Alumni Insight: Jinesh's journey since graduating from WBS

Jinesh Timbadia shares his journey from studying at WBS to working in Private Client Services at BDO UK LLP.

My name is Jinesh. I was born and raised in Singapore and moved to the UK in 2017. I studied BSc Accounting & Finance from 2017 to 2020 at Warwick Business School and currently work in Private Client Services at BDO UK LLP.

There are multiple reasons why I chose to study at WBS. They primarily include the following:

• One of the youngest yet very well renowned business schools across the world, with access to the largest publications and brilliant minds across departments
• Arguably one of the best careers team that goes the extra mile in ensuring you are set up for success post-university life
• An incredible holistic environment with direct state of the art technology and equipment to enable you to develop in the best way possible
• A campus life, which gives a wholesome university experience surrounded by nearby cities to give you a glimpse of the hustle and bustle of the real world!

I currently work at BDO UK LLP, which is a global accountancy and business advisory firm with more than 50 different service lines including Investment Management, M&A services, Audit, Consulting, Actuarial services among other service lines.

Personally, I work in the Private Client Services team, which provides wealth and tax advisory to High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth clients. There are 2 primary streams to what my work entails. The first, being compliance. This includes the preparation and submission of our client's tax affairs to the Revenue. This often includes complex number crunching, analysis of how various sources of income are acquired, ensuring the sources of income are from clean capital amongst differing tasks before submission to the Revenue.

The other (and very interesting!) stream is the advisory affairs. This can range from business restructuring affairs for our clients’ business to writing up valuation reports for our clients’ assets to conducting time-sensitive fund analysis. Through the advisory side of the business, we get first-hand experience on client interaction, access to various networking clubs/events and travel opportunities.

Studying BSc Accounting & Finance at WBS was a great stepping stone to entering the Financial Services industry. The academic side of the course gave me the fundamental education to progress on a lot of how my work operates. From understanding financial accounts to calculating return on investments or projected growth of a business, the advanced finance knowledge has played a big role in getting a head start in my role at BDO.

Academia aside, in today’s era, and especially in a client-facing role, networking is of utmost importance. The relationships you make with not only your clients but also your colleagues and managers play a big role in grooming yourself to be more confident and reassured. At WBS, throughout the course, there were many options for me to explore and additional events that I could be a part of such as being an ambassador that allowed me to obtain these opportunities and network from the very beginning. I feel very privileged that at WBS, the courses encourage you to have this approach that aids in setting you up for professional success!

There is a lot to enjoy working in the Private Client Services industry. Personally, this includes the client interaction, travel opportunities, and opportunities for overseas secondments – where we are placed in any of our offices in 167 different countries for a period of between 6 months to 2 years.

The people at BDO are another reason why I love my job! Despite long hours during the busy compliance season or the crux of an advisory project, I very much enjoy the collaboration of incredible peers that not only support you but also lift the spirit of the office. We also have a team of very knowledgeable partners and directors who are always happy to share their wealth of experience encouraging the likes of myself to always exceed expectations.

I completed my course at the beginning of COVID-19. At that point, I was very fortunate to already have a job offer that BDO had promised to uphold. This meant that I joined the workforce completely virtually. As a sense of normalcy now returns, in the last 2 years since graduating, a lot has changed in my life. I moved to London, have become financially independent, I can feel myself having matured, and am enjoying the hustle and bustle of living in the capital!

While it was tough to keep in touch with everyone from my university days, I can safely still say that some of my best friends and connections I made are going through life together now. As a very international university, I met people from different walks of life who are currently based in various parts of the world. Two years on and we still try and meet one another (even if virtually!) every now and again and I am sure the friends I have made at university are for life.

Studying at WBS will change your life for the better. All the courses at WBS are taught by some of the most knowledgeable professors with a bank of experience under their belt. The approach at WBS is a very practical one. It is not just all about books and grades, but about making sure every student gets that holistic development that is required today. No matter what your plan is after university – be it to go corporate / become an entrepreneur / do a masters or even go into research – WBS has the facilities and resources to groom you the way you want your future to look.

The BSc Accounting & Finance course at WBS, as the title suggests, does focus more on the number crunching and consulting side of the business with modules such as Financial Reporting, Management Accounting and Advanced Finance, however, you do have the option to make your degree flexible to an extent by choosing the modules that interest you.

Furthermore, WBS has a very active student and alumni community that you can reach out to at any point to ask for help or approach if you are thinking of a course at WBS!

If would like to find out more about our courses, why not download our Undergraduate Brochure?