I am a geographer at heart, with a liking for numbers. I started as an audit junior at a medium-sized accountancy practice, but four years later I joined KPMG as a senior in business services. That invaluable grounding gave me insight into the operation and challenges of so many different businesses. I always felt there was a more personal and value-added side to dealing with SMEs, which I would be less likely to experience in a pure audit role.
In 2001, after a few years at an actuarial consultancy, I had a Sliding Doors moment. I was making coffee at work in a different kitchen than usual because our regular machine was out of order. There I saw an advert in the FT for a senior accountant role at Lancaster University. Having graduated from Lancaster I knew it was a great place. Over the years my role has developed into strategic finance partnering, providing analysis and insights for senior leaders.
Preparation and attention to detail may seem boring but are invaluable in my FP&A work
Lancaster is a highly ranked, research-intensive university. It’s mission is to deliver world-class teaching, research and engagement across many subjects. The challenges it faces are similar to those faced across UK higher education more widely – financial sustainability problems that the sector has not seen since the 90s. These include a decline in higher-fee-paying overseas students, the fall in the real-terms value of UK undergraduate fees, and the structural underfunding of research by successive UK governments. Inflationary cost pressures are impacting employment and other costs. Our primary role as an FP&A team is to provide meaningful insight and analysis as a tool to aid decision-making and financial stability.
My biggest achievement has been to play a key role in developing and implementing an activity-based costing model. It provides insight into the financial sustainability of the university’s key deliverables of teaching, research and engagement. The model has gained increasing credibility at the highest level as a window into the financial sustainability of departments and activities at the university. I like to think I have played a part in helping it to gain that credibility.
There is something about being out on the trail in the hills that is hard to beat
My favourite quote is from the explorer Roald Amundsen: ‘Adventure is just bad planning’. Preparation and attention to detail may seem very boring but are invaluable in my FP&A work, and in life in general. And this quote from Douglas Adams also resonates with me: ‘Reality is frequently inaccurate’. People will often take whatever meaning they wish to see from the information presented. It is our job when presenting FP&A analysis to do so as objectively as possible, recognising that the numbers form just one part of any decision-making process.
When not at work, my family and I really enjoy mountain-biking. Recently this has evolved to include e-bikepacking trips. There is something about being out on the trail in the hills that is hard to beat. The N+1 rule (where N is the number of bikes currently owned) is alive and well in our household.
