Chris Fuller from Greenwich swapped his finance manager role with Octopus Investments to volunteer in Cambodia as part of an AfID(Accounting for International Development) project.
Chris qualified with ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) four years ago and until earlier this year was responsible for VAT returns, year-end accounts and other duties you’d expect of a modern accountant. This changed when he left his job and volunteered for a six-week project with FunkyJunk, an innovative social enterprise making functional, long lasting items from used plastic bags reclaimed from streets and fields.
Talking about his work in Cambodia, Chris said: 'I worked with the enterprise to review and understand the business with a view to improving its financial reporting and controls. I helped staff develop basic accounting skills as well as progressing their abilities with spreadsheets and Quickbooks. Another part of the role was to review the costing strategy for the individual products and implement new processes and efficiency measures to improve profitability and make the enterprise more sustainable.
'I hope to go back at some point, I keep in touch with many of the staff from FunkyJunk and help them remotely as much as I can.'
Afid works in Africa and Asia to place experienced finance professionals in areas where they can help develop financial capacity so that charities and social enterprises can make the most of monies they receive. Since 2009 25 ACCA members have taken part in AfID projects.
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For more information, please contact:
Ray Allger, ACCA UK Newsroom
+ 44 (0)20 7059 5788
+44 (0) 7540 919 819
ray.allger@accaglobal.com
Notes to Editors
- ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants. We aim to offer business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management.
- We support our 154,000 members and 432,000 students in 170 countries, helping them to develop successful careers in accounting and business, with the skills required by employers. We work through a network of over 80 offices and centres and more than 8,400 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide high standards of employee learning and development. Through our public interest remit, we promote appropriate regulation of accounting and conduct relevant research to ensure accountancy continues to grow in reputation and influence.
- Founded in 1904, ACCA has consistently held unique core values: opportunity, diversity, innovation, integrity and accountability. We believe that accountants bring value to economies in all stages of development and seek to develop capacity in the profession and encourage the adoption of global standards. Our values are aligned to the needs of employers in all sectors and we ensure that through our qualifications, we prepare accountants for business. We seek to open up the profession to people of all backgrounds and remove artificial barriers, innovating our qualifications and delivery to meet the diverse needs of trainee professionals and their employers.
- Accounting for International Development (AfID) is a multi-award winning social enterprise that offers experienced finance professionals the opportunity to use their skills to make a genuine difference as volunteers and to gain rewarding hands-on International Development experience. Individually tailored assignments, ranging from 2 weeks to 12 months, form part of an on-going strategy to build the financial management capacity and long-term sustainability of charities and non-profit community organisations across the world. Since AfID's inception in 2009 they have placed over 250 volunteer accountants from 21 different countries, including 25 ACCA members.