Short CV as at Feb 2018

1. Graham Wood BSc, ACMA
Mobile: 07753 603071 email: graham_wood@blueyonder.co.uk
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/gawood Location: Ruislip, HA4
PROFILE
CIMA qualified accountant. Experienced senior interim finance contractor dedicated to improving
organisation support functions through changes in systems, working practices, staff development and
communication with stakeholders.
KEY SKILLS & EXPERIENCE
 Well used to assisting organisations going through interesting periods due to corporate or
environment changes
 Quick to understand the implications of changes in practice and regulation (FRS102, IFRS,
SORP/Code of Practice, GAAP, VAT) and implement them as appropriate for the organisation
 Proposes and implements improvements to IT, reporting and manual systems/processes to
generate added control, efficiency, effectiveness and clarity of output
 Proven ability to develop team working and motivate individuals and teams
 Extensive experience on senior management teams and advising Board members.
LATEST ASSIGNMENTS:
Interim Accountant Paradigm Housing Group March 2017 – September 2017
Paradigm Housing Group is a housing developer providing rental and shared ownership housing for
the social housing (T/O £112M 2015-16) and commercial (T/O £3M 2015-16) sectors. The group
comprises a ltd head office, a charity for dealing with social housing, a plc commercial company, and
separate companies to deal with development and estate maintenance activities. The finance and
information system is exclusive to the group, having been written internally using “Frameworks”.
The assignment (initially for three months) was to help catch up with various areas of work that had
fallen behind due to staff voids, and then to join the statutory accounts team to help enable the
statutory accounts to be produced to timetable.
Achievements:
 Quickly became able to mine Frameworks for solutions to problems or information regarding
developments
 Converted development spend into the cost of individual assets within newly completed
developments
 Proposed a different method of presenting the accounts to make the basic editions look more
professional
 Improved the spreadsheet model used for the previous year’s accounts by setting up links from
the most detailed information to the final schedules.
Looking for the next contract May 2016 – February 2017
Survived the search period by adding to my library of practice – IPSAS, FRS102, Housing SORP,
FReM, attending profession seminars, supporting my local athletic club in competitive race events,
becoming their volunteer treasurer and living off previous profits from my company.
Interim Head of Finance Octavo Partnership Limited March 2016 – April 2016
The Octavo Partnership, owned and run by Croydon Council, its staff and local schools, was created
to help improve everything from teaching standards to day-to-day administration of schools. It is a
Sage 200 site, and had a budgeted turnover of £4.2M for 2016-17.
The assignment was to “mind the shop” during the recruitment of a permanent Head of Finance,
following the departure of the third Head/Director of Finance in the company’s two-year history, and
hand over to the new incumbent in the last two weeks of April.
Achievements:
 Informed the Board of the lack of their obligatory first statutory accounts, obtained their agreement
on accounting policies for use in FRS102 compliant accounts and started work on the accounts;
 Challenged, and outlined the possible effects of, a review of the company’s VAT situation;
 Aided non -finance colleagues with budget understanding and management,
Interim Accountant Bellway Homes, North London Div. January 2016 – February 2016
Bellway plc is the 4th largest house builder in the UK. M S Dynamics site. This assignment was for
an initial two months to support the new Finance Director of the North London Division during the
sickness absence of the senior accountant over the half year corporate reporting period.

2. Achievements:
 Completed, and assisted others with the completion of, corporate half year returns relating to
sales and movements in work in progress;
 Suggested a number of method changes to improve reporting data capture and organisation to
enable increased efficiency in the transaction and reporting processes of the Division.
The assignment was kept to the initial two months by the early return to good health of the senior
accountant.
Interim Accountant Central & Cecil Housing Trust June 2015 – August 2015
Charity status Registered Social Landlord with £50M of properties and embarking on their own
development programme. SUNACCOUNTS site, never before used, yet was able to advise
colleagues on coding and use possibilities, and point out defects in the system’s implementation.
Short term contract to expedite completion of the Trust’s first statutory accounts as a group, following
an unexpected gap in the establishment.
Achievements:
 Gathered disparate inputs from the Finance staff and system to create a set of accounts that
achieved a clean Audit signoff;
 Initiated awareness of the need for processes to define inter-company transactions;
 Contract extended to work on new finance processes;
 Assisted the new Head of Finance to get up to speed quickly before my departure.
Interim Accountant Raglan Housing Association January 2014 – November 2014
Charity status Registered Social Landlord provider with £750M of properties and an active building
programme in England. MS Dynamics GP site. Three to six month contract to:
 Help the existing team get a better audit report for their March 2014 year end than for 2013
 Make improvements to their financial reporting ability using their current systems.
Achievements:
 Designed and created excel models to simplify production of the annual accounts and the audit
process (heavy use of vlookup and subtotals);
 The audit was completed within timetable and delivered a much improved management letter
from the auditors;
 Was retained after the year end to help the team make the best use of an upgrade to the latest
version of their Dynamics software and make improvements to day to day finance processes
Interim Head of Finance The Parole Board January 2013 – August 2013
Central Government “Arms Length Body” funded by the Ministry of Justice, c100 staff and a cohort of
members who adjudicate in Parole cases. Pegasus site, Five month initial contract reporting to the
Chief Executive, Management Board and Audit Committee.
Stood in for, and eventually replaced, the incumbent Head of Finance after a three month period of
absence during which their 2.6 FTE staff had struggled to maintain the department.
Achievements:
 Proposed and (having obtained Board approval) implemented a move to the Ministry’s Shared
Service function under a “lightening” timetable in order to improve the resilience of transaction
processing;
 Persuaded Ministry colleagues to create a project to move the organisation onto the MoJ finance
system to provide better system stability and visibility.
Previous Assignments include:
Financial & Management Accountant, The Insolvency Service December 2011 – July 2012
The Insolvency Service, a Central Government Agency funded by the Department for Business,
Innovation & Skills, 2,000 staff. Reports under the government IFRS “FReM”.
First contract was for three months to join the Central Finance Department, which had been in a state
of flux and operating with three fifths of its normal establishment.
Achievements:
 Understood, explained to colleagues and facilitated production of, the financial information pack
required from agencies by the Department, enabling the Service to produce returns on time;
 Brought balance sheet information back up to date, analysed accounts and produced schedules
for audit for own areas and those of colleagues when absence or pressure of work decreed;
Westminster, Kingston upon Thames and Leicester City Councils – Joined the team responsible
for the statutory accounts. Contributions included:
 Exposing areas needing change and ensuring they were covered;
 Enabling the reporting systems (JD Edwards and Agresso) to deliver accounts schedules without
the need for excel manipulation, allowing the auditors to perform their tasks more efficiently;
 Resolving audit queries and ensuring that the audit timetable did not slip.
In all cases the audit was performed to time and the use of resources score was at least retained.

