Tag: #BeAstute

LI: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”

A great quote by FD Roosevelt. We feel that the same applies to accountants.

It’s through the turbulent times though that we learn, in life and at work. When things don’t go quite as planned, we have an opportunity to learn, to become a better sailor – or, in the case of our clients, become a better business, and our candidates – to become better accountants.

Enjoy the smooth sailing when the seas are calm. But when the surf swells and storms brew, remember: that experience brings the ability to cope with headwinds.

The same is true of accountants and all finance professionals. From credit controllers who can free up much needed cashflow by reducing outstanding debtors to a strong Finance Director or Financial Controller who can win that key tender or negotiate better rates with that new tender. Hard experiences teach finance professionals how to cope in difficult situations.

Our Astute seafaring ode to accountants everywhere: –

What is a business, without an accountant at the tiller?

Assessing performance, the greatest biller?

Forecasting growth, future success,

How to improve profits, stakeholders to impress!

Through recession, through growth, the bad and the good,

None can enlighten like a great accountant could.

Through the choppy waters of business life,

A strong accountant can solve financial woes and strife.

A seasoned finance professional,

Can bring a steady hand and deliver the exceptional.

Financial accountants; “How much are we owed?”

Payrollers processing pay for those furloughed.

Credit controllers to keep debtors down,

Managing relationships with a smile not a frown.

Part Qualified and Finalists, improving analysis,

Working hard to avoid performance paralysis.

Accountants in the office or WFH,

Rest assured, their value alone,

Will see your business thrive and grow.

So #BeAstute, use the finance recruitment firm ‘in the know!’

Contact our team ‘in the know’ for your career development or to source an experienced accountant in your finance team: –

57,600. A special number. Why?

Not my salary 🤣

Not how many fans will be at the next game at Wembley ⚽🤞

Nope.

Give or take, 57,600 is the number of hours I’ve spent at work in my career spanning 30 years.

That’s more than I’ve roughly spent with my family, friends and partners in all that time.

(happily married last 17 years👫).

I bet I’m not alone.

You can calculate your own career clock with some simple sums for fun.

But my serious point is, how much of my career clock is left? How much longer do I have to achieve my professional goals?

That’s not such a large number for me. (I love my job, but I don’t plan on working at 70 🧓). I am mindful that I only have a finite time left to achieve remaining professional goals.

If you do your sums, you can calculate how much of your very own career clock you have left.

The answer may surprise, appall or enthrall.

The difference between your ‘time served’ and ideal working career left tells you, in a nutshell, how long you have left to achieve your ambitions.

A time line.

Most people don’t think about this, wrapped up in layers of today’s problems. But if you are thinking of changing job/ applying for that promotion/ studying for your CIMA/ACCA/ACA/ AAT or other professional exam, you absolutely should know what the time is on your personal career clock.

Everything you work for, the job you do now to the people you work for, the exams and qualifications you select to acquire, should be helping you to achieve your ultimate career goal.

Knowing your ‘why am I doing this’ will make sure you are doing the right job for the right reasons, at the right time for you.

It could be to secure a job with better work /life balance now, while the kids are small but with a business that can give you promotions and growth in the future?

It could be you are an aspiring FD and need a role offering more man management / controls / commercial or other experience to fill that skill gap on your cv.

“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” – William Shakespeare.

As the Bard says, ’tis better to spend time waiting for the opportunity to take an action than miss the chance. But you need to recognise what those chances are, at the right time for you, seize them, and make those decisions to keep your life and career on track and on time.

The quote references Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, a character who suspects his wife’s infidelity, but it could be applied to any situation when you need to take a chance to change things and not miss the opportunity.

So, what’s the time left on your career clock?

It might just be the most important question for you and your professional aspirations!

If you would like confidential career advice you can contact Mary Maguire or our call our experienced team at Astute Recruitment Ltd on 01332 346 100.

An article by Mary Maguire, Managing Director
Astute | Accountancy & Finance | HR | Office Support

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100
M: 07717 412911

LI: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

If an SME is in good financial health without a finance director (FD), entrepreneurs are often sceptical as to whether they need to recruit an FD.

Having the right people is what makes any business grow, and an inspiring finance director (FD) can contribute more than most. Yet entrepreneurs can be sceptical about hiring such a senior position.

It’s not uncommon to hear, ‘… but my business is doing well, and I already have an excellent external accountant. Do I really need an expensive over-blown bean-counter?’

The idea that an FD is just an overpaid number cruncher, can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If an entrepreneur sets out to recruit a glorified accountant, that’s what they’re likely to get. In fact, an FD should be viewed as an essential part of any growing company’s senior management team. Someone to be an expert in planning and running the business AND someone who can add a lot of commercial and operational value to a business.

The FD should be able to provide management information that a financial controller or accountant can’t – information that will really help an entrepreneur make decisions. For example, how profitable an individual customer relationship is compared with others, so they can focus on the customers that really count.

Management information and advice from an FD will also help a company with its external negotiations. Once an entrepreneur gets his or her hands on solid information about changes in their overheads and the cost of sales, it becomes much easier to agree price rises with customers and ultimately protect profit margins.

FDs can also provide advice about which business opportunities to pursue. For instance, if an acquisition is on the cards, an experienced FD will be able to help assess the right target, negotiate and seal the deal, and then help bring the two businesses together. An FD should be a dynamic leader who helps a company to do profitable deals and put processes in place to make sure you realise that profit.

How to pick a Finance Director?

So what should an entrepreneur be looking for if they decide to recruit a Financial Director?

First, let’s look at what a good FD should already be doing and have on their cv: –

Own the numbers & be able to explain the numbers. Fully understand, and be able to explain to everyone else, how the business makes its money

A great FD will put systems in place to gather and analyse information to ensure that everyone in the business knows how profits and cash are generated, by product, service, customer, contract, geography, etc. With this knowledge, a management team can make informed decisions about which activities to focus on and which to stop.

Actively drive value in the business. Successful FDs are leaders, motivated by the desire to help grow business value as quickly and effectively as possible. They want to be influential in supporting and challenging business planning and decisions. A good FD will actually be keen to add value and if they can’t, that’s a common reason for them to decide to change job.

Cash is king. Understand the importance of cash flow. Securing future cash flow is critical to a company’s valuation. A good FD will handle Forecasting, managing cash flow, and championing ways of optimising a company’s cash generation model. This could involve extending supplier terms to re-working the business model and client’s payment terms. (i.e. should the business move from short-term contracts, with unreliable payments, to a long-term, regular recurring revenue model?)

IMPORTANT: If you are looking for a future exit strategy, an FD or CFO will often be interested in some sort of equity in return for their longer-term commitment right through to sale. This means it will be directly in the FD/ CFO’s interests to do a great job and stay in the role.

Be forward-looking. An FD should help the business plan ahead by providing analysis, insight and challenge to help the management team evaluate the company’s options for the future. They should help the business pitch their budget at the right level – making it challenging but achievable and then make sure this can be reported.

Good with detail as well as the big picture. Great FD’s are adept at contributing to strategy, but also want to get into the detail to ensure the information being used around the business is absolutely correct.

Be intelligent, qualified, experienced, and ambitious. Entrepreneurs should look for someone with a professional qualification and experience working with respected people. Another good sign is when a Finance Director maintains a network of professional contacts who can help them keep abreast of the latest industry developments.

So, while a growing, entrepreneurial business may have coped without a Financial Director up to now, and feel they can carry on without one, they run the risk that limited senior management expertise will actually hold back the growth of the business.

The very thing most important to the business owner.

With the right FD at the helm, growing companies will make better-informed decisions AND have the support to lead the company where the owners want to take it, whether that means a trade sale or towards extra PE investment.

If you are considering hiring an FD, CFO, or FC, and woud like some confidential advice around the best options available, please contact Mary Maguire, who will be pleased to help you.

Mary Maguire

Managing Director
Astute | Accountancy & Finance | HR | Office Support

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100
M: 07717 412911

LI: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

The remit of a Financial Director (FD) is to direct the financial obligations, and financial reporting of a business AND help drive the company forward with the senior management team.

But that’s the easy bit. What genuine qualities lift an ordinary FD into an extraordinary Director of Finance?

This isn’t about which accountancy qualification you secured. The best, most brilliant FDs we have had the pleasure of recruiting and recruiting for, have had the full range of qualifications from CIMA, ACCA, ACA, CA, CIPFA, and QBE. The ability to pass exams, demonstrates academic rigour, but the modern FD needs much more than just letters after their name.

They need emotional and business intelligence as much as academic prowess. As the world emerges from the maelstrom of Covid into a new normal, MDs are looking for candidates who can own and understand the numbers, but who can also be intuitive to understand the power of having and keeping a resilient finance team intact.

To start with, let’s distinguish the difference between a Financial Director and a Financial Controller. The lines of duty can blur in an SME setting, but a crucial difference is an FD directs, while an FC controls the day-to-day operations of the finance function.

To effectively ‘direct’, you need to be able to command, lead, inspire. If you can’t influence people to perform their duties properly, this is a big problem.

Then we have the engagement /people bit.

You may have a great ‘number 2’ as a financial controller or finance manager, to manage staff day to day but it’s crucial you can also command the respect of the team underneath.

Don’t silo yourself but keep open lines of communication, at all levels.

A modern breakdown of the key attributes to being an exceptional FD: –

D Decisive

I Inspirational

R Reflective

E Emotionally intelligent

C Collaborative

T Tenacious

S Supportive

Let’s look at these in more depth.

Decisive: –

Decision Makers have to be able to make decisions. You’re in the wrong job as an FD, if you struggle to reach a decision, stand by it and take responsibility for the course of action you have taken. Hindsight is a great thing. There will be mistakes made. But the extraordinary FD will own their decisions and be able to deftly calculate a fresh course of direction weighing up the risks and benefits. There’s no hiding place for a great FD. You need to be seen to be a leader in your company, amongst your peers, and by your team. That’s how respect is earned.

