After graduating from Keele, Leigh-Anne secured a two year finance graduate role at JCB, which involved four six-month placements in varying finance departments around the business units within the company. Upon completion of the graduate scheme, she secured a role as a Cost and Inventory Accountant within JCB’s Loadall Division, and was in this role for a further 20 months, before moving to her current role.

“Keele prepared me well for these exams, as I had guidance from the lecturers as to which qualification I would like to go for and what would work best for me. All of the lecturers were very helpful in giving me an insight into the industry and knowing what to expect when it came to my career after university.

“The course I completed at Keele gave me five exemptions from the 16 exams, which meant I didn’t have to complete those exams as the work in them was covered by the degree. Additionally, the work I completed at Keele also fed into a lot of the other exams on the CIMA course, which gave me a head start when learning all of the content. It was great to see the work that I had completed at University fed into this qualification as it showed it would be important in my career.”