3. Westminster City Council, London Borough of Tower Hamlets and other employers/clients –
Provided a full finance business partner service reporting to senior finance and general management:
 Prepared budgets for capital and revenue expenditure and cross charging within the organisation,
and forecasts for periods between three months and five years, in consultation with colleagues of
all disciplines and levels;
 Provided a reporting and monitoring service against the above, discussing opportunities for
performance enhancement with managers and highlighting issues to upper management;
 Involved in systems projects including saving Westminster thousands of pounds by preventing
unnecessary expenditure on new systems to provide a different year end date to Adult Education;
 Raised the level of confidence and understanding of the financial process amongst managers and
colleagues;
 Kept watch on balance sheet performance to maintain stability of the organisation.
British Transport Police - Supported the Deputy Director of Finance in refashioning the finance
function following the Force’s change of corporate status to NDPB. Personal initiatives included:
 Encouraging the other staff to overcome difficulties inherent in a change situation and to
contribute to the development of a professional, authoritative finance function;
 Preparing the 2004/05 year-end accounts for their first scrutiny by the National Audit Office;
 Working with Department for Transport staff to design new methods of reporting from Cedar to
their SAP system.
SOFTWARE SKILLS
Sage 200, SUN Accounts, MS Dynamics (GP), Pegasus Opera, Kypera, Agresso Business World,
Cedar (CFACS and eFinancials), J D Edwards OneWorld, Exchequer, XL Reporter, Oracle
Discoverer, Business Objects, Crystal Reports, all MS Office.
EMPLOYMENT/ASSIGNMENT LIST
Dates Organisation Title
Mar 17 – Sep 17 Paradigm Housing Group Interim Accountant
Mar 16 – Apr 16 Octavo Partnership Interim Head of Finance
Jan 16 – Feb 16 Bellway Homes Ltd, North London Division Interim Accountant
Jun 15 – Aug 15 Central & Cecil Housing Trust Interim Year End Accountant
Jan 14 – Nov 14 Raglan Housing Association Interim Accountant
Jan 13 – Aug 13 The Parole Board Interim Head of Finance
Dec 11 – Jul 12 The Insolvency Service, London Interim Financial & Management
Accountant
Apr 11 – Sep 11 Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Interim Principal Accountant
Feb 10 – Nov 10 Leicester City Council Interim Senior Accountant
Jul 09 – Oct 09 London Borough of Tower Hamlets Interim Senior Accountant
May 07 – Jun 09 Westminster City Council Three Interim Contracts
Feb 07 – May 07 London Borough of Hillingdon Interim Principal Accountant
Oct 05 – Feb 07 Westminster City Council Interim Senior Principal Accountant
Mar 05 – Sep 05 British Transport Police, London Interim Project Accountant
Dec 04 – Mar 05 Westminster City Council Interim Project Accountant
Oct 04 – Nov 04 Roehampton University Interim Accountant
Jul 04 – Oct 04 University of Lincoln Interim Project Accountant
Mar 03 – Jul 04 Westminster City Council Interim Principal Accountant
Aug 02 – Feb 03 London Borough of Harrow Council Interim Implementation Analyst
May 02 – Jun 02 Vale of White Horse District Council Interim Accountant
Jan 02 – Apr 02 Agresso Ltd. Bristol Financial Software Implementer
Jun 99 – Dec 01 Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Trust Manager – Systems & Capital
Jan 97 – May 99 Family Planning Association Head of Corporate Services
Aug 94 – Jun 96 LASER Advisory Council, London Finance & Administration Manager
Oct 86 – Aug 94 P&O PNG, Reuters, National Schizophrenia
Fellowship
Freelance Interim Accountant
Apr 83 – Oct 86 Conservative Central Office, London Chief Accountant
Relevant Education and Professional Qualifications
Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA 1985)
BSc (Hons) Engineering & Social Sciences – University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1970 – 1974)