Off Ledger Podcast S2 #2 From Side Hustle to Sole Practitioner Auditor: Amy Hancock

In this episode, Steven Byford, Tax Manager at Barrons Chartered Accountants in Essex, shares what drove him into the profession: watching his mum start from nothing after his parents’ divorce and wanting to be the one who could tell her everything was sorted. He opens up about the pressure he put on himself through the ACA, the near panic attack in his first professional exam, and why he saw struggling as weakness until his relationships began to suffer. He talks candidly about finding a therapist, what therapy actually involves, and why he still goes twice a month. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.Watch all episodes from the Off Ledger Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQSiFIz0D3vQ

In this episode, Amy Hancock, Owner and Director of Hancock and Hastings in Dunstable, shares how she turned down a university place for an accountancy apprenticeship and built a side hustle for friends in construction that grew into a full practice. She opens up about being passed over for partnership, negotiating her exit from the firm she’d spent seven years in, and why she’s determined to prove that a sole practitioner can do audit properly. She also talks about the criticism she’s faced from big firm auditors, her scepticism about AI in audit, and the Top of the Pops dream she had at nine. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.

In this episode, Mitch Hahn, CEO and Growth Director at Nordens, shares how he went from signing a football scholarship at 16 to leading an 80-strong accountancy firm. He opens up about falling into accounting by accident, the founder who gave him the freedom to keep chasing football and saw a business developer he couldn’t yet see in himself, and putting his hand up to become CEO without knowing what the job really involved, just before COVID hit. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.Watch more episodes from Off Ledger Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQSiFIz0D3vQ

In this episode, Alex Falcon Huerta, founder and CEO of Soaring Falcon, shares a story shaped by real hardship, from a difficult childhood and homelessness at 16 to qualifying as an accountant two months after losing her mother, right before her ACCA finals. She opens up about building one of the UK's earliest fully digital, paperless accounting practices, becoming a genuine digital nomad long before it was fashionable, and why she's now backing a new venture, Accountant in Bedford, ahead of Universal Studios' arrival in the town. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.

In this episode, Grace Hardy, founder of Hardy Accounting and the first female accountancy firm owner in the UK to make the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, shares how a rainy season in Bali derailed her travel plans and accidentally launched her career, why she left networking events behind for TikTok and Instagram, and how she turned trolls, bullying, and dyslexia into fuel rather than obstacles. She opens up about lobbying for financial education reform, launching her own fintech after government funding fell through, and the simple question she asks herself in every difficult moment: what would a man do? Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.

In this episode, John Toon, Group CTO and Head of Technology at HLB International, shares his unlikely route into accounting, from years spent as a sailing instructor and water sports guide across the UK, France and beyond, to turning down a well-paid job running a watersports centre in Ireland for an £8,000-a-year training contract. He opens up about hoovering up knowledge across every specialism he could find, the self-doubt that still creeps in years after a decision, and why he's never had a five-year plan and doesn't think you need one either. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.

In this episode, Julie Falczewska, Managing Director of Maslins in Tunbridge Wells, shares how she moved to the UK from Ukraine barely speaking English, spent three years writing to the same accountancy firm before they finally said yes, and worked her way from trainee to the top of the firm she qualified with. She opens up about the leadership books that got her through, why she still doesn't believe she has fully shaken imposter syndrome, and the moment her own team drew her picture as the leader they most admired. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.

In this episode, Sarah Harkness, Managing Director of InAccountancy, shares her unconventional route into the profession, from Adidas boardrooms in Germany to becoming MD of an accountancy firm without ever training as an accountant. She opens up about the instinct that told her something was wrong when a member of her team wasn't who she claimed to be, the imposter syndrome that still shouts loudly in rooms full of qualified accountants, and the recent sale of the firm to Cowgills. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.

In this episode, Lucy Cohen, founder of Mazuma and President of AAT, opens up about the day her body inexplicably formed 17 arterial blood clots, the hospital sprint that followed, and the strange guilt that comes with surviving something you weren't supposed to. She talks candidly about therapy, an eating disorder in her early twenties, and how she found healing on a powerlifting platform where, for once, there was no talking her way out of anything. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.This is part two of a two-part conversation. Part one covered Lucy's unconventional route into accounting and the birth of Mazuma.

In this episode, Lucy Cohen, founder of Mazuma and the largest female-founded accounting business in UK history, shares her unconventional route into the profession, from a careers advisor opening a book at random to walking into a hotel and talking her way into a job. She opens up about growing up without money, feeling like an outsider in rooms full of privilege, and why a good dose of naivety was exactly what she needed to disrupt an industry she didn't even know she was disrupting. Honest, considered and full of hard-won wisdom for anyone navigating their way to the top of a firm.This is part one of a two-part conversation. Part two covers the birth of Mazuma, power lifting, mental health, and Lucy's brush with death.