Meet Laura Wilding, Management Accountant at the SCQF Partnership

What is your role within the SCQFP?

I am the Management Accountant at the SCQF Partnership. I put together the Management Accounts for the CEO, the Board and the Audit & Risk Committee. I pay supplier invoices, and ensure income is received by the organisation. I help put together the budget for each year, and assist with the annual audit. I’m generally responsible for the finance function at the SCQF Partnership, and all that it entails!

What do you enjoy most about your role?

As I am the only finance person within the organisation, I am responsible for all aspects, which makes my days quite varied. One minute, I’ll be grappling with a complicated Excel formula, (and Googling to find out how it works!) the next I’ll be venturing down to the basement of our office building to get the electricity meter reading! As I help with the costings of certain projects, it means I am involved in all aspects of the organisation, so you can often find me lurking around with my calculator! Or eating all the biscuits out of the biscuit tin!

Tell us a bit about your career to date

I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for a career when I was younger, and I just kind of fell into finance. I finished university with a not very good degree (having spent too much time in the pub!) and was faced with the prospect of having to live back at home with my parents with no money! Luckily, a position for an Accounts Assistant became available at a chain of local garden centres, which provided study support whilst earning. I managed to complete the AAT Qualification, which then enabled me to take my career further. I have worked for a variety of organisations, including a cable manufacturer, a property company in Sydney, Australia, and a renewable energy firm which generates electricity from chicken poo and straw. I have continued my studies whilst working, and am now a Fellow of the ACCA.

Tell us something interesting about yourself?

Err, hello? I’m an accountant! There’s nothing interesting about me!! But I can fit my fist in my mouth!