Natalie Moore ACMA’s Post

Disclosure: long post It’s you. There are rare moments in life where everything converges so perfectly it can only be described as magic. The last 6 months, my wife and I lived in the UK as I took an assignment with Compass UK&I to lead the largest acquisition they ever contemplated. From the moment we arrived to the moment we left, everything just worked. While I had been at Compass ~9 months by the time I started in Jan 2024, I was joining a new team based in the UK, in a new part of the business (for me) and new ways of working. My first question was, “what is D&T?” Digital and Technology was the answer (should probably have known that). My focus was to build trust. Trust in me, trust within the team and trust with our merging partners. It starts with Communication and includes commitment, competence, and caring - for each other and getting it right. The trust we have built allowed us to have the difficult conversations, celebrate wins and to be transparent, open and honest with each other when things go wrong. If you’ll allow me a bit of vanity, I am proud to have been able to share my project management skills and experience and champion the tools we needed like DealControl. What I am most proud of is to have had the opportunity to lead this team to this moment. It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I want to thank Robin Mills, Gareth Sharpe, Allister Richards and Nick Thomas for trusting me with the largest acquisition ever contemplated. I want to thank Paul Williams for his ownership, guidance, and dare I say friendship. And I want to thank each of my team members for embracing me, teaching me and - at times - allowing me to get grumpy. The work is not yet done, so I offer these words as you carry on - know the plan will change, you will learn things you didn't know and you will make mistakes. It is not those events that matter, it is how we react to it them that matters. Cheers

An inspiring start to 2024: last night we hosted an informal get together for 10 Chiefs of Staff over sharing plates, green juice and red wine to discuss the evolution of the role and share perspectives and war stories. What did we learn? Where do we start! ⚡️That while the responsibilities of the role vary widely between organisations, the idea that this person is a ‘force multiplier’ or even ‘ultimate activator’ is the common thread. ⚡️There is often the perception that the CoS is Robin to the CEO’s Batman, whereas the more accurate representation is that the roles are similar, simply with an external vs internal focus. ⚡️You play at least one of these parts at any given time: priest, teacher, parent, therapist. ⚡️There is a danger you become a lightning rod for everything happening within a business, but simultaneously this is an essential part of the job. ⚡️It is possible to lead without building a team - metrics around managing people do not need to be the only measure of success. ⚡️That the route you navigate to get to this role can be varied and includes accountancy, law, people / talent and the founder journey. ⚡️Once you get there, the most common career progression can take you to COO, but can also include GM and head of international expansion. ⚡️CoS share some of the same personality DNA: relentless desire to execute, common sense and the ability to join the dots. ⚡️Biggest challenges discussed over the table included optimising remote operations, solving toxic culture, restructuring and being boundaried when faced with the ‘constant ask’. ⚡️What are the essential superpowers for this role? Extreme resilience and the ability to be both brutally honest and incredibly diplomatic all at once. ⚡️In a number of instances, people had found themselves executing this core elements of the job way before officially assuming the job title, so had essentially fashioned the function from scratch. The conversation was enlightening and it feels like we only scratched the surface. Thanks to friends from Birdie, Divido, Griffin, HSBC, Olio, n Industries and Qwilt amongst others for joining us at Caravan - we're looking forward to building this community and holding more events so if you're a current or aspiring Chief of Staff, do get in touch.

Strategizing days at LAB Finance 🚀 For the first year, our primary focus at LAB Finance has been securing and delivering on client projects to secure a foundation to further build the Company from. Last month, we finally took a step back to prioritize our own development, dedicating two days away from client work to refine our strategy, sharpen our focus for the next six months, and align on our roles and responsibilities. Here is what we achieved during our strategy days; ✅ 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: We defined roles and responsibilities among the partners based on what energizes each of us, ensuring everyone is working what they do best. ✅ 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: We identified key areas for internal development, including a new bonus model, a structured approach for feedback and coaching, and plans for social events to strengthen our team culture. ✅ 𝐒𝐢𝐱-𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩: We made a clear and actionable strategy and roadmap for the next six months, for us to be aligned on what we want to achieve. We'll be sharing more details and updates soon.

