Robert Burns has over 15 years of experience in accounting and finance roles. He is currently the Regional Finance Director/Business Partner at Towergate Insurance Brokers, where he oversees 21 businesses across 33 locations in southern England and Wales. In this role, he is responsible for budgeting, forecasting, management reporting, and helped deliver over £1 million in expense savings. Previously, he held finance leadership roles at Money Portal and Co-operative Pharmacy, where he gained experience in acquisitions accounting, financial planning and analysis, and corporate finance.

1. CURRICULUM VITAE
Robert Burns
10 The Glebe
Stubbington
PO142PA
07809 222795
rjcburns@hotmail.co.uk
I am a highlymotivatedAccountantwithfirsttimeACCA passes;Ihave excellentinterpersonal skills
and Im comfortable liaisingwith all levelsof staff/management - both finance and non-finance. My
strongexcel skillshave developedoveryearsof financialmodelling,budgetingandforecasting.Inmy
most recent role as a Business Partner for Towergate Insurance, I have overseen a radical finance
change program as well as delivering circa £1m of expense savings, whilst still reporting on 21
businesses over 33 locations in the South of England and Wales.
Towergate Insurance Brokers (May 2009 – Present)
I joinedTowergate InsuranceBrokersin May 2009 as a ManagementAccountant with responsibility
for 2 businesses, as the Regional Finance Director/Business Partner I am now responsible for 21
businesses over 33 locations.
Regional Finance Director/Business Partner (Jan 2012 – Present)
Key responsibilities
 Budgeting,Forecastingand MI
o Completing,reviewingand signoff of 21 budgetsforthe SouthRegion (2015 Budget
Income £39m & EBITDA £13m).
o Responsible forthe Budget“re-cuts”postcentralisationprojects –see below.
o Responsible forthe monthly/quarterly/ad-hocre-forecastingof all 21 businesses.
o On-goingliaisonswithAreamanagementteamstoensure the accuracyof the above
and to obtaintheirbuyin.
o I constantlychallenge how we canimprove anddevelopourMI,intermsof its
accuracy and its frequency
 Overseeingthe deliveryofthe month end ManagementAccounts
o Liaisingwithourcentralisedteam toensure the accuracyof our monthendreports.
As well asensuringthe accompanyingcommentariesare insightful,accurate and
meaningful.
o Presentingthe monthendresults,Trends andKPI’stoseniormanagementand the
Regional team.
 Change management
o Since 2012 we have undertakenanumberof large scale change projects;
centralisationof ourlocal Finance functionsintotwosites,centralisationof our
small,volume businessintoManchester,the integrationof twosidesof ourbusiness
(whicheffectivelydoubledmyreportingentities)andthe deliveryof a£1m per
annumcost challenge.
o I workedextremelycloselywithmyOperations,ITandPropertycolleaguesthrough
these variousProjectsthatalsorequiredanumberof CostBenefitAnalysis’reports.

