vers Shakers AND
W
50
CONFIDENCE &LEADERSHIP THE KEYS TO SUCCESS Dawn Camilleri’s career started with an internship position in one of the Big 4 accounting firms. After graduating with a Master’s in Accountancy, the company offered her a fulltime position as an audit associate. After a year, she decided to move to a smaller practice, and five years later she moved to PKF Malta where she is Deputy Audit Manager. BY CORYSE B ORG
B
eing a mid-tier audit firm that provides services to a list of prestigious clients, and a firm that has a huge amount to offer when it comes to career options and professional development, Ms Camilleri says that PKF Malta was the perfect fit for her experience and abilities. “Over the years, I have gained exposure to an array of sectors and industries, whilst also developing deep networks of long-lasting quality. Ultimately, forming good relationships, making meaningful connections with fellow team members, and seeking feedback are important, as they are the people you will learn from,” she says. As Deputy Audit Manager, Ms Camilleri reports to the directors and works as part of a team of problem solvers with extensive industry experience. Helping clients solve complex business issues from strategy to execution is surely another main responsibility. She is also responsible for a number of other tasks, such as the coaching and development of team members reporting to her; keeping up to date with local and national business and economic issues; assisting in managing and delivering large projects, ensuring that key deadlines are met; developing strategies to solve complex technical challenges and contributing to the development of her own and her team’s technical acumen; and identifying and researching opportunities on new and existing clients along with building and maintaining strong relationships with clients.
Given that Ms Camilleri started working with PKF Malta during the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the office was working remotely… and not meeting them in person at times made things a bit difficult. “Obviously, when joining a new company, getting to know your colleagues is important, as they have been through the same learning process and they can help you navigate the workplace,” she explains, “In addition, as a new audit manager, it was difficult to come into the position and enact change right off the bat. It was therefore even more crucial to get to know the team and the company’s processes before implementing any changes.” However, the fact that the company had and still have a weekly audit team meeting helped in obtaining a better sense of the audit team as a whole. “Looking at recent audits, the role everyone played in those audits and how the audits are documented, helped in assessing the audit team’s individual skills and started building relationships. This process gave me a better idea of what needed to be improved and what was already working,” she states. A lot of the work PKF Malta does has to be done under strict deadlines. How does Ms Camilleri and the rest of the PKF Malta team deal with them? “External auditors deal with deadlines daily, and they have become more or less commonplace. With time deadlines, you have to execute and deliver on that plan. You have to balance the objectivity of reporting items you find with the fairness of reporting them in the right way. That becomes challenging early on in your career,” Ms Camilleri says.
