After I left school, I worked in the family business – a Chinese restaurant – and my dad’s accountant suggested I look into the profession. I graduated with a first in accounting and finance from the University of South Wales. From there, I joined a metal manufacturing company in Neath as a junior accountant, and they put me through the ACCA Qualification with Kaplan.
Qualifying opened up a management accountant role at Crown Packaging, and I later moved into a financial controller role. When production lines were moved out of the UK, I joined FEI Foods as financial controller. Over seven years I’ve worked my way up to become head of finance. I’ve always been ambitious and I’m keen for a more strategic role, such as finance director.
We’re experiencing a tight labour market, which is a real challenge as we grow
Like many industries, we’re experiencing a tight labour market, which is a real challenge as we are growing significantly. Last year we came up with a restructured wage plan that puts us in the top quartile of payers in South Wales. This has has been very effective in employee attraction and retention.
Systems knowledge is key in modern-day finance. Whatever software you use, it is vital to have an understanding of the underlying mechanics of how things interface. If you’ve got stock, you need to understand its movements, which in turn helps when it comes to reporting and communicating those numbers to different stakeholders.
Don’t underestimate the importance of leadership and management skills
The biggest challenge for finance professionals is the expectation for us to know far more than just accounting information. From sustainability reporting and CSR to payroll legislation and tax regulation, we are expected to be across everything.
Accountants have to act with integrity. If we identify where a process has fallen over – say, something basic like an employee, supplier or customer being underpaid – then we have a duty to fix it and put a process in place to stop it from happening again.
Don’t underestimate the importance of leadership and management skills. As your responsibility grows, your workload becomes less technical and more focused on people management. Understanding how to manage, motivate and educate your team or colleagues to achieve business KPIs is invaluable.
