An ACMA qualifed accounting professional with extensive FE Sector experience. Coming to the end of their current inteirm assignment, they will be avaialble in January 2023 for new contracts.

Sector Experience

Vice Principal Finance & Resources
West Midlands based College Group
Overseeing Finance, Facilities, HR, IT, MIS, Student Services and Reprographics

• Interim contract during the merger of several FE colleges to take the colleges through the Area Review and subsequent merger.
• Operating as a member of the senior team that improved the everyday aspects of the end-to-end finance process
• Responsible for the complete financial, legal, and resource side to the merger, liaising with the SFA , governors and the senior management team and the various financial and legal due diligence partners.
• Instigated a series of “Work Stream” meetings for the merger that were also adopted by the Curriculum side, and contributed towards a very smooth merger, in terms of systems and staff.
• Supported Principal and was the financial lead in negotiations with an Engineering company to setup joint venture of a Manufacturing Engineering Academy
• Assisted the new College Group with several projects such as their Corporate Risk Register and cascading that down into Departmental Risk Register.
   

Senior Management Accountant
Birmingham based College Group

• Employed to help stabilise a Managements Accounts section that had experienced high staff turnover and had been struggling to produce Budgets, Monthly budget holder reports and analysis and Project Accounting
• Over a 12-month period, stabilised the Managements Accounts team and ran an extensive training programme
• Developed new Budget Holder Reports using more suitable software which is more accurate and quicker to run.
• Completed the Colleges Finance Record, the Finance Risk Register and the Finance Dept SAR reducing the workload of the busy Head of Finance. 
• Advice provided was used to plan a restructuring of the Finance Function.

Executive Director of Finance
Midlands based College
Overseeing Finance, Facilities, IT, Catering and Reprographics
 

• Commenced at a busy period for the College that has experienced 4 years of rapid growth against the sector trend and demographic profile. 
• Provided different financial scenarios for, and assisted in, negotiations with Unions to end a strike by lecturers and introduce a 3 year pay deal which successfully ended the strike and brought stability to the college.
• Assisted in the development of the college’s internal systems both in my own areas such as Finance, Estates and Catering and by assisting the Director of MIS and the new HR Director, as the college has outgrown its existing internal systems due to such rapid growth.
• Re-established the implementation of the new finance system, Business World On, which had stalled 12 months previously, including organising a new presentation to the senior managers and creating a plan and timetable for full implementation.
• Integral role as part of negotiations with the bank, pension fund, ESFA funding body, and other stakeholders, following the decision for the College to merge with another College, which was successfully achieved
• Instrumental in negotiating a 3-year deal with the Borough Council for the college’s substantial High Needs contract, to support the students with EHCP, stressing the case to maintain the College’s high-quality provision
• Supervised the Capital Projects Manager in the Summer programme to provide 10 new classrooms within the existing building for a budget of £0.5m, successfully achieving this for under £450k despite having to relocate essential services such as the library.