When we left our finance careers behind us, back when it was just us 4 friends, we all agreed that some of the many values we had to share as a unit was organization 🗂, structure 🌆, and vision 🌟. We decided these were very important to our success as a group as it would make sure we all understand the common goal, that we always stay on track, and that we can keep ourselves and each other accountable. One of the tactics we used to support these values was a “Morning Call” at 7 AM, every weekday 🌅. It was a conference call amongst the 4 of us and we would take 10 mins to discuss ongoing matters and the objectives we had for the day ahead. Years later, and with 11 more team members, we still have a daily “Morning Call”. Except now, it’s at 9 AM, and in person at the office (yet, we still refer to it as our “Morning call”). We think of it like how sports teams have a quick scrum before jumping into the game 🏉. What do you think about this? Have you done anything similar in your career? Please share! 😊🙏

Every business wants to have the ‘Dream Team’ working for them. A group of talented individuals, working in unison to help grow the company. A team that love the business as much as the owner and work hard to help it achieve its potential. Every successful company is supported by a team like this, and this is a chance to tell the world why YOUR team are the dream team. A firm that knows a lot about dream teams is Forrester Boyd. One of the areas leading accounting firms Forrester Boyd put great store in nurturing ad developing teams of committed and motivated people which makes them the perfect sponsor for the A Team Award. The deadline for entry to this year's awards has now passed. I am delighted to say this has been our BIGGEST year yet with 135 entries from outstanding local businesses. Good luck to them all!

🎉📈 Celebrating my first month at 🇺🇦 Accountancy Action 🇺🇦 📈🎉 Wow, what a whirlwind it has been! Today marks my one-month anniversary at Accountancy Action, and I couldn't be more thrilled to share my journey with all of you. In this short span of time, I've successfully placed five talented individuals into new roles and survived the first of what I'm sure will be many team nights out at Hijingo Bingo which was an absolute vibe!. It's moments like these that truly solidify the bonds within our team and make coming to work each day an absolute pleasure. But it's not just about the work; it's also about finding that balance between professional fulfilment and personal happiness. I'm truly grateful for the work-life balance that 🇺🇦 Accountancy Action 🇺🇦 has afforded me. Gone are the days of long commutes on crowded trains and tubes or endless hours stuck on a train platform wondering 'will the train ever arrive on time?'. With the office just a mere 10-minute drive away, I've reclaimed precious time to enjoy the things that truly matter in life, whether it's spending time with loved ones, pursuing hobbies, or simply taking a moment to relax and recharge. Cheers to one month down and countless more to go! #AccountancyActionAnniversary #WorkLifeBalance #TeamGoals #accountancyaction #financerecruitment

Today, 1st April 2024, we entered into new financial year with lot of excitement, learnings, challenges, opportunities ahead so before we start this new FY, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all my seniors, management, colleagues, peers, teammates, customers, partners who have supported us throughout the year. Last FY 23-24, new product (SD-WAN) was introduced to us and team started learning and delivering amazing NXT with great Onboarding. We as team collaborated across multiple teams in the Organization like Product, Technical, Sales,Services, Marketing, Accounts, DE, SDK, SSO etc.. And I am very proud to see and thankful how all the teams supported us and worked towards company goals. We achieved great success together and all credits goes to the collaboration approach we took which we as team continue to this FY and achieve our Goal I would like to pen down few learnings which would help us to grow. 1. BE POSITIVE: Stay calm and positive during tough time and think towards goal (Remove small things from mind which stops us in achieving this) 2. ALWAYS CAN DO Approach: Challenges are Opportunities. Take all opportunities with broad mindset and carry can do approach. 3. COLLABORATION: Most powerful thing to succeed and achieve Organization goal. 4. EMPATHY Lead with empathy and help others whenever possible. 5. BOLDNESS Take bold decisions with courage. Learn Unlearn Relearn. 6. TEAM BONDING Must have for greater success. If team is having strong bonding & collaborated mindset, nothing is impossible to achieve. Once again, Wish you all the Best & have great successful year.

