Building confidence

2002’s Accounting Technician of the Year, Becky Brabrook, believes awards like hers help people to understand the value of the finance function

The night Becky Brabrook went walking with dinosaurs was a crowning moment for her, for her organisation and for the AAT. On 6 November 2002, she was named Accounting Technician of the Year at a dinner at the Natural History Museum in London and celebrated her success in company with other prizewinning finance professionals, friends, colleagues and a 150-million year old Diplodocus.

Brabrook was one of three AAT members to be shortlisted for the award - one of the Accountancy Age Awards for Excellence. She is in charge of the accounting function at Office Ours Recruitment, a two-branch agency based in Woking in Surrey, and was put up for the award by her colleagues in recognition of the support she gives the business. The judges saw how she has transformed her role, which at first was purely administrative, into a proactive in-house accounting service; one remarked that she has become "quasi-financial director" of the agency.

Since November, Brabrook has had time to reflect on her achievement, and believes that awards like this are important because they increase people’s confidence in finance departments in general and in accounting technicians in particular.

One of the reasons - more than likely - why the Accountancy Age awards judges so admired Brabrook was that she has done a great deal to help her employers to understand what she does and what she can contribute to their business, and to build trust between finance and everyone else. Her delight at being this year’s winner must be matched by the satisfaction of having been nominated by her employers, who clearly think the world of her.

"I was really pleased, obviously, to win it," says Brabrook. "I didn’t know I’d been nominated until I got the letter from Accountancy Age to say I’d been shortlisted. I was nominated by my employers… they came to the awards ceremony and were as excited as me, if not more!"

She has happy memories of the awards ceremony - the Museum looked gorgeous, she says, and her nerves were rewarded with an excellent surprise. She explains: "I was very nervous. I wasn’t aware I had won - I knew I was shortlisted with two other people. I have to say that when I read about the other people, I honestly didn’t think that I would win, but looking back, we all had different strengths in different areas."

Brabrook says winning came as a wonderful, but disconcerting, surprise: "I don’t remember much about receiving the award but I know I had a massive smile on my face! The rest of the evening was overwhelming - more relaxed but still… it didn’t sink in until I came back to work."

Brabrook has worked at Office Ours for almost three years now. She started her career at NatWest Bank, as a grade one clerk processing cheques and other transactions in the machine room ("everything was quite manual then," she says). She moved on to cashiering at NatWest, then joined the finance department of a software company, Lotus Development. She stayed at Lotus for five years, until 1998. That year, she took a job at March Personnel, a recruitment consultancy, like her current employer.

Although she has stayed in the industry ever since, Brabrook says that did not set out to work for recruiters. "It was not particularly the industry, it was the job. Lotus was a very large company and I wanted to get a broader knowledge of accounts - [March Personnel] was a smaller company so I did all the different functions."

Brabrook joined Office Ours in 2000, only a week or two after starting the AAT qualification. She says: "I had thought about starting with the AAT for many years. I think probably my personal situation stopped me going for it before - I am married with a family, so it was just a matter of finding time to do it.

"I started at Intermediate stage because I had been working in finance for seven years and did have a lot of accounting work experience. I did the first year through home study… doing it that way was ok but probably not the most suitable thing for me because I was very much on my own - you have a personal tutor but it is nice to have someone in the classroom to talk to." Brabrook knew Technician stage would be harder, so decided to pursue it at college and was allowed some time off to attend by her employers.

Brabrook completed the two necessary stages in one year and qualified in 2001, an estimable achievement for someone who at the same time was reinventing her job. She believes that her experience helped: "I had a basic understanding of accountancy from working at another recruitment agency prior to starting [here]… what I learnt there helped me when I went to do AAT."

And in turn, the qualification began to help with the job. "I learnt so much more by doing AAT and it has really helped me in my job… and in areas I didn’t really know about before." She says it was particularly helpful to take carefully-chosen Technician options - personal tax and business tax, cash management and credit control - which would most relate to the job.

Brabrook continues to do more and more for her company as time goes on, and as she learns more. "When I started here they used the services of external accountants quite a lot and had someone part-time to do payroll and sales invoicing. They wanted someone who could do more of the accounts so… I developed the job.

"I now do a job that would be similar to a Financial Controller’s - control the whole area of accounts here including producing monthly management accounts and meeting with the Board of Directors on a monthly basis to review them.

"I work very closely with the branches and the consultants. I am in the process of training one of the directors, because I need cover for my job and… a part-time member of the finance department, who didn’t have any finance experience, on the payroll side and sales ledger side. Now she can cover for me - I can take a holiday! I am also doing other training with my manager because she needs to be aware of what I do."

Building awareness of what finance does is one of Brabrook’s biggest concerns. The fact that colleagues nominated her for the Accounting Technician of the Year award is one sign that she is earning recognition for accounts, but communicating with colleagues has also gained her more practical advantages.

"Because they have confidence in me and know that I am asking them for information because I need it and appreciate that I do have to work to tight deadlines - they’re always willing to help me if I have a query.

"Right from the beginning if we have a new consultant, I go through all the finance issues that relate to their job. That’s really important."

"I do feel very strongly about other people in the company having confidence in the finance department and the fact it does add value to the company. I want to give a good impression."

Brabrook goes on to encourage others to be involved in events like the Accountancy Age awards: "I would definitely recommend nominating or being nominated, because of how I felt and because it just shows your employers recognise the work that you do and that the finance department does add value to the company - the back office finance role doesn’t always seem to get the recognition."

With awards, there is also a certain amount of external publicity, which is a boost to the organisation as well as the individual. Brabrook’s story has appeared in Team (the newsletter of the Employment Agents’ Movement) and local newspapers, most notably on the front page of the Woking News & Mail, as spotted by her six-year old son - with great pride - in Sainsbury’s.

Brabrook concludes: "The award made me feel like I’d achieved something. It’s really nice and… although it is nerve-wracking, the evening is a great experience." Recognition indeed for our winner, and for all accounting technicians.

Curriculum Vitae

1988 - 1993 NatWest Bank

Brabrook joined NatWest as a grade one clerk and later became a cashier.

1993 - 1998 Lotus Development

Brabrook’s move into the finance department came when she joined this software company, which is based in Surrey.

1998 - 2000 March Personnel

"Lotus was a very large company and I wanted to get a broader knowledge of accounts - [March Personnel] was a smaller company so I did all the different functions."

2000 - present Office Ours Recruitment

Brabrook is Finance Controller for Office Ours Recruitment in Woking.

AT, February 2003, page 18-20

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