Meet Aftab – Business admin and Tax expert

What do you do at ANNA? What team are you in? 🧑‍💻

At ANNA, I’m part of the Business Admin team, bringing my expertise as a qualified chartered accountant to our accounting and tax services. My role is pivotal in crafting ANNA’s offerings from an accountant’s perspective, ensuring our services not only meet but exceed professional standards. I focus on simplifying complex tax and accounting information into straightforward, understandable advice, helping ANNA and our customers to navigate the often intricate world of finance.

How have you made a difference for ANNA customers? Or ANNA staff?

For ANNA customers, I’m the go-to expert for everything to do with tax and accounting. Whether that’s providing clarity on tax compliance obligations or offering strategies for tax-efficient business management, I’m here to give reassurance and guidance. For ANNA staff, I’m someone they can consult, helping decode the technical aspects of accounting and tax strategies, focusing on how to improve the internal processes and features on the app.

What’s the most exciting thing you’re currently working on?

I’m thrilled to be helping develop a fully-fledged self-service accounts and corporation tax filing service for our +Taxes customers. It’s designed to streamline financial management for our users, giving them the tools to handle their finances more effectively and independently.

Have you recently launched any features or projects? 🚀

We’ve recently made big strides by integrating a complete double-entry system into the ANNA platform. This advancement not only elevates our bookkeeping capabilities but also supports the annual accounts management of our users’ businesses. We also launched a company calendar feature that provides a tailored timeline for each customer, outlining key filing deadlines and details about their account filing processes with ANNA. This interactive timeline is designed to help users fine-tune their accounts and manage their corporation tax through a new annual accounts questionnaire.

What’s a typical day for you at ANNA? ☕️

A typical day for me starts with catching up on emails, followed by strategically planning my tasks for the day. After attending the Daily Stand-Up Meeting (DSM), my day fills up with various project meetings aimed at improving the ANNA Admin product. The rest of my time is spent ensuring all annual accounts and tax returns for our +Taxes users are accurately prepared and submitted, and supporting our customer service team with specialist tax and accounting advice. I also make time to take tax calls from our users to directly address their concerns. Having said that, no one day is the same – and that’s what is most exciting about working for ANNA.

What’s your favourite thing to do when you’re not at work?

When I’m not delving into the world of finance, I indulge in reading, mostly non-fiction that spans topics from world affairs to finance, although my favourite book is ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho – a splendid fiction piece. Photography is another passion of mine; I relish taking my camera out to capture life’s moments whenever possible and I really enjoy the process of editing my photographs.

What would your ideal alternative career be if you weren’t at ANNA?

If I were not deep into the numbers and tech at ANNA, I’d be exploring the world through the lens of my camera as a travel photographer, capturing diverse cultures and breathtaking landscapes.

When is your alarm set for tomorrow morning?

My alarm is set for 8:00 AM, though I confess, I’m not much of a morning person – the best of Aftab starts flowing from 10:00 AM onwards!

At ANNA we love cats. Do you have one? 😽

I share the team’s love for cats, but unfortunately, I don’t have one. Perhaps someday!