Lucas Brooks-Rooney CA
Lucas Brooks-Rooney CA enjoys helping colleagues to apply their ICAS learning in practical situations.
I am currently an Assistant Manager at EY based in Aberdeen. I started my journey as a CA back in 2013, at the age of 17, as a Business Apprentice on the EY School Leaver Programme. I qualified in 2018 and was admitted as a member in early 2019.
Why did you become a CA?
I knew that ICAS was well-respected and that the qualification would allow me to explore different business opportunities post qualification, both locally and internationally.
Any advice for potential trainees?
You don’t have to be a maths geek to be a CA. A significant proportion of your time, both on the graduate programme and the school-leaver programme is actually about developing your communication and written skills.
What is the most interesting project you have been involved in?
I trained in Audit and I think it gives you a really good flavour of business and how they operate from the bottom up. I think having a mixture of both of private and listed clients has really kept me keen, with no one client being the same.
What makes you proud to be a CA?
The general achievement of getting through five years of exams to finally having ‘CA’ after my name. Now, I’ve qualified, I really enjoy developing my colleagues, helping them apply their knowledge of their learning at ICAS into real life. It’s amazing seeing that Eureka moment, getting a bit of pride from that, that you helped them get there.
What do you enjoy doing outside of your day to day role?
I managed to buy my first house back in 2015. It was a bit of a shell, so I have been renovating that for the last five years with my partner Michael. I have also recently taken on the role of co-chair of the EY Scotland Unity Network, which is our LGBT network.
What is your best piece of career advice?
To keep challenging yourself. I think quite a lot of the time people can sit and just wait for opportunities to come, whereas it’s best to actually go and seek them out. Take on exciting roles regardless of how intimidating and scary, they may seem. They are often the best and probably the most rewarding.
Have you ever had a career mentor?
There have been countless key people, both internally and externally that have really helped me develop. Getting different perspectives from different people is really good and learning from any of their experiences that they share with you or taking their views on board can really develop you.