What was your early career like?
I actually began my career in treasury long before I understood what treasury was. In the course of my earliest roles, for instance, I looked after the cash flow of two small entities, helping them to survive.
The first position was voluntary: I took over the role of running an orchestra in Edinburgh in what amounted to a turnaround situation. After that (and having earlier completed a master’s degree in hospitality management), I joined MatchPoint, the corporate hospitality and event management company. MatchPoint was founded by entrepreneur Neil Cunningham and at the time was selling hospitality for events such as Wimbledon, Royal Ascot and the Rugby World Cup – a contract Cunningham had won against all odds, forming a consortium and bidding successfully against giants such as Compass and Gardner Merchant. My role was to get on top of some fairly fundamental cash flow issues, and I expanded that into looking at creditors and building out the accounting and reporting, while also completing my CIMA studies.
When MatchPoint’s contract with the Rugby World Cup came to an end, I knew I wanted to do something bigger in finance. After putting my hat in the ring for a few roles, I found myself in Amsterdam at the former head office of Rothmans, which had recently merged with British American Tobacco (BAT). There I gained exposure to cash pooling, double taxation treaties, holding company structures and technology, with BAT being one of the first movers in implementing SAP Treasury, replacing four systems with one.
What was significant about that move and what did it lead to?
My experience with BAT in Amsterdam was critical and a big organisational and cultural change. It was my first proper exposure to continental Europe (until then I had been fairly UK-centric) and also my first exposure to a large treasury function (let alone a large global company). My treasury colleagues were very capable and passionate about their subject and very focused on being financially efficient. All this inspired me to specialise further. I completed my AMCT studies and moved to BAT’s treasury front office in London (after a stint at the back office in Southampton), where I found myself managing a global cash pool of up to GBP1bn and handling FX orders in the region of GBP100bn per annum.
My experiences in the front office not only brought greater exposure to cash pooling but also to technology, as I played a key role in the first implementation of an FX trading platform (FXall), implementing it within the front office and rolling it out internally. That roll-out produced great efficiencies across BAT’s FX dealing activities. The scale of netting opportunities between subsidiaries was massive, which meant the banks weren’t taking a spread on each deal. In addition, we also had straight-through processing from the FX platform into SAP, which produced significant time savings. These kinds of implementations are game-changing and freed up the dealing room in this case to shift into a much more strategic mindset, where it could offer much greater value to the organisation: advising on how to manage FX exposures rather than simply processing deal instructions.
Having weathered the storm of the global financial crisis in the dealing room, my final role at BAT was to implement a new version of SAP Treasury globally, alongside a revised medium-term cash-forecasting process, designed to answer those perennial CFO questions: how much cash have we got? What is our FX exposure?
You moved to Australia for family reasons in 2011. What experiences did that bring?
My first role there was as treasury operations manager at a metals company called OneSteel based in Sydney. There, I had a brief to upgrade the existing treasury management system, which I did. After that, I moved to a construction and facilities management conglomerate, UGL Ltd, as group treasury manager working on an acquisition and then subsequently a major divestment. These were both much smaller companies than I’d become used to, but I had moved into more senior roles and was working in very different industries and with much changed currency, interest rate, exchange rate and technology challenges. All of that provided a considerable challenge and a stimulating work environment. I then worked for Deloitte for a year – another significant move as I gained exposure to the world of consulting. Pitching for business was a very different discipline to those I was familiar with, but I found it an inspiring environment as I worked with some very capable people and had many learning opportunities. It must have had some effect on me, as I have continued to work in similar roles ever since.
Describe your current role and what you like about it.
I am back in the UK (I returned with my family in 2018), and my current role is focused on compiling the 13-week liquidity forecast for a distressed international outsourcing and construction company. The forecasts are then shared and discussed with each of the divisions and finally with investors. My role has evolved to cover liquidity improvement options – from raising additional finance to working capital optimisation. Working with distressed companies exposes you to all sorts of issues that you wouldn’t normally come across, which is an attraction. I also like the fact that I work closely with the CEO and CFO, as well as the business divisions, plus the investors and a specialist turnaround consultancy.
You’ve had a long involvement with The Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT).
Yes, since 2011 I’ve played a part contributing on the technical front and to the ACT’s study and exam set-up. I’ve assisted with the creation of case studies for advanced exams (I gained my MCT in 2009) and I’ve contributed to The Treasurer magazine, as well as to the ACT’s online Treasurer’s Wiki. But it is two-way – the ACT has also helped me.
What are the qualities and skills that you consider to be most important to a treasury role?