Nazreen's LinkedIn profile

It was a pleasant surprise when I was shortlisted for the Yorkshire Accountant of the Year category in the recent Yorkshire Accountancy Awards 2025. For me, being a finalist was a noteworthy achievement irrespective of the outcome. I not only enjoyed the recent award ceremony, but it has had a positive impact on my business and the journey has been worthwhile.

I came to the UK at the age of eleven speaking no English and had little schooling at primary level. I started at the bottom of secondary school and by the time I turned 16 I had caught up academically. I went onto the Youth Training Scheme, got a full-time job, and did night school, making the start of long and rewarding journey to get to where I am today. I take a pride in my progress and achievement. I have experience of more than 30 years in this field and leading a team of professionals. We consistently receive positive feedback from clients. We have a diverse client base of small to medium-sized enterprises which includes shopkeepers, taxi drivers and construction contractors to restauranteurs, dentists, and doctors.

My father worked as a milkman in the 1970s and I used to manage his books. I enjoyed the numbers and looking after his accounts so that is probably where my accountancy journey started. I gained experience in industry before moving into practice. Over the years I have gained experience in everything you can think of as an accountant from the bottom upwards. The vast and diverse experience has provided me with detailed understanding of all aspects of accounting, enabling me to manage my professional work with confidence and expertise. 

The challenges that sole practitioners are facing now are environmental cost and recruiting skilled staff. Further due to Artificial Intelligence there will be reduction in manual processing and there will be a shift in our roles which will not be the same as they used to be, and moving forward accountants will have to adopt a more advisory focused approach.

Another challenge is training and educating clients. The cloud software is an excellent tool for businesses but only if used efficiently. That efficiency comes with training. In my experience of dealing with smaller businesses, they really need more of our guidance in terms of record keeping. Some businesses use cloud software and feel that they can feed in the information, but they may not understand the key concept of the difference between capital and revenue expenditure. They might think they have given us a reconciled bank statement and trial balance and yet struggle to understand why we spend so much time on their accounts. We often check and unravel the information which takes time and comes at an additional cost. 

With MTD approaching, the role of the accountant is going to be a hard one. The number of HMRC enquiries is increasing because people are submitting the tax returns themselves and often make mistakes. When they get a letter from HMRC, they will seek help from an accountant, and they will have to pay for the work to get it re-done.

Continual training is essential because everything is forever changing – the tax system was stable few years ago but now it changes every six months. That is a key challenge for sole practitioners – keeping your training up to speed and making sure that the team you have is well equipped and trained. It is important to put aside time to make sure you are updated and to have a system in place to identify where your team may need additional support. Despite the challenges of being a sole practitioner, I do enjoy it and the diversity in my business.

I am family oriented and enjoy spending my time with them, walking, travelling and retail therapy.