Ok, this might take a while since it’s my whole career! I emerged with a degree of MA in Accountancy from the University of Aberdeen despite being more interested in playing sport than studying hard. As a result, a chartered accountancy training contract with a major firm was never in reach so my career began with a one-week temporary contract in the central finance function in Shell Expro a week after graduating. After several contract roll-overs, I was offered a permanent staff position in the management information team and then in the JV accounting team. Shell finance at that time was a large, sociable, diverse team made up of real characters who worked hard but also knew how to have fun. I began in a very junior administrative finance role where one of my jobs was to load the coloured pens into the gadget which drew onto acetates for the overhead projector presentations(I expect I’ve already confused the younger readers). However, I also had weekly one-to-one contact with the Expro Finance Director to deliver weekly field production volumes. I very quickly learned that the seemingly scariest people were really not to be feared. The young me was respectful to seniority, but wholly un-phased by rank, something that remains with me today.

After 4 years working whilst also studying for my CIMA qualification, I wanted to be a bigger cog in a smaller machine so I jumped from operator to contractor and joined AOC International, initially working as management accountant on the Shell Brent minicells project. Working with diverse characters in that finance team was very formative and contact with the organisation’s support and operations management teams was exactly the breadth of experience I was looking for. People seemed to think I had potential to continue to grow and I was promoted to head up the small management accounting team as well as supervising some of the finance transaction teams. When the company merged with Brown & Root / Halliburton / KBR, I took on a bigger UK Finance Manger role looking after a large pool of staff. I have had the great fortune to be blessed with some wonderful role models and mentors both personally and professionally, all of whom believed in me much more than I did at the time. Whilst I will name a couple here, there are more to whom I owe significant gratitude for sure. In late 2000, having decided to throttle back on my career aspirations the week after the birth of my first son, one such mentor, my finance boss and friend, the greatly missed Duncan Skinner, told me that whilst he applauded my plan, he was moving to another role in the business and that I was to replace him as Global Finance Manager. I really had not seen that coming but I trusted and respected the management team’s judgement and gave it my best shot. This was my first foray into managing remote global teams – long before the slick communication tools we have now. I drew on the management teams’ significant experience but also benefitted from the organisation’s heavy investment in staff development, specifically formal training programmes for senior management in self-awareness, intentionality and behavioural psychology. I was being stretched by another mentor and friend, Doug Duguid, who encouraged / demanded that I contribute more to his management team, not just in my financial field, but anywhere within the business where I felt I had something to offer. This was massively energising and shaped the person I am today.

The story then repeats – from the colossus of Halliburton / KBR on to the smaller, growing organization of PSL Energy Services as number two the FD. After being closely involved in the process of that business being sold to Halliburton, I had a short spell as Finance Director at activpayroll before joining up with the former PSL directors at the very beginnings of the EnerMech journey. After much blood, sweat and tears, with many laughs and a number of challenges overcome along the way during an 11-year spell, EnerMech was also sold and I saw the time as right to move on.

A very short CFO spell was followed by joining Peterson Energy Logistics during COVID lockdown in July 2020.

In early 2023, I decided to attempt retirement and subsequently retired from my Finance Director role at the end of November 2023.

There are two things that stand out. Absolutely top of my list has been the opportunity to participate and contribute. I was once told in a senior management meeting to stop waiting until everyone else had finished speaking to say my piece because I had a habit of being concise, measured and insightful so we would save lots of time if I just piped up earlier! My management roles have afforded me a position from which to be able to speak freely and openly (and not just about financial matters). Latterly, this has been in board rooms where difficult topics have to be addressed and the opportunity to speak openly is essential, as is the necessity to listen. I believe I have always encouraged my staff and my peers to say what they think without fear. It’s what allows organisations to succeed and not be railroaded by singular, closed thinking. I do collect phrases and love “there’s no monopoly on good ideas” as well as “if the board all agree with each other, you have the wrong board”. Ideas are welcome and disagreement / challenge is both healthy and necessary. As I gathered confidence through my career, “telling it like it is” and saying exactly what I thought became easier and more welcomed (mostly).

A very close second is that, for the most part, the best performing teams I have been part of enjoyed having fun, trusted each other and people were not afraid to show vulnerability. Despite not necessarily being a ‘people person’, I did enjoy the wide mix of characters within my working environment, even those few with whom I did not always see eye to eye. Work has always been demanding, sometimes exasperating and often exhausting (standards often demanded mostly by myself and not always by tyrannical bosses), but there was always time to have fun and use laughter as the safety valve. I should also say that some of that ‘fun’ and enjoyment was only obvious after time had passed.

Growing up I always wanted to be a pilot, with a fascination for military fast jets. However, other than a spell in the Air Training Corps as a teenager I never pursued it seriously. My excuse is that I’m too tall for ejector seats anyway.

