Moore Kingston Smith Application Q&A

Q1: Please tell us why you want to work for Moore Kingston Smith and why you want to become
a chartered accountant and study towards the ACA.

We would like to know what it is about becoming a chartered accountant that really appeals to
you and why the ACA is your preferred route. We also want to know why Moore Kingston Smith
is the firm that you want to train with.

A1: I believe Moore Kingston Smith is the place for me due to its trusting and collaborative
values. I value these as it allows for clients and employees to comprehend how work is done and
how to achieve set objectives. Trust is also extremely important in the accounting industry,
especially since we deal with sensitive data that can affect the value of the business. It is also
important to be trusting when doing an audit so that the clients feel reassured. A career in
chartered accountancy really appeals to me because of my knack for dealing with numbers and
problem solving. ACA is my preferred route because of the deep valuable knowledge received
from all business disciplines, this will allow me to do my job more effectively.

Q2: What do you consider to be your strengths? How have you developed these? How are they
relevant to the Graduate Programme?

A2: I consider the following three my most important skills that i can bring to the role:
communication, collaboration and a keen eye for detail. I have developed these over my years
growing through kickboxing, football and work. Kickboxing requires awareness and attention to
detail because you are constantly going toe to toe against someone and you need to analyse every
move they make even it it is small to ensure you can defend yourself to the best of your ability. I
feel kickboxing for over 12 years has instilled this skill into my everyday activities. I have
developed my communication and collaboration through my current managerial role, where I
have had to train employees and take into consideration their feelings and expectations of me.
This has allowed me to be effective in managing and delegating workloads but also how to run a
shift effectively whilst keeping my staff happy. My communication skills from a variety of things
such as growing up in a multilingual household and playing football. These experiences in
particular as football has required me to communicate clearly to complete objectives and win. My
household has taught me to translate everything into english then re-translate into punjabi so my
grandparents know what I am saying. These have developed over time as I have adopted the skill
of clearly communicating things in a simple way. I feel these skills can help me build
relationships and be effective as an accountant.
Q3: How have you responded to change during the past 12 months? How have you kept yourself
motivated and what skills have you developed or what new hobbies have you taken up?

A3: Within the last 12 months my university has ended. This has been a big change for me as I
was quite busy balancing two jobs, university and hobbies. Since it has ended I decided to adopt
new hobbies which would grow me as an individual. My main new hobby has been reading. I
have been reading self-improvement books which have enforced me to create positive habits to
achieve my goals. I also watch podcasts about accounting and life improvement, I have found that
this has made me more productive and focussed on what I want to achieve but also increased my
knowledge. For example, I watched a podcast with a medical expert where he went in depth
around certain foods we should avoid and why a majority plant based diet is better for mental
clarity and how that can benefit different aspects of your life and make you more productive. This
has inspired me to implement more plant based meals in my diet to do some research into the
effects.

Q4: Tell us about a recent news story that has sparked your interest? In what ways might this
impact Moore Kingston Smith and our clients or our work?

A4: While reading The Financial Times, I came across an article which was talking about the rise
in income tax thresholds in Scotland. This peaked my interest as it made me wonder what had
happened in Scotlands economy that they felt the need to increase their thresholds. They already
paid more income tax than the UK as their median salary was higher. However, they have
increased the rate more to fund a council tax freeze. Whilst this has no correlation to UK tax
legislation I can apply my inquisitive mind at Moore Kingston Smith in various departments to
solve problems and be thorough when dealing with documents. It will also be helpful during
audits as they require curiosity and out of the box thinking.