After graduating from Elgin Academy, Amy Barker joined the Royal Navy and spent almost 14 years travelling the world as an Operator Mechanic and then a Weapons Engineer. Now, with both Electrical Engineering and Accounting & Finance degrees under her belt, Amy’s an Audit Supervisor in our Elgin office, working with clients all over the country. We chatted to Amy to find out how her path has changed and whether she’s found any similarities between her two careers.

You haven’t always been an auditor – can you tell us about your career before accounting and why you joined the Royal Navy?

I attended Elgin Academy and when I got to my senior years, I had started applying to university and really decided that I would rather try something else. Both my Grandas had served in the military. One in the Army and one in the Royal Navy. The idea of going away on a ship to travel the world and meeting new people and experiencing different cultures really excited me so I decided to join the Royal Navy.

At School I completed 9 standard grades and 3 Highers and my favourite subject was maths, albeit probably at the time not my strongest subject. But this played a large part in determining what line of work I applied for in the Royal Navy.

What did your role in the Royal Navy involve?

I joined initially as an Operator Mechanic and moved onto Weapon Engineering after 4 years. As part of the progression for this I undertook a degree in Electrical Engineering which was heavily focussed on maths which I really enjoyed.

Why did you switch careers and what made you go for accounting and audit as your next profession?

Unfortunately, my time serving was cut short due to being medically discharged after nearly 14 years. Due to the nature of my injury manual engineering work wasn’t an appropriate long-term choice of career after discharge. I planned to relocate to back to Burghead from Portsmouth and the local UHI Moray College had a course in accountancy. I undertook a BA(Hons) in Accounting and Finance.

I had applied for JC and joined in 2020, initially with corporate audit and then subsequently in the more newly established funds team. I never knew when undertaking my degree that audit would be where I ended up, but I guess when you think about an electrical circuit it has a start point and an end point and somewhere in the middle there is a break in that circuit and you have to fault find to determine where the fault is. Auditing is very similar to that in the theory. There’s a start point and a number that ends up on a set of accounts (end point) and somewhere between the start point and the end point there could be faults that skew the numbers and we are fault finding to determine if there is or not.

So, despite a day in the life of an engineer being totally different from an accountant there are many similarities in the actual thought processes. I think the years of engineer fault finding has stood me in good stead for the life of an auditor.

Are there any skills you’ve found valuable in both career paths?

As mentioned, I currently work for the funds team which is spread across Scotland from Elgin, Aberdeen, Glasgow to Edinburgh. I am an Audit Supervisor which mostly involves project managing a team to conduct audits on funds. I think from all the skills I developed in my time in the military, time management has really helped with project managing as there can be multiple clients and deadlines to deal with at the same time all and these really need to be closely monitored to ensure that myself and the team keep on top of the workload and it is progressing efficiently before the managers and partners get to review the work the team has completed.

What part of your role do you enjoy most?

There are lots I enjoy about my work but if I were to pick one or two things the first would be I love to problem solve so I enjoy nothing more than finding an issue that needs investigating and doing that to a satisfactory conclusion and widening my technical knowledge as part of these investigations.

I also really enjoy the fact that our team is diverse and live all over Scotland as well as team members coming from different countries with different cultures, and I really look forward to and enjoy travelling to our different offices and meeting and interacting with all of our team.

Are you doing any professional learning at the moment?

I am currently undertaking an ACCA professional exam which I do alongside my work, JC provides study leave and revision packages through credited suppliers and provide support to help you progress through these exams. The firm is very supportive and there’s lots of help available when studying alongside work. My main aim for short term is to get the last of my exams passed and be fully qualified.

What keeps you busy outside work?

Outside work my wife and I enjoy going to Scotland Rugby games and hold season tickets. I also spend a lot of time with my extended family, we have 3 nephews who keep us busy playing garden football, dominoes, frustration and UNO and none of them like to lose at anything so it can get very competitive!  I also enjoy playing lawn bowls and play for St Aethans BC outdoor in Burghead in the summer and Elgin and District Indoor in the winter time. We have had a lot of success at the indoor bowling and in fact we won the Scottish Ladies premiership in 2023 which was a real accomplishment and moment of pride for our team. 

What has been your best meal ever?

Best meal ever? I am a very boring person when it comes to food. I don’t really much like anything fancy and love home cooked dinners. So, I would say Mince and Tatties with Miele Pudding and carrots and some sticky toffee pudding with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream for afters!

To find out more about a career path that you can make your own, visit our Careers page here.