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- – Our People – Impact Beyond Business
- — Our People – Sustainability
- A No Bull Podcast
- Accounting & Finance Expertise
- ACCOUNTING ADVISORY
- Advisory
- AIM LISTED COMPANIES
- AIM LISTED COMPANIES
- Alice Stephenson – Founder & CEO, Stephenson Law
- All News
- APPRENTICES
- April Bembridge – Chief People Officer, Cooper Parry
- Are You Claiming The Right Amount? Gated
- AUDIT – WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
- Audit and Assurance
- B CORP
- Bundle and Pricing Options
- BUSINESS SERVICES INSIGHTS
- BUSINESS STRUCTURING
- Business Support And Grants
- Business Tax
- CAPITAL ALLOWANCES
- CAPITAL GAINS TAX
- Careers – Our Roles
- Careers Contact Us
- Careers Trainees FAQs
- Charities
- CHARITIES
- COMMUNITY
- Construction
- Contact Thank You
- Contact Us
- COOKIE POLICY
- Cooper Parry Book Club
- Cooper Parry Event
- CORPORATE AUDIT
- Corporate Finance
- Corporate Finance – What Our Clients Say
- CORPORATE FINANCE DEALS
- Corporate Finance News & Insights
- Corporate Finance News & Insights
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Covid-19 Collaboration-news
- CP Deals
- CP Futures
- CP Innovation
- CP INNOVATION – WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
- CP INNOVATION FULL PAGE. – DRAFT
- CP Tech 100
- CPERS: COOPER PARRY ENQUIRY RESOLUTION SERVICE
- Creative Tax Reliefs
- CULTURE
- DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
- DIVERSITY POLICY
- EARLY CAREER PROGRAMMES
- Early Stage To SME- WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
- Ecommerce
- Eddie Latham & PJ Scott – Co-founders, Velocity Commerce
- EDUCATION
- EMPLOYMENT TAX
- ENVIRONMENT
- FAQS
- Financial Reporting
- Find Us
- Flexible ‘Finance Bench’
- Future Events
- Galahad Clark – Founder VivoBarefoot
- GLOBAL TALENT PROGRAMME
- GRADUATES
- HEALTHCARE INSIGHTS
- Helena Hills – Founder & CEO, TrueStart
- HIGH GROWTH LOW DOWN
- Homepage
- Homepage
- https://www.cooperparry.com/aim-audit
- Hub CP
- HUB CP – Live Lounge
- HUB CP – Live Lounge Velocity Snippets
- HUB CP – Rob Law Trunki Snippets
- Hub CP 3
- HUB CP LEADERSHIP SERIES
- HUB CP LOUNGE – PACT COFFEE
- HUB CP LOUNGE – PAUL SCHAFFER, PLUM PRODUCTS
- Hub CP Podcast
- HUB CP Thank You
- Hugo Tilmouth – Founder & CEO, The Up.co
- Impact Beyond Business
- Impact Beyond Business New template
- In Their Words
- In Their Words Retail
- INDIRECT TAX
- Inheritance Tax
- Intellectual Property & Patent Box
- INTERNATIONAL TAX
- Investment Calculator UK
- James Hyde – Founder & CEO, James and James
- Jay Richards & Cat Agostinho – Co-Founders, Imagen
- Justin Harling – CEO, CAE Technology Services
- LEGAL STUFF
- Let’s Stop Calling It R&D V2 Gated
- Life at cooper parry
- Lounge Underwear Webcast
- MAKING TAX DIGITAL
- Management Information and Reporting
- Manufacturing and Supply Chain
- Marketing Thank You
- MID MARKET – WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
- Mid-Market
- New Hub CP
- New Hub CP Live Lounge
- Newsletter Form
- Newsletter Thank You
- NFP Webcasts And More
- NOT FOR PROFIT
- Not For Profit Audit
- Operational Systems & Technology
- Our People
- Meet the Team
- Meet the Team Retail
- Our People – Big Business
- Our People – Board
- Our People – Business Tax
- Our People – Capital Allowances
- Our People – Corporate Finance
- Our People – CP Innovation
- Our People – Facilities & Wellbeing
- Our People – Leadership
- Our People – Marketing
- Our People – New Business Relationships
- Our People – Not for Profit
- Our People – Outsourcing
- Our People – Partners
- Our People – Pensions
- Our People – Personal Tax
- Our People – Service Charge
- Our People – Tech & High Growth
- Our People – Tech & Platforms
- Our People – Transaction Services
- Our People – Transaction Tax
- Our People – VAT
- Our People – Wealth
- Our People Audit
- Our People Team
- Our Why And Values
- Outsourcing
- OVERSEAS EXPANSION
- Past Events
- Paul Richardson – Executive Chairman, Gymshark
- Paul Turton – CEO, Pact Coffee
- Payroll
- PENSIONS AUDIT
- Personal Tax
- Personal Tax Compliance
- PLACEMENTS
- Preference Centre
- PRIVACY POLICY
- Private Equity Advisory
- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
- PROPERTY
- PROPERTY AND LANDLORDS
- R&D Capital Allowances
- R&D Newsletter Thank You
- R&D Tax Credits Questionnaire: Are you eligible?
