Why did you choose accountancy as a career?
I was self-employed working in a government local office with businesses and I had the opportunity to train in accountancy to develop new skills and get underneath the value created and reporting of their results.
How long have you been qualified as a CPFA?
I’ve been a qualified chartered public finance accountant for 10 years.
What’s your specialism – please give a brief overview of your role?
My role entails corporate and cultural change projects, following on from setting up Highways England as the largest government infrastructure company in April 2015. This involved arranging for the appointment of the first directors, establishing new pension arrangements to working on the governance framework and encouraging a dynamic and more commercial approach to delivering projects efficiently.
Can you briefly explain your career journey to-date?
I trained as an accountant and then went on to be an Audit Manager with the Audit Commission, latterly working in the Legal and Technical Directorate on national guidance, major procurement schemes and technical queries from local auditors. After a brief spell with the Treasury, helping the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department of Transport, Local Government & the Regions (DLTR) to implement resource accounting, I moved across into government as Chief Accountant with responsibility for a balance sheet with over £140bn of assets and High Speed 1 (HS1 – Eurotunnel). This was a huge responsibility, but my grounding in public sector accounts along with the opportunity to have learned so much about local government with the Audit Commission stood me in good stead.
What do you like most about your CIPFA membership?
I enjoy putting something back and for six years was Vice Chairman of the Central Government panel – I’m now a member of the Financial Management panel. Personally, I continue to learn from the experiences of my fellow panel members and I think the products and guidance are absolutely relevant to today’s public sector accountant. I was really proud to be nominated by my team and then won the inaugural Government Finance Profession’s award for ‘Boss of the Year’. This demonstrates that accountants can be good leaders as well as taking care of the numbers.
What advice would you give current students who are looking to pursue a career in public finance?
When I was Head of Finance for the DfT, I was instrumental in working with the Treasury to set up the Finance Fast Stream. Then and now, I saw great opportunities for students to work on new investment schemes and to help departments deliver value for money.