I’ve always been pretty numerate and at school my main interest (outside of sport) was Physics with Maths coming a close second. I loved working in my dad’s business in the holidays helping build electrical control panels and test valves, so quite why I plumped for an accountancy degree still baffles me.

I’ve never been particularly comfortable with the term “accountant” being used generically as the field is just so wide. I do see a function that will continue to adapt to new methods of transaction capture, monitoring, reporting, forecasting and analysis as technology provides ever more efficient mechanisms to perform both the routine and not so routine.

However, I firmly believe that the role of accountancy professionals will remain rooted to the same basic skillsets that have always underpinned the profession in order to ensure consistency and accuracy such that financial information remains reliable. The jobs will adapt to focus on adding value in order to keep up with the inevitable progress technology will bring.

Stakeholders, be they external or internal, will always demand more depth of information in a faster and more reliable manner.

The accountant’s role will continue to be to ensure that the messages within the numbers can be relied upon and communicated appropriately to ensure business decisions are based on the best available information.

I don’t actually think the pandemic changed how I view work at all. I’ve always demanded much of myself (that didn’t change) and I always knew that I needed contact with my co-workers in order to get the best of myself. Whilst the enforced solitude of the pandemic was often great for task completion, the lack of work-related social contact only served to reinforce my view that face to face is supremely important, especially for young developing staff. For office-based workers, many eyes were opened to how ways of working could adapt efficiently to allow tasks to be performed.

However, development and learning, both professional and social, are not best served in a virtual environment. Humans have roles to play in a societal environment. This is not best served by working alone believing contact through a screen, dictated by a calendar, is any form of progress. The informal side discussions that take place spontaneously are an essential part of a good working environment and healthy culture.

Firstly, talk honestly to your existing employer. Be open with them about your reasons for considering a change. What do you have to lose? The employer employee relationship must be right for both and sometimes things need to be clarified or reset. Give your employer an opportunity to understand how you feel. This is especially important if you feel stifled, under-valued or overlooked. Most employers are not very good mind readers so don’t assume that your goals, aspirations or frustrations are obvious. It’s a shame when the time invested between employee and employer ends abruptly without giving each the opportunity to do something mutually beneficial.

Secondly, make sure any opportunities you consider match your authentic self. Do not make the mistake of chasing the role or “step up” that you believe you feel you ought to based on other people’s expectations. There is no one path (see what I did there?) to success and no one measure of what success looks like. Making sure your strengths and aspirations align with both the organisation and the role you perform is the key to personal success and career growth. You will shine best when you are engaged and aligned.

This one is easy, if a little long.

Be yourself, chase happiness and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you feel you need it. Realise that everyone is winging it to one degree or another so don’t measure yourself against anyone else as you don’t know their whole story nor how authentic they are.

Speak up, be brave about being honest and don’t be afraid to show vulnerability. As far as we’re aware, none of us has been here before, so enjoy the journey and be open to learn constantly.

Without turning this into a self-therapy session, I know I spent many years where what I allowed the outside world to see was not truly the real me and that has been quite a conflict to carry and resolve internally. I may have hidden that and carried myself quite well, but it’s not a great recipe for happiness.

Do what you’re best at, just be yourself and if people don’t like it, tough!

It’s a great question. I’ve never really been driven by goal setting or by chasing achievements although I’m proud of my career achievements. My current most used phrase is that “my plan is not to have a plan” and I’d like to think that will bring me, my wife, family and friends increased happiness and fulfilment.

If I have any distinct goals now, they are simply to be present and enjoy the moment. Without wanting to sound like a beauty contestant, I’d like to bring happiness to others and use my skills and personality to somehow benefit others – I’m working on how that might manifest itself, without directly having a plan!

I’ve never been great at sitting still (apart from when engrossed in a particularly complex spreadsheet) although I can sit for hours enjoying good food, wine and whisky in good company, especially if that company is my family. I love to cook but anything that gets me up and active outdoors has been a great release. I have a horribly competitive streak which I’ve managed to reign in such that I now only compete with my own high standards although I do continue to try and be annoyingly competent at sports. I’m a keen golfer and skier. In summer, if it requires petrol driven equipment such as a chainsaw, hedge-trimmer or lawnmower then I’ll happily do some gardening although it has been described more as “destruction”.

This is a tough one. I love pretty much all genres of music, although I do draw the line at musical theatre, but I’ve never been able to pin down who or what would be my favourite. I detest radio adverts and proudly cling to my youth by still having Radio 1 as my radio station of choice in the car. I refuse to move to the dark side of Radio 2 although I have been known to listen the Archers on Radio 4 if gently cajoled. Have I just lost my youthfulness by pointing out that I rarely stream music in the car and still listen to the wireless...?