I WASN’T surprised to hear the Financial Times’ Global Tax correspondent Emma Agyemang tell me she fell into financial journalism “by accident”. It was the same way my former financial journalism lecturer, Camila Reed, got into it. In fact, it was also the way I got into it, after a job in banking introduced me to many great stories with colourful characters.

We journalists, often English grads, tend not to think of ourselves as “the finance type”. 
But there is no finance type. This was one of the most valuable lessons of my Monzo job, which in part, led me to the Paul McClean Graduate Programme. Emma’s career led her to break scoops and win awards. She now helps over a million readers understand the fascinating world of global tax which touches on policy, economics and human stories.

I spoke with Emma about her career, life at the FT and why young journalists shouldn’t shy away from finance.

What does a week as the FT’s global tax correspondent look like?

There is no typical week. Editorial meetings with the other economics journalists are pretty much the only consistent part of my day. I watch and chair events, read reports and speak to regular and new contacts.  I’m also on social media a lot, there’s a big tax twitter hashtag. I’ve got quite a few of the lead stories from people posting things. Then you’re like ‘oh what does that mean’ and you dig a bit more and it turns out to be a story. I also spend time writing stuff and being edited. If we weren’t in a pandemic I would be going out more, travelling to different countries and events.

What are some misconceptions about financial journalism?

I’m not at parties anymore but in the old days people would say ‘Oh you’re a journalist? Cool. Oh you cover tax, oh’. People think it’s really dry, technical and boring. But it’s not. Everyone in the world understands that they have to pay tax and what happens when they don’t. It really affects people individually and that’s true with a lot of financial issues. Everyone is interested in money, it’s just the way you describe it that can make it more or less relatable.

Which stories are you proudest of?

Right now the big issue is the global tax deal that countries are trying to agree to. I was proud of some scoops about exactly who would pay that and who wouldn’t. It was on the FT in the front page, talked about in India, the US and the UK.

When I first started at FT Money, there was an issue to do with a tax, called the loan charge,

that the UK government wanted some people who had allegedly done tax avoidance in the past to pay. I took it from this niche tax issue that people didn’t really get, into this really quite big deal. It was debated in parliament and the government ended up partially backing down. Unfortunately, there were at least six people reported to have killed themselves.

What are the essential qualities for financial journalism?

Most people just glaze over when you start talking about financial stuff, so you really have to be able to explain why something is important, why people should care. And not being bamboozled by the BS is important. The questions you have as somebody who doesn’t know anything can be really really helpful. If you ask questions that help you understand the topic, oftentimes you’ll find things that are relevant for other people, even people who know more. What you think is a stupid question ends up being an interesting question.

What is your favourite thing about working at the FT?

It’s a really collegiate place to work and people are genuinely really friendly and approachable and nice. Because it’s got quite an intimidating brand people think everyone is really serious but it’s not. That’s probably what surprised me the most when I joined and it’s probably the thing I like the most.

Your recommendations to aspiring financial journalists?

Claer Barrett’s money clinic podcast  is very good for general understanding of finance. She really knows her stuff but she’s also an incredible communicator, she makes it engaging. There’s also Iona Bains’ young money blog who’s very good at explaining too.

Akila Quinio is a Paul McClean Graduate Trainee at the Financial Times. The Programme is now open for applications with a deadline of 23rd January 2022. Information can be found at www.ft.com/graduates