My career journey, which has involved working for Operators in the oil and gas industry, started in July 1985, incredibly 40 years ago next year – OMG, that’s a very sobering opening line – not so much “No One Path”, more a “Long and Winding Road”, but I’ll try and keep it brief.

My first job was with Occidental Petroleum as a Placement Student with RGU (RGIT back then), where I did my Business Studies Degree. I learnt the first of many career lessons during interview for this position, before I’d even crossed their threshold, which was the importance of finding common ground with your colleagues. In 1985, I was interviewed by one of the Occidental Finance Managers, who like me, was a keen golfer. This led to a long and enlightening interview conversation (mainly about various golf courses we’d both played) and I have no shame in admitting, it was our shared passion of the game, and probably my single figure handicap, that led to the job offer.

Having completed my Placement Year, I returned to RGU for my final year, graduating in 1987. I obviously made a good impression during my placement as I was asked to rejoin the company as a contactor in October 1987, being made permanent, as a G&A Accountant, in July 1988. My first week as an employee with the company coincided with the Piper Alpha tragedy on 6 July 1988, which was an opening week I will never forget!

I continued with Occidental for a further 3 years, until 1991, when the company was taken over by Elf Enterprise Caledonia, a joint venture comprising Elf UK and Enterprise Oil.

During this early part of my career, I learnt my second key lesson – the importance of gaining a wide range of experience in your early career, to provide a solid foundation from which to progress onwards and upwards.

During my early career, I was very lucky to work alongside, and be mentored by, some exceptional individuals who worked in Occidental’s and Elf Enterprise’s Finance department. The importance of having role models, especially in the early part of your career was my next key lesson, and I was fortunate to have this in abundance, which I firmly believe set me up on the right path for what followed.

In 1992, while at Elf Enterprise, I was given my first leadership role, Joint Venture and Operations Accounting Supervisor, and two years later, I became one of the company’s Finance Managers. After a significant period of mixing work, studying, getting married and starting a family, I (finally) qualified as a member of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 1996. Next lesson I can pass on is the importance of gaining a recognized accounting qualification. It would’ve been easy for me to give up on my qualification, I was doing well and progressing, but luckily Sue, my wife saw the bigger picture and encouraged me to see it through. A decision that we have both reflected on positively many times since 1996.

In 1997, following Elf Enterprise outsourcing its Finance function, which wasn’t for me, I moved to Amerada Hess to lead their North Sea Asset Accounting team. I spent 7 years at Hess, which was another amazing place to work, full of incredible people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things in the industry and wider business.

During my time at Hess, I had various roles, the most memorable of which was leading a team tasked with redesigning the way the company undertook its transactional accounting and business support across Northwest Europe, covering UK, Norway and Denmark. This was when I learnt my next, and probably most valuable career lesson, the importance of influencing people to support your ideas, which I learnt can be more critical than coming up with the idea itself. That was the mistake I made, presenting my proposal to Hess’s senior management very early after being appointed, only to be told it wasn’t my job to simply come up with the strategy, but also to get buy in and support for it, which was significantly tougher!

In 2003, having worked through significant organizational change, which would eventually see Hess disappear from the North Sea and Aberdeen, I was extremely lucky to be offered the job of Finance Director at CNR International. I joined the company in April 2003 and over 21 years later, I’m still here, and still really enjoying being part of a fantastic team at CNR International.

In June 2022, I was promoted to be the company’s Managing Director & Vice President, Finance, which is the role I continue to fill at the present time.

That’s a tough one, thankfully because there are so many things I enjoy, as opposed to “I can’t think of anything”.

CNR International has the word “fun” in its Mission Statement, which often gets some attention. Fun, in the context of a company’s culture can mean many things to different people, but to me it’s recognition that you spend more time at work, and certainly thinking about work, than you do almost anything else, therefore it has to be something you enjoy and gets you out of bed in the morning. The culture and values of an organization are so important and ultimately what makes it fun.

We’re lucky at CNR International in that we have so many diverse and challenging projects and operations, covering the North Sea and West Africa. The company also has a hugely loyal and long-serving workforce of excellent people, who are fun to be around, very good at what they do, yet generally have a great sense of humility. Being around people who share my values is important, and makes my job as a leader all the more enjoyable.

I’d say the people, the activities and the culture and values of the organization are the things I most enjoy.

To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be an accountant (nor have I been an accountant in the traditional sense of the job description for about 20-25 years). It was really something that just happened or evolved, especially during my early career.

Through my teenage years, I was pretty decent at a number of sports, and while I would’ve loved to have forged a career as a professional footballer or golfer, I realized that I wouldn’t have made much of a living at either!

While at secondary school, I decided I wanted to be a Physical Education teacher, but was advised by Brenda Urquhart, a very astute Guidance teacher at Dyce Academy, that gaining access to Scotland’s only PE teaching college, Jordanhill, was extremely competitive, A Plan B was suggested - another key learning I still follow to this day, always have a back-up plan. This Plan B was RGIT and a Business Studies Degree. I went for the interview, really liked what I heard and saw and was fortunate to be offered a place. My aspirations of being a PE teacher soon diminished, becoming the new Plan B, and I was on the path to being an accountant!

