Come together
Naeema Joji CA believes in participation and collaboration. Not long after qualifying, the CA Rising Stars 2025 Changemaker is already active in networks for her local area and Black and women members. Now Audit Assistant Manager at RSM UK, she discusses diversity, barriers to progress and why accounting is as attractive as law or medicine
Words: Cherry Casey
Come together
Naeema Joji CA believes in participation and collaboration. Not long after qualifying, the CA Rising Stars 2025 Changemaker is already active in networks for her local area and Black and women members. Now Audit Assistant Manager at RSM, she discusses diversity, barriers to progress and why accounting is as attractive as law or medicine
Words: Cherry Casey
“I didn’t realise I was nominated to begin with, so it was quite surprising,” says Naeema Joji CA on her reaction to being named the CA Rising Star Changemaker of the Year last month. But the judges saw in her a clear commitment to making the accountancy profession more inclusive, in no small part through her leading the Scottish arm of the African and Caribbean network at KPMG immediately after qualifying in 2024.
“Coming from an ethnic minority, I do feel like there were a lot of struggles and barriers that I faced – not just institutional but more from my own perspectives and how I felt about myself,” says Joji. “Now that I feel I’ve got over the hurdle of most of them, I want to share my experience with other people.”
KPMG welcomed a number of transfers from Africa, some of whom were visiting Europe for the first time. “So the network was tailored towards helping them through the transition period,” says Joji. “Championing people’s careers and just creating a place for people to chat freely about the things that they miss at home.”
Joji found the experience incredibly satisfying, and hopes to implement something similar at her new firm, RSM UK, which she joined as Assistant Audit Manager in May. However, first she needs to make a few connections: “You have to speak to people higher up and it does take a lot of putting yourself out there.”
This can be daunting, she says, but her training contract was such a “sink or swim” environment that her confidence naturally grew as a result.
“I can say, hand on heart, that all the blood, sweat and tears I put in has materialised into something great. The CA qualification means everything to me”
Joji joined the profession on the advice of one of her lecturers, Lindsay Tibbetts, at the University of Aberdeen, who “has worked in every accounting job under the sun, and said that some of the best times in her career were working as an auditor and a CA”. ICAS was selected on the grounds that it’s one of the most “globally recognised [professional bodies] out there. And I did have thoughts back in the day of moving to the US… although not so much now,” says Joji.
On joining KPMG to start her contract, however, she says, she was “hit with the reality that everyone there was probably the top of their class, and you can’t all be ‘the best’ anymore”.
She admits to finding the training process harder than she had ever expected: “But it was also a lot more rewarding and I can say, hand on heart, that all the blood, sweat and tears I put in has materialised into something great. The qualification means everything.”
Her plan now is to progress and get all she can from it, which is one reason she made the leap away from KPMG. “I loved my old job but I just felt there were so many more opportunities when it came to a mid-tier firm,” says Joji. “Moving to a firm that you can help grow, and actually see the input you’ve had, was something I was really interested in, so I thought I’d risk it.”
She has no regrets so far. While she gauges the right time for her to create an RSM UK equivalent, she is part of ICAS’ Black Members’ Network, as well as the Grampian Area Network Committee and the advisory group for the forthcoming women’s network. One aim of the latter, she says, which is still in its early days, is to tackle the lack of women in senior roles in the profession.
“There are a lot of barriers specific to women in a career as demanding as ours, such as the three Ms [menstruation, menopause and miscarriage],” says Joji. “So we’re trying to see how the women’s network can help bridge that gap.”
The Grampian network, meanwhile, works on a different kind of gap – that between Glasgow and Edinburgh and Scotland’s “third city”, Aberdeen. “Because we’re in the north-east, I feel like there’s still a bit of a disconnect there. The Grampian Area Network is trying to bring the wider CA population together,” says Joji.
“I didn’t realise I was nominated to begin with, so it was quite surprising,” says Naeema Joji CA on her reaction to being named the CA Rising Star Changemaker of the Year last month. But the judges saw in her a clear commitment to making the accountancy profession more inclusive, in no small part through her leading the Scottish arm of the African and Caribbean network at KPMG immediately after qualifying in 2024.
“Coming from an ethnic minority, I do feel like there were a lot of struggles and barriers that I faced – not just institutional but more from my own perspectives and how I felt about myself,” says Joji. “Now that I feel I’ve got over the hurdle of most of them, I want to share my experience with other people.”
KPMG welcomed a number of transfers from Africa, some of whom were visiting Europe for the first time. “So the network was tailored towards helping them through the transition period,” says Joji. “Championing people’s careers and just creating a place for people to chat freely about the things that they miss at home.”