"Happy Monday, Fellow Accountants! As we start a new week, I know work can be hectic and demanding, so many assignments and deliverables, but remember that your giving your best is contributing your quota to help your organization grow and achieve it's objectives. Your attention to detail and expertise are very instrumental to the proper functioning of your work place. Keep crunching those numbers, balancing those books, and shining a light on financial clarity. Your work matters, and your precision is priceless. Let's make this week count, one ledger at a time! #MondayMotivation #accountants #newweek #AccountantsRock #FinancialExcellence"

IE teams were thrilled to celebrate our Senior Accountant, Jacqueline Lynch’s efforts this month! Jackie was our most recent #VivoAward winner. Congratulations! 🎉 We love recognising our teams as it sets the foundation for embedding our values. Our monthly peer-voted Vivo Award recognises team members who perfectly model IE's What Matters Most Statement! They include: 💡Act In Service Of Others 🙌🏽 Listen, Share, Align – Go! 🤸♂️Have The Courage To Make A Difference 🏅Innovate On The Foundation of Wisdom 💜 Leave it Better Than We Found It Jackie was nominated for ‘Act In Service Of Others’ and ‘Earn the Currency of Trust & Respect’. Her team had lots of praise for her contribution to making IE such an amazing place to work: “The finance function of any business worth its mettle is critical to its success. You have brought exceptional insight, clarity and advice and in doing so have established immense credibility and trust. I now find myself regularly asking myself ‘Have I asked Jackie about this’ before acting on something, and look forward to doing that more frequently!” “Jackie!! You're just a superstar so a bit shoutout to you. You manage to stay so calm and chill in amongst the chaos. I can see you constantly trying to improve our ways of working whilst also supporting and encouraging our biz services team to be our best selves.” “Jackie's insight and vibrant personality have truly shaped our team dynamic. Not only does she organise our finances with great attention to detail, but she also goes the extra mile in every aspect of her work. Additionally, she's always receptive to new ideas and excels at tackling pending and tedious tasks, such as managing our software subscriptions, assets reconciliation, and more :)” Well done, Jackie! 👏 #IE #Loveyourwork #EmployeeRecognition #Values #WhatMattersMost #EmployeeAward

Started working at Newedge finance exactly a year ago.In that one year I have laughed, been excited, learnt, questioned myself and grown. I am definitely so proud of who I have become.From working with customer experience :Quality assurance(auditing calls and social media interactions ), contact centre(making calls myself and answering customers first hand), to Projects , then to working with strategy and innovation (starting a branch from the scratch, organizing events and telling people first hand who we are as well as managing several projects). Working with diverse teams has helped me hone some of my skills and pick up new ones.Here are ten lessons I have learnt on this job that I would love to share:-Customers are king: They are the reason we do what we do and their needs and satisfaction is to be prioritized-Ask questions: Being inquisitive will do you a lot of good, it makes it easier for one to discharge their duties effectively-Never think of yourself as too small: You are enough and there is a reason you are currently where you are, so never think less of yourself-Continue to learn and develop yourself :The world is ever changing, read that book, take that course, and learn from your colleagues-Hold yourself accountable but never beat yourself up: You should take responsibility for your actions but while at that never dwell on your mistakes-The numbers matter: Use numbers to track your progress at work and to know where you are defaulting so you fix up-Always know when it is time to rest and recharge: You need to find balance and take regular breaks to avoid burnout-Be kind: Always ensure you leave people better than you met them and be empathetic.-Do your duties diligently: Always strive to do your duties diligently and respect everyone while at it-Collaborate: Team work makes the dream work, never isolate yourself from othersI am extremely grateful for my bosses Khafil Animashaun Daphne Akatugba who have given me an avenue to discover more about myself while working on several projects. My incredible managers at work whose leading and directions have made work easy, my incredible colleagues Felicia Alamu Adedolapo Aderoju and so many others for being the best colleagues one could ask for.Indeed this has been a journey, one of several highs and lows.Let’s see what the second year holds!🚀