I often read, or hear people say the role of the accountant will change to being more focused on decision support, and being less transaction focused, being more forward looking, more advisory and less looking in the rear view mirror. I believe this has been the case for a long time, but I still see this as a critical requirement for the profession going forward.

I also believe technology will change the way accountants work, but again that’s not new.

I think the traditional persona or perception of an accountant has changed significantly over the years and will continue to do so, and I believe individuals with an accounting background, provides them with the training and skills to leverage into being very effective business leaders.

I don’t think it changed how I personally view work, in terms of being motivated and driven, but it has definitely changed the way I work and my thoughts on different styles of working and the locations where work is carried out.

I remember the day before lockdown in 2020, I headed to John Lewis and invested in a conference phone and handheld land line phones for my house, and thought I was at the cutting edge! In 2020, I thought I was technologically astute, but I discovered very early during the first lockdown, that I was actually closer to being a luddite than a technophobe!

The discovery of Zoom, TEAMS and WebEx was a “game changer” for me (despite consistently falling foul to “you’re on mute, Barry” comment, even to this day). Not having access to a printer and having to rely on “soft” copies of documents, agendas and accounts to review was also something I struggled with initially during COVID. Lockdown also emphasized the importance of good communication, and how easy it had been to communicate when we all worked together in the office, something we took for granted. Adapting to new ways of working and communicating was critical and it still impresses me how adaptable and resilient our staff at CNR International were to make working from home a success.

One of the biggest changes I’ve managed to sustain post-lockdown and remote working is continuing to leverage technology to work completely paperless, using applications like Notability. For somebody who was pretty average from a technology perspective in 2020, I’m really proud to say I haven’t physically printed a document since March 2023!!

Lockdown also brought about the “working remotely v working in the office” debate (not sure I should reopen it here!), and it showed me that there are activities and tasks that can be efficiently executed in a quiet room, without distraction and that avoiding a long daily commute is definitely positive from a productivity, cost and mental health perspective. Equally, however there are circumstances where working together face to face, around a map or a whiteboard, can be exhilarating and hugely motivational, and frankly essential. I also saw first-hand during lockdown, how negative social isolation can be, especially for those at the start of their career, building the foundations for their careers ahead. I couldn’t have learnt so much, so quickly in the first 5 years of my career if I was working from home.

Based on my own experience, I’d say don’t always assume the grass is greener elsewhere. Equally and conversely, give consideration to opportunities that come your way. Take your time, talk to people who’s opinions you trust and respect, and (most importantly) get the facts before making any decision to change jobs.

I’m a great believer if you have the facts, you’ll always make the right decision (at the time the decision is made), so make sure you have the facts before you make your decision.

Changing jobs is a huge decision, take your time and make sure you have all the information (and facts) you need to make the decision - you owe it yourself.

Generally, for the most part, I’d say don’t change too much, as things have turned out pretty good!

A few things I would advise: (1) it’s never too early to build your network, it’ll stand you in good stead, probably opening more doors than “what you know” does ; (2) believe in yourself, trust your judgement and be confident to voice your view. Generally, provided you have those facts, you’ll be right more often than not; and (3) don’t be afraid to get things wrong, but make sure you learn from your mistakes and don’t repeat them.

This is a tough question and not something I have a clear answer for.

Given I’m definitely on “the back 9” of my career, I think professionally I’d like to keep doing what I’m doing as long as I’m having that “fun” I referred to. I’m very passionate about the work CNR International does in the local community, whether it be supporting charities or supporting those in the early part of their career, through our Student Placement and Scholarship programs, and am privileged to be in a position in an organization that supports this, so continuing to develop this is important to me.

From a personal perspective, when I do eventually retire, I want to continue to stay busy and active, but have more time for golf, our dog walks and family but without getting under Sue’s feet (my biggest fear about retiring) !!

As I’ve got older, I’ve tried to create a clear distinction between work life and home life, another lesson I learnt during lockdown and working from home. I haven’t always succeeded here!

Away from work, we have three boys. We love spending time with them and their partners. I also enjoy watching my two football passions – Aberdeen and Manchester City, playing golf (mainly in the summer) and I really enjoy walking with Sue and our two cocker spaniels – Archie and Harvey. Every year we holiday in the Lake District, taking in walks around the beautiful Pooley Bridge and Glenridding area, near Ullswater.

I’m also a Trustee at a number of local charities - Aberdeen FC Community Trust, Sportschallenge and Lifestars as well as being an Ambassador for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation, all of which I really enjoy, given my passion for supporting the third sector in our local community.

Back in the 1980s, I had a part-time job as a ”mobile” DJ, working various hotels in Aberdeen. I did this for 5 years during my time at university, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s definitely where I gained my eclectic taste in music, ranging from Muse to Kenny Rogers!!

The funniest thing that happened during my DJ “career” was a wedding at a local hotel, when I played the first dance of the night for the bride and groom. However, rather than playing Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” (I know, but it was 1986!), I mistakenly played the B-Side of the single…..…..D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

Luckily the newlyweds saw the funny side and I still got paid!!