Zara Dar

Early life and background

Zara Dar was born in Jhelum. She said she is originally from Kashmir and not from Lahore, and that her ancestors came from Kashmir and her family later settled in Lahore. Dar grew up in a military family. [1]

Her family lived in many Pakistani cities, including Kohat, Okara, Sialkot, Taxila and Sukkur. Dar said she spent her whole childhood playing and made friends at each new posting, including classmates and colony members. She did her homework on her own after school, without her parents having to ask. [1]

Her father had one year left before retirement when the family moved to Lahore. Dar was shifted to Lahore and came to her uncle's. Both of her sisters got married while she was living in Gujranwala. One of her sisters did a master's in gender studies at Punjab University, and another completed a BBA at NUST. [1]

Dar once wanted to join the army, and her father told her the army did not pay enough. She also once wanted to become a doctor, and her father did not want her to become one. She has always been into arts, including painting and sketching. [1]

Education

Dar's early schooling was at Garrison and APS schools. She moved to Taxila just before her O levels. Business subjects were not offered at her school in Taxila, so she commuted to Islamabad every day. She did her O levels at City School and studied at City School Lahore for two years. [1]

Dar was the first in her family to choose business subjects. During her A levels, a teacher told her that accounting was her thing. She took a gap year after school because she was confused about her path, and she considered both CA and ACCA before choosing ACCA. [1]

ACCA results and prize

Dar earned her distinction in the F7 Financial Reporting paper, which she took in December 2020. She said she scored 96 out of 100. She had earlier earned a nationwide distinction in management accounting in 2019. [1]

Dar said ACCA results take about a month and a half to come out. She first thought a friend had pranked her with a fabricated email. She later received an email saying Global Prize Winner 2020, December 2020, and said ACCA Global sent her an email. She said she was contacted about an article being written about her. [1]

ACCA and the CA route

Dar said ACCA gives worldwide recognition and that CA is only in demand when a person is working in Pakistan. She also said CA is lengthier. She said she studies UK tax and UK corporate law, while others study Pakistani subjects. [1]

She explained that ACCA has 13 exams, and after nine of them a student can take an Oxford Brookes University degree. She said ACCA is a certification equivalent to a master's, not a degree. She said one has to do three years of articleship, and that after ACCA, people can do CFA or move into alternative routes such as law or tax. [1]

Career and goals

Dar wanted to get into a Big Four firm, like most accountancy students. Her eventual goal is to start her own accounting firm. She said studying alone is not enough and she needs to get into work. [1]

Dar planned to finish ACCA before starting work. She said she had completed 10 of her 13 ACCA modules and expected to finish her last ACCA modules in about five or six months. [1]

Makeup and social media

Dar first did makeup on family and friends. She said she was posting makeup tutorials, and that she needed to have a face for her brand. She wants to start her own makeup line. [1]

People found Dar easily because her account was public. She replied personally to DMs and sent voice notes when she could not type. She said the attention became too much for her, because she is an introvert. She stopped reading comments at one point, and said she stays happy by focusing on the good people around her. [1]

Views

Dar said Pakistan does not have the female workforce it needs. She noted that women make up almost 49.5 percent of Pakistan's population and said women are increasingly out of the workforce, which she links to culture. She said she does not comment on culture or religion because it is a personal matter. She said there is an opportunity for women to do bookkeeping from home, suggested that men could also start female-oriented businesses and teams, and tells parents to let their daughters pursue accountancy or similar fields. [1]

Dar said a woman in Pakistan has to carry herself with great grace to be respected, and that being a woman in Pakistan means always having to be careful. She said criticism affects women more than men. [1]

On accounting, Dar said a ledger could be moved onto an electronic ledger, allowing many things to be optimized from monthly and quarterly reports. She said work at home could be done from bank statements, cash books and ledgers that are sent over, and that every business, including hospitals, needs a good accounting department. [1]

Dar said her advice is only her opinion and that she is trying to make an impact. She said repeatedly doubting a decision after making it is a bad habit, and that decisiveness matters. She said she does not think at the macro level about Pakistan's future and can only think about her own small part of Pakistan. She is hopeful that things will be much better by the time she is 53, and said things are gradually coming out through social media, and that this is a start. She also said good people are emerging in Pakistan, that people should focus on what to do about problems and not just discuss them, and that the generation gap is real. [1]

Personal life

Dar said no one among her relatives was really encouraging when she chose accountancy, and that relatives later said they had always believed in her. She confirmed that Aleem Dar is her uncle. She said her uncle has been the best umpire of the world for three consecutive years, and that he had actually wanted to become a cricketer. [1]

Dar said her father has played a vital role throughout her life, and that trusting oneself and confidence come from her family. She said she has been very private and does not open up much, and that she has a positive approach to life. She said she does not think she went through imposter syndrome. She said she has many friends working for firms in Canada and the UK. [1]

Timeline

2019

Earned a nationwide distinction in management accounting.[1]

2020

Took the F7 Financial Reporting exam in December and received an email saying Global Prize Winner 2020.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Why Zara Dar topped ACCA and still wants her own firm . Thought Behind Things , 2021-10-08.