Introducing our new FD Interview Series: Insights from Finance Leaders

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Finance Director (FD) Interview Series. Partnering with RSM UK, a prominent tax and consulting adviser, Headstar has started this video initiative to delve deeper into the experiences and insights of seasoned finance professionals across the UK.

For over a year, Headstar has been working alongside RSM UK, organising and promoting a number of Industry Finance Connect interactive workshops and events. Now, we are excited to take this collaboration further with our new FD Interview Series, aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding of the finance landscape through candid conversations with industry experts.

Led by Alex Law, Senior Consultant at Headstar, and Daniel Cossins, Associate Director at RSM UK, these interviews promise to offer valuable insights into the journey, challenges, and successes of finance directors. Our first instalment features Andy Thomson, Finance Director at Interior Goods Direct Limited, in conversation with Alex Law.

This first interview is split into three parts, and in this part one video, Andy Thomson shares his thoughts on career progression, reflecting on key breakthroughs and pivotal moments that have shaped his journey.

Click on the link below to watch the video and stay tuned for parts two and three, focusing on looking ahead and personal development.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and LinkedIn channel to stay updated on the latest releases from the FD Interview Series.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Alex: I’m Alex Law, I’m a Senior Consultant here at Headstar. We’re a specialist finance consultancy. We’re able to run by FDs, give us some real insight into what makes the finance world tick. We’ve been partnering with RSM for around a year or so now on industry kind of select events. And we’ve expanded this now into interviewing series of really experienced finance professionals across Yorkshire to understand their background, what makes them tick.

Danny: So I’m Danny Cossins from RSM Leeds Office, working in the Financial Reporting team. Industry Finance Connect is RSMs professional network for like-minded individuals looking to develop their personal, professional, and technical skills. So the network was set up in 2023 and since then we’ve run a number of interactive workshops on a number of different areas.

Alex:  So here we are interviewing Andy Thomson for our series of FD interviews. And so, I’ll just have Andy introduce himself.

Andy: Hi, I’m Andy Thomson. I’m the FD at Interior Goods Direct.

Alex: So, what opportunities have you taken outside of the business as usual that you think helped your progression to FD?

Andy: I guess from a people side of things, it’s volunteering for things like mentoring. When I was at Lloyds Bank, volunteering to be become part of the site leadership and be a bit of a site leader for other finance teams that didn’t report into me. And also, you know, volunteering for a lot of committees that may be involved in different things like the diversity of colleagues and things like that. So it’s just branching out from a people point of view. But I guess technically as well, I think volunteering for projects, being involved in integrations of businesses where that was my choice. It was a stretch to my current role, but every opportunity I’ve taken as a learning and I’ve come out from the other side of it having learned a lot more integrating non-finance business functions. You learn a lot more, so then when you’re looking from a finance point of view, you understand those areas. And also, yeah, just I think volunteering for, yeah, the projects.

Alex:  Looking back, is there anything you would do differently?

Andy: I think in terms of my career, I did move from financial services into manufacturing and distribution businesses within Yorkshire. I guess looking back, I don’t want to discount all the great experiences I had in financial services, but probably would’ve made that move earlier. It wasn’t an easy move trying to move across industries and demonstrate that you’re proficient and could translate it across, but it was something that I did manage to do, but wish, maybe I’d done it a little bit earlier.

Alex:  What do you think are the best three pieces of advice that you’ve learned over your career that you’ve passed on to your team?

Andy: In terms of wanting to progress your career, one thing that I really had desire to move out to financial services. I did learn a lot within financial services within the company I was in, but really felt like I wanted to get into the Yorkshire traditional industries of distribution and manufacturing. So, I think I’d say to people, my team, if you’ve got a dream that you want to get to do, persevere with it. One day if you keep trying, doors may be closed on you, but still keep knocking on other doors to try and progress that opportunity and persevere, because like for me it did happen eventually. I guess the other piece of advice would be when people are producing data and in finance you do produce a lot of outputs and lots of analysis, a lot of management information, would be to work with the people that are requesting that information to ask why. You can often get to a better output. You can understand the business a bit better yourself. So not only produce better outputs for that piece of work, but you’ve got a greater understanding of the business. You built a relationship with the person that you’re working with and that next time you’ll probably produce a better piece of work as well. So that’s making the connections, building the relationships, aligning with the other parties, and producing some great outputs. I would also say I’ve experienced quite a bit of change in my career. Either my choice or imposed in a business restructure. I would say that I’ve viewed change as good. Often new roles, promotions have come out of those changes either immediately or quite quickly afterwards. So, it’s being flexible, embracing the change, getting over that change curve quite quickly, and looking for the opportunities in that landscape after the change.

Alex: How have you found the transition from big business to SME?

Andy: It was something I definitely wanted moving away from Lloyd’s Bank to a smaller business. In some respects, it’s great. It’s a lot nimbler. There’s less people to involve. There are lots of committees in big businesses, but on the other hand, I did feel a big business, if you’re in the right business unit, it can be a great training ground. You’re working with a small management team. So, it wasn’t wasted experience translating that into a small business, smaller business, I guess there’s more autonomy, but there’s also more pressure. You’re the one having to make the decisions. There’s no divisional boss to go and ask. There’s no other person. So, it’s kind of using your peer network and I’m just thinking, using those experiences to make the best decisions and sometimes knowing that those decisions may not be the right ones and learning from them. So, I found it a good journey. I prefer it where I am now than from in the big business.

Alex: What has been the biggest turning point or key breakthrough of your career to date?

Andy: I mentioned before moving from financial services into manufacturing. I think for me that was the big turning point. Got a lot of good experience in financial services but just didn’t feel right being there, wanted to be more involved in the more traditional Yorkshire industries, distribution, manufacturing, and I think it took me a couple of years to find the right role. So slightly frustrating, but when I did, you know, never really looked back, really enjoyed it. And every opportunity I might speak to recruiters, it was no. Even though I’ve got a lot of FS experience, I want to look forward into more distribution, more manufacturing businesses.

Alex: How has your role with FDA evolved over time?

Andy: I guess it’s, for me it’s taken place and the roles have evolved, the businesses I’ve been in have evolved rather than sticking in one place and the role evolving. I’ve been lucky enough to go into kind of a more FD role that was commercially focused initially that, you know, allowed me to speak to all the marketing, the commercial teams being involved in the strategy of the business, and then being involved in number one finance roles in smaller businesses, getting a bit more experience of the day-to-day, the payroll, the VAT, the really fun stuff of finance. But it’s good grounding then in a slightly bigger business doing the all-round role. And, but I guess over time I found maybe I’ve become more confident in the role. Initially you feel like finance is told at the end of a decision-making point of view, whereas I think by asking those questions, by being involved, you get involved a lot earlier and that’s more rewarding because you feel like you’re part of the decision, not just evaluating it at the end.