Sophie, 24 and Lucy, 23 are shaking up the industry with their firm Mazuma, which slang for money. “For research we typed accountants into Google images” says Lucy, who started accounting part time for friends and family in October 2005, when like Sophie she was studying for her Association of Accounting Technicians or AAT qualification.
“There were pictures of stacks of money or old men sat behind desks. So we thought, right let’s change that. Ten years ago, I’d never have seen myself as an accountant. My image of accountancy was very traditional and dry.”
Lucy and Sophie met at Howell’s Girls School in Llandaff, but drifted apart when Lucy went to Whitchurch High School for Sixth Form.
They met up again during a finance revision course. Lucy, who studied A level English, Drama and Welsh says “money can make us all feel guilty, whether we are spending it to much or not making the most of it. People don’t like discussing what they earn either. We live in such a liberal society it’s really silly that money is taboo. We want clients not to feel like they are asking daft questions and don’t want to be scary accountants.” Mazuma ensures clients have enough to cover the bills while leaving enough to have a bit of fun with, which is what Lucy and Sophie agree it is all about.
Lucy who grew up in Roath Park and lives in Fairwater with boyfriend Ben Griffiths, a TV lighting electrician, says “Neither Sophie or I went to University. We trained while working, so are four years ahead of most people our age. We broke our own record and worked a 20 hour day recently.
“Our clients include all kinds of traders, young businesses and women. Being negative accountants we planned for 'what if it goes wrong?' rather than 'What if it goes right?' We aimed to get four new clients a month and we are getting that in a week”.
Sophie Hughes, 24, lives a short walk away from her business partner Lucy Cohen and both work from home on their laptops.
Sophie says: "I was considering law but preferred the numbers side of it. But I never thought I would run my own firm. We haven’t had any funding. Lucy had started working for friends and family so had a bit of money and the rest has come as we have taken on more clients. We’re trying to tap into people who think that they can’t really have accountants. Lots of people think their business is too small or they don’t have enough money to have an accountant.”
Mazuma’s slogan “keeping you in the black is our business” and the company’s mix and match solution means that clients can have as many or as few services as required.
“Both Lucy and I own our homes, unlike many people our age” says Sophie who grew up in Lisvane. “It’s nice to working with a close friend because we know each other. We both have the same aspirations and goals.”
After an initial meeting with Mazuma, to discuss individual needs a set of 12 envelopes is provided. Clients just have to put all the information relating to business from invoices, receipts, bank statements and general letters in the relevant months envelope and return it to Mazuma to file at the end of the month.
Sophie and Lucy are fairly savvy with their own spending habits. Sophie says “we are fairly cautious with money. The common phrase we get is that we don’t look like accountants, which is a good thing. We believe that our confidence and ambition are down to the education and learning environment we experienced at Howell’s. Not only did we both achieve academically but we learned how to make ourselves credible and trusted which has paid dividends (no pun intended!) in the male dominated world of accountancy. Thank you to all of the teachers there for giving us the support we needed and the telling offs we sometimes needed too!”