Gold Magazine November - December 2013, Issue 32 | Page 98

A Day in the Life

Christis M.
Christoforou
The Chief Executive Officer of
Deloitte, tells us why he didn’t
become a doctor and which
English football stadium is like
a second home to him.
“I get up at 6.00am
every day and I am often

at the office by 6.30. Breakfast
is just a cup of tea. Since January I’ve adopted a healthier way
of life – it was my New Year’s
Resolution and for once I managed to keep it. As a result I’m
30 kilos lighter than I was 10
months ago, thanks mainly to
avoiding sweets, alcohol and
carbohydrates. I also try to do
some treadmill exercise a couple
of times a week.
When I arrive at work, my
policy is to make sure that, by
the time I see anyone else, I
don’t have a single unread or
unanswered e-mail in my inbox.
Most of my day is then spent
in meetings with clients and
organisations to which I offer
my services as an accountant.
My father was an accountant so
I suppose that had an influence
on my choice of career, although
he never pushed me in that direction. When I was younger I
wanted to become a doctor but I
was afraid of blood and I still am
– I faint at the sight of it! I toyed
with the idea of architecture because I like design and creativity
but I ended up doing accounting. Of course, I wouldn’t want
to be an architect in the current
economic climate. In the end my
first degree was in Economics
& Quantitative Methods at the

University of East Anglia, after
which I worked in London for
five years and took my Chartered exams.
I got married at 21 – we’ve
now been married for 32 years
– and we have a daughter, who
is a chartered accountant and
a son who has just graduated
from university and started his
professional exams in London.
As happened in my case, growing up in a particular environment has an influence on what
you do later but I would actually recommend the accounting
education to everyone; it
opens a lot of doors even if
you don’t want to go into
the profession.
I usually have lunch
with clients and sometimes I skip it completely.
Afternoons usually mean
more meetings and although the day at work
ends at 7.30, that’s when
the social responsibilities
for the night start, usually
at home with clients or
friends.
When it comes to relaxation I’m not much
of a movie person,
although I usually see
the latest James Bond
adventures when they
come out. My great pas-

The James Bond
movies are the only
ones that I go to the
cinema to see.

sion is football so that’s almost
the only thing I watch on TV.
Despite studying in Norwich and
London, my longstanding love
is Manchester City where I’m a
season ticket holder. I supported
them back in the ‘60s so, of
course, I’m very happy that they
have finally started doing well in
recent years. I like music and my
taste is for romantic “slow songs”
as we used to call them, both
Greek and English, for example
“Leaving on a Jet Plane” by John
Denver which I now have on my
iPhone.

I wish I could be there
every week.

The best thing about my
job is that I get to meet a
lot of people and in Cyprus
there is a lot of personal recognition. In bigger countries
you’ll hear people say “The
auditors are here” whereas in
Cyprus they’ll say “Christis is
here” which gives me a certain
satisfaction. The worst thing
about my job is that I can’t
“switch off” when I leave the
office. My partners will tell you
that it’s not unusual for them
to receive e-mails from me at 2
or 3 in the morning.
Weekends are spent with
the family and we often have
friends round on Saturdays
and might go for a drive on
Sundays. At 53 I’m too young
to think about retirement. I’ve
been in this position since 2005
so there are still opportunities for greater responsibility.
I wouldn’t mind living in
London if I had to and
I also love New York.
My business takes me
to lots of places every
couple of weeks and
whenever I go away
I try and take an extra day, especially if
I’m in the UK so I
can go watch my
team.
As a family
man, my main
ambition is to see
my children happy.
Over and above that,
I would say that I hope
one day to die healthy.
From a professional point
of view, my ambition is
to be able to retire by my
own decision. In both
cases, I want to go when
I’m ready!”

I like John Denver’s
relaxing style of music.

98 Gold THE INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT, FINANCE & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES MAGAZINE OF CYPRUS

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07/11/2013 18:25