- Raise investment or debt
- Raising Finance
- Read All About It
- Rebelution 2
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – Cooper Parry Corporate Finance
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – Cooper Parry IT
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – Cooper Parry Wealth
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – CP Futures
- Rebelution 2 Top Tips – VAT & Brexit
- Research & Development Tax Credits
- Research And Development Tax Credits
- RESIDENCE & DOMICILE ADVICE
- Retail
- Retail Advisory
- Retail Tax
- Rob Law MBE – Founder, Trunki
- Scale Up & High Growth
- SECURITY POLICY
- Service Charge
- Service Charge Accounts
- Service Charge Snapshot
- Service Test
- SETTING UP BUSINESS IN THE UK
- SHARE INCENTIVES AND REWARD
- Share incentives: Annual Reporting
- SHAREHOLDER TAX ADVICE
- Shaun Doak – CEO, React Group Plc
- Small Business
- SNAPSHOT
- Succession Planning
- Supporting start ups
- SUSTAINABILITY
- SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY
- SUSTAINABILITY ASSURANCE
- SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATION
- Sustainability News
- SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING
- SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY
- Tax – What our clients say
- TAX COMPLIANCE SERVICES
- Tax Investigations
- Tax Services
- TAX SETTLEMENTS AND INVESTIGATIONS
- Tech & High Growth
- Tech & High Growth – What our clients say
- TEN STAGES TO INVESTMENT
- TEN STAGES TO SALE
- Test2
- This Is Us
- Tom and Tina Warner – Co-Founders, Warner’s Distillery
- TOPICAL TAX UPDATES
- Transaction Deals
- Transaction Services
- Transaction Services – What Our Clients Say
- TRANSACTION TAX
- TRANSFER PRICING
- Trusts and Estates
- UK SUBSIDIARIES OF OVERSEAS COMPANIES
- UK support for International groups
- VAT SERVICES
- Virtual Bookkeeping
- Virtual FD
- Wealth
- Wealth- What Our Clients Say
- Website How To Guide
- Welcome to the CP Family
- What our clients say
- WORK EXPERIENCE
- XCP Sign Up
- Your Development
- Your Say
- Your Say Contact Us
Changing jobs and starting afresh always takes a leap of faith. And although the pandemic has complicated almost every aspect of our lives, if your gut’s telling you it’s time for a move, right now could be the opportune moment. But don’t take our word for it. Anoop Bilkhu joined our Audit team in February 2020, so, we caught up with him to ask what changing jobs during COVID-19 was really like!
Oh, and if you’d like to join Anoop at The Sunday Times’ 8th Best Company to Work For in the UK, why didn’t you ask? Check out our roles here.
Hey Anoop, tell us a little bit about yourself. When did you join us here at Cooper Parry?
My name’s Anoop and I joined the West Midlands Core Audit team in February 2020.
What made you decide it was time for a change?
My previous firm was my first “proper job”. I joined in 2012, trained up, qualified, and spent 8 years there. It was a relatively big firm so there was lots of regulation and pressures, and I thought it was time for me personally to make a move, while staying where my passion was, here in Audit. I wanted to find a firm that had ambitious growth plans. I wanted to be a part of that firm’s growth and be able to help them further down the line.
What caught your eye about CP?
I wasn’t familiar with CP, but I researched the firm and the role on offer and that’s when you start to see the offices, the people and learn about the culture. It then all sort of “brightens up”. You wake up and go, “hold on, this seems too good to be true.”
I suppose when you see a firm like CP, so different to the norm, it’s difficult to turn that down. The culture, the people focus, the flexibility, the fast growth. Also, the recruitment process was simple – the interviews felt more like good conversations with down-to-earth people, so that made things enjoyable in the process.
Did you ever consider working in industry?
If you talk to people at some of the bigger firms, they tend to say they lose the passion for Audit. I don’t always think that’s true, it’s more the baggage that comes with it. Audit gives you a lot of variety – you’re speaking to different people in different businesses and dealing with different markets and industries.
I never wanted to leave that behind. I just wanted to do Audit somewhere that did it differently to some of the bigger firms.
How did you find joining us?
It was a fantastic experience. I was able to start talking to clients and our team straight away. Really early on I was having lunch with the Head of Audit or bumping into different Partners and having a casual chat – that just doesn’t happen in bigger firms.
Everyone was so welcoming and made a big effort to make me feel at home. It felt like I’d been here much longer than I had, and the great communication and socials continued virtually through COVID too, which was amazing.
How has your time been so far at CP? What’s been different?
The workload is more controlled, the resourcing of jobs is more flexible, and everyone is great at what they do, so it makes it easy to really enjoy the job.
There is a big “togetherness” here. We have various offices, yet it really feels like one firm, which is how it should be. In my previous job, there were a lot of offices around the country, and it was very rare you’d speak to people in those.
What about in your personal life?
There has been a big positive shift in my work-life balance. The control you have over your time and work here has such a big impact on your life and social time. It’s been really great because with work-life balance in a good place, you start to fall in love with Audit again when those time related stresses are removed.
Was joining a few weeks before the first lockdown a bit scary?
The team were already using technology to work together remotely well before COVID, so it made it easy for us to react and adapt. There was a big focus on not losing touch, everyone kept communicating and there were always regular catch ups.
When you go into lockdown it’s worrying. You want to be reassured that your job, your company etc. was fine and the communication provided that. Plus, we’ve continued to win plenty of new clients and welcome new people to the team, which is fantastic.
What are you excited about for the future?
Short-term, spending more time in the office and seeing the team and other people again. Longer-term, I’m excited to help the business grow. COVID hasn’t affected our growth plans so it’s exciting to see that carry on and be a part of it because I know there’s a lot more to come.
If you fancy switching things up like Anoop, we’ve got plenty of roles available here at Cooper Parry, and they’re yours for the taking.
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