Why have you written this website?
Where are you prepared to work?
What sort of work do you prefer to do and why?
What has been your most satisfying assignment?
What international experience do you have?
Will you take on part-time contracts?
What is the shortest and longest term contract that you are prepared to take?
I need a person that has experience of my industry sector, but you don't have any.
Why have you written this website?
An applicant for work uses their curriculum vitae, or CV, to sell their skills, qualifications and experience to a prospective employer. That is the case for an interim manager as well as for those seeking permanent work. As a selling tool, the CV is good for permanent work applicants, but for an interim, they accumulate a significant amount of experience across a number of different roles that last a short time. The result is a CV that goes on for several more pages than the prospective employer has time for. By using the internet, not only can I make my detailed experience more widely available, but I can allow a prospective employer to identify the specific skillsets that is required for a job and identify quickly the extent to which I can provide those skills. This is why I have structured the home page to ask "who are you and want do you want?".
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The word "interim" is being fuzzied by people as some are calling themselves interim whereas in fact they are somly temps. The distinguishing features of an interim are outlined in my paper on this site What Is Interim Management?
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Unlike operational skills, the skill of a finance officer is transferrable between different sectors as I think this website demonstrates. Chronologically, this website shows that the public sector has benefited from my experience with the private sector, however the public sector has different strategic demands to the private sector. The key demand is stakeholder analysis, where those in the public sector are firstly more complex, second more numerous and third the balance of power between competing stakeholders is much more balanced than in the private sector:
the public sector has two customer groups - those that fund public services and those that receive public services. These may conflict where, for example, a service becomes increasingly expensive to provide (say due to aging population) and the taxpayer is less willing to fund it. The private sector has just one customer group that is very powerful - the need for the organisation to satisfy that customer group.
although the public sector has no shareholders, it has a political class instead, which will argue about the principles and delivery of the objectives of the organisation. Imagine a private sector organisation whose shareholders are aligned in ways in which Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats and others are aligned in, say, local government - it would not last long.
the public sector has a further stakeholder that needs to be managed to a different degree to the private sector: the Press. Clearly the larger the private sector organisation, the more likely it will need to consider the press as a stakeholder, but in the public sector, it is always a consideration.
the two stakeholder groups of management and staff are different in the public sector, and this leads to a different management style. To an extent, people work in the public sector (and particularly so in the charity sector) for altruistic reasons - something that is not at all relevant in the private sector. This has implications for reward packages, motivation, coaching and leadership.
the altruism of the previous point can skew organisational structure in the public sector. The intense focus on public service and its delivery can lead to finance becoming a secondary consideration, it may lead to poor or ineffective internal controls and in turn, may impact on the economic, efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. In the public sector, finance may be unimportant but a turnaround strategy in a public body needs to focus on finance.
there is increased capacity for using benchmarking as a strategic performance measurement tool in public bodies, particularly in local government. Since there is no profit motive, the publication of efficiency and effectiveness measures is not a commercial secret.
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Where are you prepared to work?
This site has a map of the area in which I prefer to work. However, I may be flexible around this area if the employer is prepared to fund the expense of living locally during the week (a Travel Lodge does fine).
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What sort of work do you prefer to do and why?
As usual, there are two reasons for work - money and enjoyment. If we focus on the latter component, all job satisfaction is derived from the closeness that an employee has with their customer. For a finance interim, this is particularly close compared to permanent finance staff. Then, job satisfaction comes from being able to do a good job or "adding value"; in my case, a good example would be SMF Displays where my efforts contributed significantly to the survival of this business ot this day. Finally, a good job is one where as many of my skills as possible can be used to achieve that value added element. Again, using SMF Displays as an example, to sort out a computer problem, to identify the cause of some commercial issues in both procurement and sales, strategic planning, using that strategic plan to negotiate funding, staff motivation in difficult circumstances, improve management reporting and handling a particularly difficult audit relationship.
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What has been your most satisfying assignment?
SMF Displays. This job drew on almost all skills (sorting out a computer, maximising working capital, improving financial reporting, strategic planning and financial modelling and dealing with the associated audit of this, raising retail bank finance, sorting out the commercial reasons for losing money, some company secretarial work and handling the auditor relationship under very difficult circumstances). What's really great about the role was the ultimate "value added": the business is still going today when in 2001 things were extremely sticky.
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What international experience do you have?
I haven't worked an assignment abroad yet, however I have worked in the US with Ultralife (which is a US-owned company and required quarterly visits) and Automatic Minibars which had a US operation for which I was responsible. Both imports and exports were transacted at Interconnect, Ultralife and Automatic Minibars, so I have experience of transacting foreign currencies, completing Intrastat forms and ensuring that letters of credit have been adhered to (both as a buyer and as a seller). At TTML, I set up VAT registrations in the Netherlands, France, Spain and Ireland and organised leasing of capital equipment in these countries and for Ultralife, I set up forward currency buying.
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Will you take on part-time contracts?
The answer to that question needs to be made on merit. In the past, I have carried out two assignments at one time, but the consent of the two clients needs to be taken.
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What is the shortest and longest term contract that you are prepared to take?
If I'm immediately available, I will take on an assignment of any length of up to 24 months. If an assignment lasts for more than 24 months, my tax position becomes compromised. An assignment lasting for more than this time cannot really be called an interim assignment; if a client has a requirement for this amount of time, a permanent appointment should be considered.
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I need a person that has experience of my industry sector, but you don't have any.
This question is usually posed by organisations in financial services, the NHS, media, property and one or two other sectors. it is usually based on a need to understand a topic specific to that industry, such as filling in FSA forms or adhering to Solicitors Accounting Rules or US GAAP. My CV is full of situations that I have not faced before, and which I have successfully addressed.
Although technical accounting is one reason behind this, another is understanding the business itself. To answer this, I have graduated my MBA and this provides me with the tools that are needed to understand the structure, culture, resources and capabilities of an organisation and how these are garnered in order to meet the competitive structure of the organisation's industry (its customers, suppliers, competitors, alternative products, marketing strategy, R&D strategy, manufacturing strategy etc). For example, I prepared Biovite's business plan and sale document after 12 hours of discussions with the owners, having never before had anything to do with a nutraceutical business (yes, what's that?!?)
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I've left this till last as it ties in many of the points that are answered above; it depends on the following points:
Importantly, the rate is not as much as a consultant.
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