Starting out? 5 tips from an audit consultant

Anjli Thakrar, auditor at Thakrar Financial Consultants.[Elvis Ogina, Standard]

About a decade ago, Anjli Thakrar came to the realisation that she wanted to quit employment in favour of her own venture.

And not because of money, she was earning a decent figure. “I realised I needed freedom to employ skills and ideas that my employer would have otherwise suppressed,” says the accountant.

Anjli, who holds CPA (K), FCCA (UK) and CIMA (UK) qualifications, felt that she needed to fully utilise her capacity to run and grow the firm.

In 2010 she registered Thakrar Financial Consultants (TFC), a tax consultancy and audit firm.

She was, however, not sure if she should leave a well established partnership to run the business.

But two years later, on her 34th birthday, she upped and left to start the TFC engine.

Today, the consultancy has surpassed expectations to become a successful mid-level audit firm.

Anjli shares tips on how she approached entrepreneurship to achieve success.

1. Overcoming procrastination

I did not want to be a small part of a large audit firm where I would be restricted to grow in the manner I wanted. Resigning to start my own firm was a difficult decision but I had reached a point where I needed to grow. On my 34th birthday, I tendered my resignation because it dawned on me that I was wasting the best of my years; which I could put into my own idea of what a great audit firm should look like. The only way I could find out how good my idea was could only be by taking the risk and starting off.

2. Framing the idea

It was really important that I carve out a niche for myself. I needed to define in very clear terms what TFC would be involved in, otherwise I would have fumbled through the formative stages and probably would have lost clients. I decided that my firm would advise on transfer pricing, thin capitalisation and ways of structuring a business. We would also provide internal audit services and control systems audits to trace fraud and implement better management systems.

3. Starting off to be different

I had been an auditor for more than a decade when I started TFC. I resolved to keep my phone lines open to clients all the time and I would pick up calls even when on holiday. I have a team of 35 audit staff to handle clients but my phone remains open any time. That is something you don’t find with many mid-level auditors.

4. Focusing on the vision

In the first two months as I worked to ensure that TFC had a smooth take-off, I ran into resistance. There are peer audit firms who told me that the only clients I was going to attract were street vendors. But I didn’t listen to the naysayers, if I did I would have given up eons ago. Every time I felt dispirited I searched my mind for the vision I had for the firm. Having that single focus kept me on vertical growth during the implementation phase. Today, our services have expanded to even outside Kenya in countries including Portugal.

5. Building client relationships

When we started, we had four clients, today we have about 500 corporate clients. The first thing I did when I started TFC was to call potential clients. When clients entrusted us with work I made sure that it was done well. I always ensure that our work is beyond reproach. The clients that we pulled from our competitors, I realised, wanted better service at affordable prices. And that is what we give them.