James' LinkedIn profile

I became an accountant by accident. Even though I studied business and information studies A-levels, which I thoroughly enjoyed, my initial plan was to pursue music. However, my placement to study at a performing arts school fell through. I decided on a gap year and started work as a temp in the finance function of a fashion company. After 10 months, I applied for a trainee accountant position in a medium-sized practice, which included full ACCA study support. The rest is history.

I became an ACCA member in 2007. After three years of contracting, I’d saved enough to be able to take a sabbatical to study music and eventually achieved a songwriting diploma. On returning to the corporate world, I viewed the finance function through fresh eyes. Business models were changing to adapt to an increasingly digital and data-driven world, but the finance function was operating as it always had. I resumed contracting, targeting finance transformation projects, as I could see that all businesses would need to address this in the future.

There has been a huge drive in the application of automation tools to reduce processing tasks in finance. I now help clients redirect the resulting available capacity to strategic advisory activities within the organisation.

My clients adapted well to the virtual world created by the pandemic. There was a togetherness, resilience and increased awareness of how others were coping. Ultimately, mindsets and the adoption of change aligned almost overnight. I believe that’s because the problem impacted everyone at the same time – everyone was part of the journey from the start and everyone felt a part of the solution. A lot can be learnt from this, and it supports my take on a successful transformation approach. New processes and technology are enablers, but people are the solution.

I am very creative and enjoy abstract painting as well as songwriting but, being an accountant, I’m also very analytical and methodical. I guess it’s expected that brains must be either left- or right-side dominant. Despite this, research has shown that people tend to favour making decisions based on gut feelings and emotions as opposed to logic and reason.

I’ve found the story-creation aspect of songwriting very effective when trying to explain complex things or influence others in a corporate context with data. People hear statistics but feel stories. I believe accountants need to be able to work better with ambiguity, in an agile manner, and appreciate the value of data and technology.

I’m a mentor on the ACCA Mentoring Programme. It’s something I recommend to both members and students because it provides direct insight into the challenges mentees face and their perspectives. A mentor can offer guidance on how to overcome such challenges and help navigate a path to achieving objectives. I think it is important to remain curious, to continue developing and to take the time to look at how things are done outside your own profession and industry.