ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Business and governance
    5. Charities
    6. Coronavirus
    7. Corporate and financial reporting
    8. Cyber security
    9. Ethics
    10. Insolvency
    11. ICAS Research
    12. Pensions
    13. Practice
    14. Public sector
    15. Sustainability
    16. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

One Young CA: Introducing Amjad Hassan CA

  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
By CA Magazine

28 October 2020

From a long list of 100 nominees, the Restructuring Manager at EY, Edinburgh is this year’s One Young CA due to his ethical conduct, social responsibility and strong work in raising mental health awareness.

Read November's CA magazine now

Asked for his reaction to being named One Young CA 2020, Amjad Hassan CA says, “Surreal! I was completely overwhelmed with joy and shock. It actually felt really strange to win, because you often just go through life thinking, ‘I’m working hard, I’m doing the best I can and having fun while I’m at it, but it’s just part of life’. It was honestly really humbling to be recognised.”

Hassan, Restructuring Manager at EY,  Edinburgh, is a noted advocate of diversity within the workplace, which includes being open about his religious beliefs, while also encouraging an inclusive culture. He’s an active member of mental health and wellbeing groups, speaking publicly about taking time out to practise mindfulness and recharge in the workplace. He’s also actively involved in the community, organising and supporting the likes of blood donation drives, and helping the vulnerable, especially within the Asian community.

Hassan grew up in Edinburgh, in a nine-person multi-generational household. Having migrated to the UK in the 1970s, his late grandfather believed in hard work and higher education, eventually opening up several restaurants and newsagents. His young grandson, meanwhile, was discovering a passion for maths: “When I applied for university, I just knew that accountancy would be the ideal career for me.” Hassan was the first in his family to go to university, where he decided to pursue a career in accounting – a move that in turn inspired others to follow in his footsteps, having witnessed his enthusiasm. He in turn cites the support of his partner, who believed in him and encouraged him at all times.

The journey

Hassan became a member of ICAS in February 2018, just before joining EY. “No two days are the same,” he says of his job, which involves advising stakeholders and looking after the financial wellbeing of various businesses. But his involvement doesn’t stop there: he is also involved in coaching, wellbeing, diversity and technology projects, locally and nationally.

His mental health advocacy began shortly  after joining EY. Hassan says: “I wanted to play my part in ensuring everyone in the national team felt cared for by increasing support for mental health across the UK.” He has led a number of EY wellbeing initiatives, drawing on feedback sessions to help come up with solutions.

It’s an issue that is more urgent than ever during this era of remote working and often enforced isolation. “It’s really important that you take a break, go for a coffee and a chat with someone at lunch,” he says. “You need to recharge – otherwise you’re going to burn out.” His advice for managers concerned about their team members is to “try to be present and focused and mindful of others”.

Hassan believes workplace inclusivity comes  down to education. “Let’s educate ourselves so that we can be more diverse and understand the challenges,” he says. “Make sure that people are involved in decision making and ensure that they have a voice. The BAME group at EY challenges  and reports back to leadership” – a process he considers key. As a mentor, he also gets tremendous satisfaction watching someone “develop and grow and spread their wings… there’s loads of things that you can share with a mentee to help them not make the same mistakes that you made”.

Winning One Young CA 2020 has made Hassan realise that “anything and everything is possible and there’s no limits to success”. Asked to peer five years into the future, he says he’d like to be an inclusive leader in EY, having “really embedded wellbeing in our practice, while supporting those around me to grow and achieve their goals”.

From the judges: Why we picked Amjad Hassan CA

Amjad was selected as our winner because he has demonstrated business excellence and the highest standards of ethical conduct, integrity, and civic and social responsibility. A stand-out candidate from the outset, he was magnetic, well presented and his pride in being a CA was evident. Honest and thoughtful, he took time to formulate his responses to our questions. He also demonstrated passion and drive for technology and self-development (such as Power BI data visualisation), taking control of our screen and talking through visual graphs to demonstrate his points with the panel.

Amjad has a sincere interest in diversity and inclusion and wellbeing, and has been supporting his local community in these unprecedented times. It was evident that his values and morals are aligned with the ethics of ICAS. We believe Amjad will be a great ambassador for chartered accountants.

2-23-totumpro 2-23-totumpro
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: