PROFILE

Senior manager and qualified Chartered Accountant my skills include finance, management, project management, people development, planning and co-ordination. I was a senior manager with Ernst & Young in their London office for a number of years (audit and internal operations). More recently I have been involved in a number of voluntary projects and self employed/short term contracts whilst studying for a degree in physics with The Open University. I am currently working on a self employed basis whilst completing my degree.

KEY SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Financial

• Budgets, forecasts, management accounts, accounts preparation, bookkeeping.
• Audit: managing a portfolio of audit clients in various industries e.g. consultants, finance, software, leisure, retail and manufacturing.
• Tax compliance for companies, LLP's and individuals
• Regulated areas: experience of Solicitors Accounts Rules (SAR), charity accounts, low risk FSA audits (ex SFA and IMRO), pension fund accounts.
• Inward investment: working with international audit teams and UK subsidiaries of overseas parent companies (U.S. and other).
• Review of financial systems to provide suggestions for improvement to management.

Internal Operations

• Monitoring working capital and reporting directly to the Head of Audit on finance issues.
• Organising manager portfolios – allocating new clients and re-allocating existing clients to support manager's development needs.
• Payload Coordinator for national student satellite project, myPocketQub442 (voluntary post).
• Monitoring the work loads of the audit manager group - meeting regularly with managers to discuss their development needs and other issues of concern, monitoring timesheets, utilisation rates, etc.
• Resourcing – managing the resource administrator, monitoring future bookings and staffing requirements, advising the Head of Audit on recruitment needs (at manager level and below).
• Monitoring utilisation for the audit department.
• Support Team Project – consulting technical and support staff on the best way of working together and producing a new support structure.
• Various ad hoc projects (E-filing working group, Reward and Communication committee, etc.).
• Department representative on various National committee meetings on resourcing and operations.

External Operations

• Main client contact for a portfolio of clients – coordinating service delivery, maintaining client relationships, fee negotiation, etc.

People Management

• Rolling management of audit staff on assignments. Averaging 2-3 individuals per assignment with several assignments running simultaneously.
• Line manager for the Resource Administrator and 5-6 audit staff.
• Senior manager for management team consisting of manager, assistant manager and administrative assistant.

People Development

• Recruitment – graduate and qualified interviewing
• Counsellor – career counselling and ‘mentoring’ trainees within a company. Personal counselling for various issues (e.g. depression, relationship problems) on self employed and voluntary basis (adults and young people).
• Training – writing and running training courses on FSA and SAR audits. Running courses on basic IT and technical changes. On the job audit and accountancy training of staff.
• Developing the new role of Assistant Manager within our department.
• Ensuring managers’ development needs were met through client portfolio allocations.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2010 to 2011 Self employed, short term contracts and voluntary work whilst studying part time for a Physics Degree.
2008 to 2010 Rice Associates Ltd, Manager (accounts, audit, tax)
2005 to 2008 Self employed counsellor and coach (author of book on depression).
1997 to 2005 Ernst & Young London: Senior Manager (Audit/Internal Operations)
1991 to 1997 Wilder Coe, Audit Manager

QUALIFICATIONS

• ACA (1994) (Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.)
• Degree: Economic and Social History and Sociology 2:1, University of Birmingham (1990)
• Currently studying for Physical Science Degree with the Open University (expected completion 2012)
• Diploma in Gestalt Counselling (2006)
• Diploma in Life Coaching (2005)
• Four A levels (Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry) (1986)
• Eleven O levels (1983-1984)

OTHER SKILLS AND INTERESTS

• Day-to-day experience of Excel, Word, Vistopia, PerTax, SAGE, CorTax, Lotus Notes, MS Outlook, Quicken.
• Some experience of Audit Automation, MS Powerpoint, Caseware, Quick Books and MS Publisher.
• Working knowledge of HTML, website optimisation, google adwords/adsense, online social networking for business promotion.
• Basic French, driving licence.
• Currently studying for an Open University degree in Physical Science with an emphasis on astronomy/astrophysics. [Completed units- Astronomy, Planetary Science and the Search for Life, Mathmatical Methods and Models, Astrophysics, The Relativistic Universe].
• Member of Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue, Reading Astronomical Society, UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (Vice Chair and Projects Coordinator). Walking, swimming, astronomy/space sciences and science fiction.