Choosing a career - Part 2

That first year of accountancy in Beira, Mozambique, was awesome - the work was interesting (I know that accountancy has a reputation for being boring, but not to those who work in that field!), and I got to visit some amazing places as part of the job. We used to fly to clients in distant parts of the country, all expenses paid, including an "out of town" allowance (which paid for drinks!!), though we had to work long hours - often finishing after 22.00, returning to work after our dinner - to minimise the amount of time we were away, and always flying back home for the weekends.
At the end of that year I managed to get a transfer to our Johannesburg, South Africa, office. Independence was looming in Mozambique and an uncertain future, so I requested a transfer and set off on a new adventure. Johannesburg was, however, for an "outsider" a nightmare place to live. I knew no-one, and though the work was still interesting, I felt incredibly lonely - more so than I have ever felt in my life, before or since. Our firm was taken over by a larger firm of accountants, and we all were feeling a bit lost in the new organisation. Some of our senior staff members were "demoted" to semi-senior (each team consisted of a senior (a qualified accountant), a semi-senior (often time served but not yet qualified), and a junior (still in articles), but the team I was allocated was headed by an office manager (our senior, who only occasionally came on the audits), Vincent, who was time served and waiting to take his final exams, and me. It meant that Vincent and I were often the only two at the client's premises, so Vincent was doing the "senior" role, and I was doing a combination of "junior" and "semi-senior", despite my relatively novice status in terms of time served. I was more than up to the task, and was treated almost like an equal, even when Bill, our team leader, did turn up! It did mean that I was learning far more quickly than my peers, and proving my abilities.
I still hated living in Johannesburg, though, and towards the end of that year put in for a transfer to our offices in Durban. I had spent my university years in Pietermaritzburg, some 45 miles from Durban, and still had many friends there, so felt that the move would be good for me. Two days after my request was submitted, Bill - my team leader and one of the office managers - called me in and told me he had denied the request - he felt that I had so much potential that Johannesburg was a better place for me, than a "provincial" city like Durban. I was extremely flattered, especially as Bill was dry-humoured Scotsman not given to lavishing praise on anyone, but I explained that I was unhappy living in Johannesburg, and that I just felt I could not remain there, so would probably leave anyway. The following day my transfer was approved, thanks to Bill, but he stressed that I was always welcome back on his team in Jo'burg!!
There followed two and a half wonderful years in Durban. I continued to progress ahead of my peers, helped in no small part by the fact that I was always willing to take on travelling audits, even from other sections, something many of the young auditors in Durban were unwilling to undertake. Working in an unfamiliar team worked in my favour, too, as they treated me as a more senior member than my "time served", and I always stepped up to the plate and out-performed my peers.
My progress with the university qualification was slow-going - distance learning was not as easy as attending the local university, but was a lot cheaper, though still a strain on my articled salary. I arrived in Durban earning more than similar time served colleagues (and more than the "recommended" salary suggested by the Accountancy Board), and my pay had been frozen for 18 months, so 12 months after arriving in Durban I spoke to the staff partner about cancelling my articles, and giving up aspirations of qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, as the financial cost at that stage was too much for me. I was offered a 2 year interest-free loan, but would have been in the same position the following year, with new fees due, and still a year left on this year's loan! I  intended to swap to a Chartered Secretary qualification (more of a Bookkeeping qualification, but still a serious accountancy qualification - and the one held by my team leader/office manager in Durban), and eventually they agreed to this, and rewarded me with a very substantial pay rise! As I was now out of Articles my pay grade and promotion within the firm was no longer limited by the Accountancy Board rules, and I soon was leading some small audits of my own, and being relied on very heavily by my direct manager - I was always prepared to put myself out, and test my limits, and he appreciated not having to "supervise" me any more.
At the end of 1977 it had been three years since I had seen my family, who had now returned to the UK, and keeping in touch not nearly so easy as now. Mail took around 3 weeks, so urgent communications were either by Telex or Telegram, as phone calls were very expensive, and not that reliable. I was considering a holiday in 1978 to see them, but the cost was a major stumbling block, so I was also wondering whether a permanent move back to the UK might be advisable, continuing my accountancy career there. South Africa was also by then heading towards independence and a somewhat uncertain future for "whites", especially foreigners, so it was possibly a good time to consider a move. I was in a quandary - if I went for a holiday and liked it the cost of returning to Durban, packing up, and then relocating to the UK was prohibitive, so in the end I decided to make the move when my holiday was due, and so in May 1978, I left Durban, and Africa, and my burgeoning career, and returned to the UK.