Inspirational: –

To inspire is to be innovative. To think “outside of the box” through your knowledge and experiences, and to be creative in your thinking. The key here is application. How you apply your experience to specific, spontaneous work and business situations. As a mindset, the exceptional FD will have the dexterity to apply their interactions to a wide spectrum of situations, encouraging, and motivating their people and peers to achieve the best possible business outcomes.

Resourceful: –

This has become an absolutely crucial attribute. More than ever, the ability to adapt to many different functions or activities, the FD may have to step into other roles e.g. Interim Managing Director/ IT Director/ HR Director. They must be commercially aware and must understand the other areas of the business such as HR, Strategic direction, and IT amongst others.

Emotional intelligence: –

The Oxford University definition: the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

“emotional intelligence is the key to both personal and professional success”.

People have been hugely affected by changes to their working routines. An FD needs to be more mindful than ever of the psychological and mental well-being of their team and lead their staff through the return to a new normal. An outstanding FD will be able to direct how their team(s) can be professionally steered during the transition from Lockdown to new normal.

They will also have honed great recruitment skills to select the talent they need, interview and challenge potential hires, and most importantly have a succession plan.

Collaborative: –

Collaboration at work means involving two or more people working together for a particular purpose for the benefit of the company. This means having the ethical, professional, and moral compass to know what needs to happen and how to work together, to bring the best results. Being emotionally aware of not just yourself but others at work is key. An exceptional FD will understand how to approach people at all levels and how to temper their language, tone and timbre to make the best possible collaboration work. Remote working and online meetings mean your efforts need to transfer even more clearly and effectively than in person.

Remember: Collaboration can be upwards, as well as cascading to more junior staff.

The FD needs to balance ambition with reality and needs to be the “wise counsel to the board without allowing entrepreneurial flair to become suppressed.”

Tenacious: –

Tenacity is the determination to consistently continue what you are doing. To see things through. From ensuring financial information produced stands up to scrutiny from external auditors, bank and other external, legal parties.

All stakeholders expect honesty and a “nothing to hide” attitude to be consistently delivered. The highest standards (ethics) must be maintained, the FD should be seen as the “Champion” of the organisation’s culture and ensure that good corporate governance is maintained at all times.

The exceptional FD will have this in hand.

Supportive: –

“Your support network is the solid ground from which you can propel yourself upwards” . Anna Barnes.

This is about your own support network as much as being a supportive FD.

The most successful business people will have great emotional and personal backup networks. From family, and friends to external services and people to make their personal lives run as smoothly, healthily, and efficiently as possible.

You can’t be an effective, exceptional FD if your personal life and own wellbeing are in disarray.

If you would like confidential career or employment advice around this or any other topic, please contact Mary Maguire and she will be delighted to help you or navigate you to one of our team.

Article by Mary Maguire

Managing Director
Astute | Accountancy & Finance | HR | Office Support

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100
M: 07717 412911

LI: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

#BeAstute – Childrens Mental Health Week 2021 “I’m enough as I am said the boy”

What inspires children can so often inspire all of us…

“What’s your best discovery?” asked the mole.

“that I’m enough as I am” said the boy.

I love this quote by Charlie Mackesy in his award-winning 2019 book, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse.

My son was given this book to inspire him and all the then year, 6 pupils, in his school.

He’s kept it.

The other day, he came up to me in my upstairs bedroom (aka ‘office’ 🤣) and said,

“Mum, this is a really great book!”.

“Can I have a read?” I asked.

” ‘course you can Mum, but I want it back!”

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye as I read beautiful and moving pearls of wisdom. Whilst written a couple of years ago, this is a timeless, wonderful book for kids and adults alike.

The gentle words wash over you, giving you a warm hug of reassurance.

And we all need a hug right now. ❤️❤️

Thank you Ashbrook Junior School!

Thank you Charlie Mackesy for creating such a heartwarming, wise and beautiful book.

A book for the best of times, and the hardest of times too. It’s a brilliant book to recommend to all those parents working from home for their children, especially during this special children’s week dedicated to raising awareness of child mental health.

It’s a beautiful, and rare book that can befriend a child and also captivate adults too.

A lot of parents are struggling to juggle their work and jobs from home whilst overseeing their children’s schoolwork at the moment. As a parent and an employer of staff with children, its really important to highlight and recommend great opportunities to help hardworking parents reassure their kids.

There is a great organisation called Children’s Mental Health Week

where you can access a video from their Royal Patron, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge’s video message to mark the start of the week.

Their Virtual Assembly with BAFTA and Oak National Academy is now available to view and share – featuring Jodie Whittaker, Oti Mabuse, Matthew Lewis, and many more…

If you would like to read more articles and posts on employment, recruitment, careers, mental health, and more, please follow Mary and our company page for Astute Recruitment Ltd on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Mary Maguire

Managing Director
Astute | Accountancy & Finance | HR | Office Support

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100
M: 07717 412911