From practice to the boardroom

My career has given me experience from several different sides of the finance world. I started in accountancy practice, working with businesses ranging from sole traders to large plcs, before spending time with KPMG developing and delivering professional training.

I then moved into industry, where my roles included Vice President of a division of a major bank and Finance Director of a subsidiary of a FTSE 100 company.

Understanding the business behind the numbers

That experience gave me a much broader understanding of how businesses actually operate and the commercial realities behind the numbers. In one role, I helped transform a loss-making division into a healthy six-figure profit in less than two years.

Finding a better way of doing things

At The Friendly Accountants, a big part of my role is making sure we work as efficiently as possible. I love systems, technology and finding better ways of doing things. I'm always looking at how we can improve a process, automate something repetitive or use technology to give our team more time to concentrate on the work that genuinely adds value for clients.

I'm also fortunate to work alongside some extremely knowledgeable people, and I like to think my role is often to make sure we have the systems and processes behind them to turn that expertise into a consistently great service.

Away from the spreadsheets

Despite being an accountant, I don't take myself too seriously. Outside work, I love reading, animals and travelling. Richard and I have been incredibly fortunate to travel extensively around the world together, something our online way of working has made much easier.

Animals are another big part of my life. Having spent years surrounded by cats, I'm currently fostering dogs for a charity, although I'm discovering that "fostering" and "not becoming attached" don't necessarily go together!

Qualifications:
Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
BSc (First Class Hons) in Accounting and Finance

Outside of work: Reading, travelling and looking after an ever-changing collection of animals!

Known in the office for: Systems, spreadsheets, finding a quicker way of doing something and occasionally pointing out that there is a perfectly good piece of software that already does it.

Favourite way to spend time off: Exploring somewhere new, preferably somewhere Richard and I haven't managed to visit yet.

If I was a superhero I would be: Still Catwoman. The outfit is still out of the question, but the animal obsession hasn't gone anywhere!