I’m Sepehr, though Sep works just as well if that’s easier to say. By trade, I work in finance; by disposition, I’m usually somewhere else entirely, lost in a book, a film, an album, or a long solitary walk with my headphones on.
My ACCA journey began in September 2023. I started with no exemptions and completed all nine Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills papers in under a year, achieving the highest mark in Iran in every exam I sat and earning ACCA’s regional prize for the highest mark in the Middle East in both Financial Management and Taxation.
That result led to an offer to study a Master of Science in Accounting and Finance at Oxford Brookes University. I graduated with a Merit, passing every exam at first attempt. Alongside my studies, I cleared my remaining ACCA papers, again finishing as national prizewinner in each, and submitted my research project, on value creation through investment, financing, and dividend policy with reference to the performance of ProCook plc, which was itself awarded a Merit.
Halfway through my Masters, I joined the University of Oxford as a Finance Support Officer at the Oxford Department of International Development. There, I established the accounting framework for collaborative operations delivered by the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), led the implementation of the Xero accounting system across the Kenya hub, and developed an integrated budget management dashboard covering fundraising, expenditure planning, payment processing, and reconciliation across the UK, Malaysia, and Kenya hubs.
I specialise extensively in areas of:
Change Management
Internal Controls
Knowledge Management
Process Optimization
Risk Management
Stakeholder Management
Capital Structure Analysis
Dividend Policy
Financing Decision
Investment Appraisal
Pricing Strategies
Working Capital Management
Analysis and Interpretation of Financial Statements
Group Accounting
IFRS Framework
Integrated Reporting
ERP implementation
Xero
SAP Concur
GNG
Power Query
Advanced Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets
Previously, as Cost Accounting Supervisor at Padideh Shimi Gharb Co, I led a team of four accountants and restructured the company’s annual budgeting process. I also designed a pricing dashboard covering more than 300 SKUs, implementing cost-based, demand-based, and market-based pricing strategies across different product and market segments in close coordination with the Production and Marketing teams. In addition, I prepared and filed three sets of audited financial statements and led the implementation of a new ERP system (GNG) across several modules, including logistics, inventory, production, R&D, and Finance, working closely with the Systems and Processes team.
Finance is what I do. It isn’t all of who I am. Most days end with a book, a film, a new record, or a quiet walk to think things through.
You can find my favourite pieces in the Art page.