Joji found the experience incredibly satisfying, and hopes to implement something similar at her new firm, RSM UK, which she joined as Assistant Audit Manager in May. However, first she needs to make a few connections: “You have to speak to people higher up and it does take a lot of putting yourself out there.”
This can be daunting, she says, but her training contract was such a “sink or swim” environment that her confidence naturally grew as a result.
“I can say, hand on heart, that all the blood, sweat and tears I put in has materialised into something great. The CA qualification means everything to me”
Joji joined the profession on the advice of one of her lecturers, Lindsay Tibbetts, at the University of Aberdeen, who “has worked in every accounting job under the sun, and said that some of the best times in her career were working as an auditor and a CA”. ICAS was selected on the grounds that it’s one of the most “globally recognised [professional bodies] out there. And I did have thoughts back in the day of moving to the US… although not so much now,” says Joji.
On joining KPMG to start her contract, however, she says, she was “hit with the reality that everyone there was probably the top of their class, and you can’t all be ‘the best’ anymore”.
She admits to finding the training process harder than she had ever expected: “But it was also a lot more rewarding and I can say, hand on heart, that all the blood, sweat and tears I put in has materialised into something great. The qualification means everything.”
Her plan now is to progress and get all she can from it, which is one reason she made the leap away from KPMG. “I loved my old job but I just felt there were so many more opportunities when it came to a mid-tier firm,” says Joji. “Moving to a firm that you can help grow, and actually see the input you’ve had, was something I was really interested in, so I thought I’d risk it.”
She has no regrets so far. While she gauges the right time for her to create an RSM UK equivalent, she is part of ICAS’ Black Members’ Network, as well as the Grampian Area Network Committee and the advisory group for the forthcoming women’s network. One aim of the latter, she says, which is still in its early days, is to tackle the lack of women in senior roles in the profession.
“There are a lot of barriers specific to women in a career as demanding as ours, such as the three Ms [menstruation, menopause and miscarriage],” says Joji. “So we’re trying to see how the women’s network can help bridge that gap.”
The Grampian network, meanwhile, works on a different kind of gap – that between Glasgow and Edinburgh and Scotland’s “third city”, Aberdeen. “Because we’re in the north-east, I feel like there’s still a bit of a disconnect there. The Grampian Area Network is trying to bring the wider CA population together,” says Joji.
To mark Black History Month 2025, join ICAS for an evening of career conversations, socialising and a celebration of Black talent
Hosted by the ICAS Black Members' Network and With Insight Education, the charity that empowers Black-heritage students to realise their potential, this is your chance to connect with fellow ICAS members and students, allies and Black-heritage university students considering futures in accountancy, finance and business.
The event is designed to help you think beyond the balance sheet of your career, truly reflect on your journey and share insights to inspire and support the next generation of Black professionals.
The venue for the evening is Limin Southbank – a Black-owned Caribbean venue in the heart of London’s cultural district. You’ll enjoy drinks and light food created by Trinidad-born chef Sham Mahabir.
The event is free to attend for ICAS students and members, but spaces are limited. You can book your place here.
In part, this is as simple as the network putting its stake more firmly in the ground, pushing to stage events – such as the Bank of England briefing hosted by KPMG Aberdeen in August – that would typically take place in one of the two larger cities.
Celebration time
The ICAS Black Members’ Network is the one group where Joji doesn’t have a leading or advisory role, but she says it’s “just really nice to hear other people’s perspectives, see people in different stages of their careers and learn from stuff that they’ve done while also being able to share my experiences”. Members range from students to ICAS lecturers, some of whom live outside the UK, but together create “a safe space for us to collaborate and share life experiences”.
Black History Month, which falls in October, comes with mixed feelings, says Joji, who appreciates this time to highlight and champion the experiences of Black people, while at the same time “feeling we should be celebrating our differences year-round”. It is also hard to ignore, she says, that while “a lot of firms push diversity and inclusion, when it comes to the actual practicality of it, not much really materialises”. According to the Bar Council, research shows that men and women of Black heritage are the most underrepresented ethnic group in the financial and professional services sectors, both as a whole and at senior levels.
From a cultural perspective, Joji says, careers in accountancy are overlooked: “For my cousins, family members and friends [it was a case of] ‘Become a doctor, become a lawyer,’ whereas my parents were quite liberal.”
The tide is starting to turn slightly on this front, however. “There’s a lot more awareness about a degree in finance, and how it’s as beneficial as a degree in medicine or law.” Institutionally, however, the rhetoric has to change, says Joji.
“The conversation now is that as 5% of people in a firm are Black, 5% of leadership should be Black,” she says. But this isn’t simply a quota and it shouldn’t be met because a firm has to, she believes, but because those leaders “deserve it. I feel like that rhetoric is really not pushed as much as it should be.”
In Joji, RSM UK may have just the person to make that case.
Learn more about the ICAS Black Members’ Network
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