Andrew Leeming

Background

About Andrew Leeming

I cannot understand how anyone as imaginative as you ended up in accountancy”, said a former colleague who had known me as an innovative scientist in a world-class company. We had worked together improving fire safety in electrical cables for the London Underground and Royal Navy ships (the Grenfell Tower fire should never have happened). This work may be in cables at CERN and in the Hong Kong Mass Transit system. As manufacturing declined I adapted to changing times by re-training, passing the ACCA chartered accountancy exams by self-tuition. The explanation to how imagination is useful in accountancy and business is provided by an objective psychometric test, which was conducted by a major industrial group during an interview process. The skills of analysis and investigation that are vital in science and business accounting, when complemented by creativity and imagination, make me an accomplished problem solver. Firstly, by analysing a situation, investigating, asking questions, listening to the answers, I can imagine a better, more effective way to do things. Met with an obstacle, a business problem, I can create a way around it, or over it, or under it. Naturally, not all problems have solutions, for the past can be a closed trap for both minds and ideas. The imagination also tests the design of the solution before implementation: is this practical? will it be accepted? will it stand the test of time? Being imaginative means that you can see situations from another’s perspective, how they think, which may help to persuade them to accept other views. As a sales manager in the international business of the chemical industry, I was once responsible for £15 million of annual sales, having to understand how people thought, from the factory floor to managing directors. In summary, after coping successfully with these immense changes in society and work, I am now a multilingual management accountant and analyst of financial data, having been recently the Finance Manager of a prominent arts charity. In management accounting or financial analysis, I would like to be able to use my IT and commercial skills to help a growing business to improve processes and performance, and also to support the organisation's strategy and decision-making. I can offer an ability to draw the best out of a team, together with solving business problems, investigation skills and an ethos of providing excellent service to colleagues and customers. My aim initially in re-training in accountancy was to use my new technical and IT skills to help to improve a business.