Audit Policy Manager
The Audit Commission

Chaitali R

Hi, I’m Chaitali R, audit policy manager. I work for the Audit Commission. The Audit Commission ensures that the public money is spent as wisely as possible, and my role within the audit policy and practice directorate is to provide professional support and guidance to the auditors in the field and to regulate the audit profession in general so that it’s in line with the strategic objectives of the commission.

00:00:28 The bit that gives me the most enjoyment out of my job would be the provision of technical support. The ability to be able to resolve queries as and when they arrive is something that I enjoy and I look forward to, really.

00:00:41 My dream was completely different as a kid. I wanted to be, at one point, a doctor, at another point I wanted to be an air hostess when I developed an appreciation for flying and discovering countries. I never wanted to be a business woman, but I did want to have a successful career somewhere where I could get the job satisfaction at the end of the day and equally earn some good money.

00:01:07 At fifteen I don’t think I had any plans. I was still in India doing my schooling in a small town and not thinking about anything more than six months ahead, so at that point I don’t think I ever envisaged that I would be in this country. At that point I was preparing for the Indian Civil Service exams, and that was something that I wanted to do, and then I met my husband who was born and brought up in this country, so I got introduced to him, we liked each other, and I got married and moved to the UK in 2000.

00:01:44 I had to get on and do something. I couldn’t just sit at home, so I thought I would just give it a try and work in Asda, which was my local Asda at the time. I went there and worked there for a month. I think it was very useful for me to do that because I developed the accent, which I didn’t necessarily have at the time. I could understand what people were saying, but they could not necessarily understand what I was saying because I had a very strong Indian accent. So working in a supermarket for a month did give me that opportunity to have a chat with one of my customers, while filling up the shelves.

00:02:20 My dad, he had very humble beginnings, and he started from a migrant from Bangladesh when the country was divided, and he came to India, he worked really hard and he made a name for himself. So I think that was very… at a very young age, that’s what I grew up looking at. That’s what I sort of saw around me – my parents working hard and earning their livelihood – and that was something that I wanted to do for myself.

00:02:49 If you had told me when I was sixteen that you would be an audit policy manager in ten/twelve year’s time, I would have doubted that. I don’t know. I don’t think I would have believed that. Motivation comes from different sources for me. It could be for my daughter, when I see her in the morning, and thinking that I want to have… I want to provide her the best that a child, a three and a half year old can have. That is the motivation.

00:03:18 Once she was born, and after my first six months of maternity leave when I was coming back to work, was the time that was very stressful for me because I constantly thought about whether she’s being fed, whether she’s being changed, or, you know, whether she needs me, and all those kinds of maternal things that pop into your mind, so I think that was a very, very hard time. But knowing that I had somebody who was taking very good care of her was something that kind of gave me the strength to continue.

00:03:52 My career means a lot to me, apart from my family. It means not just the source of my livelihood, but it also means the source of keeping me motivated and going in my day to day life. Without my career, I can’t really imagine myself sitting at home and doing nothing. ENDS