Elena Meskhi
Programme Director & Founder, Ad Astra Training
Learn from an experienced practitioner
Elena Meskhi is a certified accountant with over 20 years of experience in UK accounting and tax. She advises established businesses and high-net-worth individuals, and her London practice provides the foundation for the Ad Astra training programme.
Her work spans the full range of accounting and tax services that a UK practice delivers, from bookkeeping and accounts preparation to self-assessment, corporation tax, and advisory work for business owners. She understands the day-to-day realities of practice because she works in them.
Closing the gap between exams and practice
Passing accounting exams is an important achievement. Applying that knowledge confidently in practice is a different challenge. Throughout her career, Elena has met aspiring accountants who have invested in their studies but still need the opportunity to develop practical skills with professional guidance.
AI and automation are making this challenge more pressing. Routine processing tasks have traditionally given junior accountants a starting point: a way to enter a practice, learn the fundamentals and gradually take on greater responsibility. As more of these tasks become automated, some of those traditional learning opportunities are changing.
Junior roles are evolving too. Alongside accounting knowledge, newcomers increasingly need to review information, investigate discrepancies and question the outputs of accounting systems. Understanding why a result is correct matters as much as knowing how to produce it.
For someone entering the profession, this can make an already difficult transition more demanding: employers need practical capability, while newcomers need opportunities to develop it. The familiar dilemma remains: you need experience to secure a role, but your first role is often where you expect to gain that experience.
Elena created the Practical Accounting Experience Programme to provide a structured opportunity to build those foundations. Through tutor-led explanations, educational assignments based on accounting practice, review and feedback, participants learn how to reconcile transactions, prepare working papers, investigate differences and explain their decisions.
The aim is not to repeat what participants have already studied or train them to compete with automation on repetitive tasks. It is to help them turn accounting knowledge into practical competence, professional judgement and confidence: whether their next step is employment or preparation for their own practice.
An established programme, relaunched
The programme ran successfully before the COVID-19 pandemic and was subsequently paused. We are now pleased to relaunch it, building on that experience with a renewed focus on practical skills, professional development and the demands of a changing accounting profession.
Professional guidance, practical feedback
The programme is led by Elena Meskhi, with teaching, supervision and assignment reviews provided by Elena and experienced practitioners from her accounting practice.
Participants receive explanations, practical feedback and opportunities to correct and improve their assignments. Reviews address both the result and the reasoning behind it: what needs attention, why it matters and how to approach it more confidently next time.
Assignments become more challenging as participants develop their skills. Progress is assessed against learning objectives and professional documentation standards, rather than the practice’s commercial output.
What participants can expect
Practitioner-led explanations and demonstrations
Feedback on training assignments
Opportunities to correct mistakes
Progressive skills development
Discussion of strengths and areas for improvement
Join the programme
Build your practical accounting skills through structured training, professional guidance and feedback.