Stuart Foster, Liverpool

Thanks for sitting down with us today, please could you introduce yourself and tell us a little about where you work?

My name is Stuart Foster and I am currently working in a couple of roles. One working for a sugar free wine company as financial controller and another working in a consultancy capacity for an investment company.

Thanks Stuart, and what made you decide to move to the Isle of Man?

Before I was in the Isle of Man I was working for a bank in the UK based in Chester, I was living in Liverpool. I wasn’t very happy working in a big organisation and was looking for something different, so I applied for a trainee accountant role that turned out to be in the Isle of Man.

How has your career progressed since you first accepted that trainee accountant job here in the Isle of Man?

After I’d done three years of training I was offered a promotion and became a director of the trust company where I was working, from there I became a Partner in the business and took on the Managing Director role for the last few years I was there, and so it ended up being about 15 years in total that I worked for the company that I came here to join.

Wow, that is an impressive career path! Do you feel the Island’s environment has supported you with your career progression?

There is a wide range of industries here and there’s lots of opportunities to work globally as well from the Isle of Man. The connections that the businesses here have, give you opportunities in a wide variety of places and a wide variety of industries.

I’ve worked in all kinds of different industries, from shipping, gaming, I’m now in the wine business – so its introduced me to lots of different people, lots of different industries, lots of different ideas, that I wouldn’t necessarily have had if I hadn’t come to a place which is so outward looking as the Isle of Man.

Why would you recommend the Isle of Man to others looking for a job in accountancy?

I’d recommend it for the quality of life above everything else, but also for the opportunities that I believe there are here for people, especially in accountancy and in finance because the range of opportunities is quite amazing for such a small place.

You can live very comfortably here, close to where you work, you can work from home, you can travel the world – you can kind of pick and choose what you want to do and it does present lots of opportunities.

Outside of work, how do you spend your free time?

We’ve got three small children so when we’re not at ballet or gymnastics or football with them there are lots of nice places to eat, and go out to in the evenings. During the day there’s beaches, there’s scenery there’s walking, cycling, mountain biking… Depending on the weather, we do any number of those things!

Do you have any advice for people considering relocating their accountancy career to the Isle of Man?

The Isle of Man is a great place to live, I would give it a go, especially if you think your opportunities are limited where you are now. I’ve found that coming here and being willing to learn, being willing to try everything that’s thrown at you, presented me with lots of opportunities, lots of great places I’ve been to work, lots of interesting things I’ve done.

It’s grown my network of contacts so that now, I changed roles a few months ago, and the opportunities that are coming my way now from those contacts are brilliant, really interesting.

For practical advice on living and working in the Isle of Man, contact our team.