Motivation | Career changer
It’s never too late to qualify
Peter Fry FMAAT worked his way up through the Post Office before setting up his own IT business. At 55, he decided to retrain as an accountant. Here, he explains how his business and people skills, along with his work ethic, helped him run an efficient practice
Words Marianne Curphey
AT A GLANCE
1
Understanding
Fry built both his businesses on understanding clients and their needs.
2
Self-taught
After 30 years of being self-taught in IT, he is proud to hold his AAT qualification.
3
Strong relationships
Fry believes strong relationships are the key to success in practice.
Peter Fry FMAAT left school at 15 without any O-Level (now GCSE) qualifications but with big dreams of joining the RAF and becoming a chef. His varied career took him to senior management positions in multi-million-pound businesses and led him to run his own IT company for 25 years. But one of the achievements of which he is most proud is being AAT qualified, something he achieved when many people are starting to think about retirement.
“I enjoyed certain subjects at school, but I wouldn’t say I excelled at any of them,” he explains. “At 15, I visited the RAF recruitment office and they advised me to return to school for six months before applying again. However, I had already decided I wanted to leave and I had an agreement with my mum that, as long as I found a job, I could leave school.”
Fry’s mother instilled a strong work ethic and a sense of fairness and integrity in her sons, things that have stayed with him all his life.
“My mum was a single parent back in the 1950s, bringing up five boys on her own, and the ethos that she instilled in all five of us was that you have got to work hard – and that’s what we’ve done all through our life,” he says. “I’ve always believed that if I can put my head down on the pillow at night and I have done a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, then I’ve done alright.”
First-class Post Office employee
Fry needed a job and, since he was living near Croydon, applied for a role in London as a Post Office messenger, delivering telegrams. He passed the aptitude test, secured the position and made a big impression as a 15-year-old because, within a few weeks of working in the London Victoria office, he was offered a position in the Buckingham Palace post office. By the time he was 17, he had become the head Post Office messenger at the Palace.
He later worked on Post Office counters until, at 21, he decided he wanted a new challenge and joined a fixings company in the sales office, handling administration and warehouse operations. A few years later, as new computer systems were introduced, Fry was asked to take over the data-processing department.
“Computers had always been a hobby of mine, so I accepted,” he says. “Within 18 months, I became a senior manager responsible for data control, logistics, quality assurance and branch administration across 12 branches. By 1986, at 29, I was one of four senior managers in the UK operation of a large multinational company.”
A new turning point came in 1998, when Fry realised that concerns about the Millennium Bug (Y2K) meant there were lots of new opportunities for work in computing.
“I had already been considering working for myself, so I resigned, despite being a single parent with two boys and a newly purchased house, and started my own IT company,” he explains. “The business soon expanded to provide a full range of IT services, including training, repairs, programming, and hardware and software supply.”
“When I started AAT, the key difference was that I was doing it for myself. Unlike school, no one was pushing me to do it. Instead, it was something I genuinely wanted to achieve.”
Moving into accountancy at 55
By the early 2010s, when he was about 55, Fry began to feel less enthusiastic about the IT repair side of the business, as hardware had become inexpensive and often cheaper to replace than repair.
“After discussing my situation with my accountant, he invited me to an accounting exhibition in London,” Fry says. “Unbeknown to me, his father, who was also an accountant, was planning to retire due to Parkinson’s disease and the son intended to move to Scotland, meaning their long-established practice would close.
“They were familiar with my IT background and how I did a lot of accounts preparation work for my business already, and they suggested I obtain a professional accounting qualification. Studying AAT allowed me to see how everything worked and it all began to make sense.”
Fry completed AAT over the next two years while continuing to run his IT business, studying in the evenings and taking exams as soon as test dates became available.
“When I started AAT, the key difference was that I was doing it for myself,” he explains. “Unlike school, no one was pushing me to do it. Instead, it was something I genuinely wanted to achieve.”
Although he was by far the oldest student at the college in Crawley where he took his Saturday accountancy classes, he was highly motivated and completed Level 4 quickly. His practice grew rapidly and he employed one assistant for bookkeeping and payroll, then added another, eventually building a team of four.
“Within a relatively short period, I built the business from zero to around 180 clients without any advertising,” he adds. “Most clients came through referrals, initially from my IT clients and later through word of mouth.”
After Covid-19, he sold his business and continued to do freelance work for a small number of clients. He volunteered as treasurer for a local charity, helping to turn its finances around, and spent seven years as finance director of a local golf club, guiding it from near closure to a major refurbishment investment.
The importance of an AAT qualification
Fry’s hard work, determination and sense of fairness have won and kept many clients over the years.
“Throughout my career, people often assumed that accounting came naturally to me because of my IT background and aptitude for mathematics,” he says. “Yet what really mattered to me was understanding clients and their businesses. I always made a point of learning how each client operated so I could give meaningful advice, not just produce accounts.
“Many business owners, particularly tradespeople, are highly skilled in their craft but may not fully understand financial concepts such as profit versus turnover, so explaining things clearly in plain English became an important part of my approach. My role often involves helping entrepreneurial directors sense-check their ideas and ensure the financial implications are fully considered.”
After selling the practice, Fry now works part-time as a finance director, as well as being managing partner of accountancy consultancy Emjay Associates. He is part of AAT’s Members’ Advisory Council, a role he very much enjoys.
“Studying AAT gave me a real sense of pride,” Fry says. “After 30 years in IT without formal qualifications, I wanted official credentials to demonstrate what I was capable of. Running my own business gave me empathy for clients. I understand what it feels like to operate on your own, having no one to motivate you when things are difficult and no one to celebrate with when things go well. That understanding helps build strong personal relationships with clients.”
The Association of Accounting Technicians. 30 Churchill Place, London E14 5RE. Registered charity no.1050724. A company limited by guarantee (No. 1518983).
