I knew when I started my training that I wanted to work in industry rather than private practice, so the range of subjects the ACCA Qualification covers made it the natural choice for me.
During the training and since I've had quite a breadth of commercial experience, working for a leasing company, a large hotel and leisure group and I've spent the past 14 years at Wolverhampton Wanderers football club.
Wolves is as complex as any other multi-million pound business and as Financial Controller I get involved in every aspect - financial, strategic, commercial and operational. In today's football clubs, more than half our turnover is generated by the non-football side of the business - things like the health & fitness club and the conference and banqueting business. That makes life much more interesting for me as an accountant, but it also means your financial systems have to be watertight.
When I arrived, things were pretty basic so I've spent a lot of time modernising the accounting systems and putting financial disciplines in place. I've introduced things like variance analysis reports and detailed forecasting models so we have a much clearer picture of where we are.
I think the biggest advantage of having the ACCA Qualification is that it helps me to see finance as an integral part of the business rather than simply a product of it. So even if I'm engrossed in a game at the stadium, I'll also be looking at the size of the crowd and mentally totting up the gate receipts.
