When I was studying for my A-Levels at Queens Elizabeth’s Community College in Crediton, I wasn’t sure what career path I wanted to follow. With my two favourite subjects being Maths and sports, I knew it had to be something within at least one of those fields.
At the time a few of my older friends had gone down the accounting apprenticeship route and after discussing it in detail with them I decided it was the route for me. After applying for a few roles I decided to join Sidaways as soon as I finished my A Levels back in 2010. Yes, 2010. I’m basically part of the Sidaway’s furniture now (Sam’s just an older sofa).
I joined Sidaways with no background in accounting or finance and signed up for the AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) course right away, which I studied in Bristol. I passed levels 2, 3 and 4 back-to-back. I later went on to study ATT (Association of Taxation Technicians) which was more of a tax-based qualification rather than general accounting. The idea being I would have then gone onto CTA (Chartered Tax Advisor) once I had completed the ATT.
After I finished ATT, accounting had changed quite a bit, and everything was moving to digital software. This meant that we needed someone in-house at Sidaways to migrate all of our clients in the VAT system to digital software ahead of the change to ‘Making Tax Digital’. This suited me as it was a lot of client contact and I enjoyed the software side of things. As my role changed, I never signed up for CTA and some six years later, I am still predominantly the main software contact in the office today.
In my free time, I’ve always enjoyed being outdoors whether that’s playing football, on the beach, out on the moors or in a beer garden with friends. I love social situations and meeting new people.
Email: michael@sidaways.co.uk
Posts by Michael Broome
Fill out the form below and a member of our team will get back to you.
