will re-evaluate
my position and decide what direction to take in the next stages of my life,
both professionally and in my private life.
Interests
In my
private life, my interests are varied and include, but not exclusivity;
blogging, sports (running, swimming & fencing) reading, economics,
politics, and
international relations. Furthermore, I publish a large sum of my
professional work via SlideShare with links available on the left hand side of
this blog.
Contact
I would be
happy to be contacted by readers to discuss ideas, collaborations, project
involvement and job opportunities. Please refer to the contact page of this
blog for contact details or fell free to use the contact form in the right hand
column and I will look to reply as appropriate as soon as possible.
Thanks for reading,
Jason Cates