2. CURRICULUM VITAE
 Regional Team
o As a keymemberof the Regional teamIwill deputise formyRegional Managing
Directorinhis absence.
o In additionthe Regional ManagingDirector,Regional OperationsDirectorandIhave
monthlymeetingstoensure deliveryof ourfuture plans/initiatives.
 Acquisitions
o As a highlyacquisitive businessIhave beeninvolvedinthe due diligence process,
completionaccountsandintegrationof anumberof acquisitions.
 Ad-hocreporting
o A significantpartof myrole isdealingwithad-hocrequests fromHeadOffice.
Key Skills
 Inter personal skills
o I have an excellentrecordof developingandmaintainingworkingrelationships;for
me thisis keyto ensuringnotonlymanagementbuyinbutalsoto helpme
understandthe businessneedsaswell asprovidingmyownopinions.
o It has beenimperative through periodsof change thatI “bridge the gap”between
the local businessesandthe centralisedFinance team
 Challenging
o I am comfortable challengingthe decisionsof mypeerswhere Ibelievethere isa
betteralternative orroute andwhere Ibelievethe decisionwill be tothe detriment
of mybusinesses/Area/Region.
o EquallyIwill provide solutionstoissuesastheyoccur.
 Excel skills
o Our BudgetingandForecastingprocessrequiressignificantdatamanipulationand
excel skillstopresentthe numbersinasummarisedaccurate manner(one business
alone hasover15,000 linesof data).
o Equally,mostof our ad-hocrequestswill be excel based.
 Team player
o I am a team player,notjustinmy local office orthe Areaor Regionbutalsowith
otherdepartmentsandotherRegions.
Financial Controller (May 2009 – Jan 2012)
During my time as Financial Controller we experienced a period of sustained attack from a rival
where we loststaff andbusiness.Duringthisperioditwas important to keep on top of all business,
staff and expenses.
Responsibilities
 Timelycompletionof 2P&Ls, Balance Sheets,commentariesandvariance analysis.
 Completionof weeklyFLASHreports;forecasting,newbusiness,lostbusinessetc.
 Organisingand attendingweeklysalesmeetings;identifyingnew opportunities,discussing
“at risk” and lostbusiness.
 Completionof annual budgets.
 Managing a teamof 5 over 2 locations.
 Recruitmentof astrong Finance andSalesTeamto replace staff.

3. CURRICULUM VITAE
 Turneda red “high-risk”Internal Audittoanamber“low-risk”
Money Portal Limited – Group Financial Planning & Analysis Manager
(July 2006 – May 2009)
Reasonforleaving– Finance relocationtoBristol
Money Portal was a highly acquisitive, national independent firm of Financial Advisers.
Responsibilities
 Despite turnoverinexcessof £136m I createdthe Company’sfirstdetailedbudget
o Bottomup approach to create detaileddepartmental budgets.
o Liasingwithdepartmental managersandseniormanagement.
o Creationof appropriate recharge methodologytoapportionHeadOfficecosts.
o Creationof monthlyvariance analysisreports;splitdepartmentally,bysubsidiary
and consolidated.
 Completionof BoardReports&commentary
 Ad-hocprojectwork,SalesKPIs,Marketingsupport,dashboardsandotherfinancial
modelling.
 Attendance of variousinternal Steering Committees.
Co-operative Pharmacy – Acquisitions Accountant (Jan2006 – July
2006)
Reasonforleaving – contract role,reportingtothe Headof Acquisitions
Responsibilities
 Unlike previousM&A rolesthis positionrequirednoVCfundingandmulti-millionpound
acquisitionswerefinanced directlybythe Co-operative.
 Preparationof BusinessPlanswithfinancial forecastsforBoardapproval.
 Visitingacquisitiontargets,preparingvaluationsbasedonproximityof competitors,working
withCo-operativeMarketing&New Businessteams.
RPG Limited – Senior Corporate Finance Executive (Apr 2004 – Jan
2006)
Reasonforleaving – redundancy.
Headhunted by the Director of Corporate Finance to join as his number 2
Responsibilities
 Meetingthe CFneedsof the Auditdatabase as well asseekingnew businessopportunities
and start-ups.
 Exposedtotransactionsfrom£50,000 to£30m,
 Preparationof BusinessPlansandFinancialforecasts.
 Liaisingwithfinancialinstitutionstogenerate finance (Banks,StructuredFinance,HighNet
Worth individuals.

4. CURRICULUM VITAE
Vantis Corporate Finance – Corporate Finance Executive (Feb 2001 – April 2004)
Reasonforleaving – headhunted.
Travelling USA (May 2000 – Feb 2001)
Equitable Life Assurance (Feb 1998 – May 2000)
Variousfinance roles –qualified whilstin thisrole.
Morton Wainwright – Accounts Semi-Senior (Apr 1997 – Feb 1998)
Colston Bush – Trainee Accountant (Dec 1995 – Apr 1997)
Equitable Life Assurance – Pensions Clerk (Jan 1991 – Dec 1995)
TSB Bank – Clerk (Sep 1989 – Jan 1991)
Qualifications ACCA (1999 – Firsttime passes)
AAT (1997 – Firsttime passes)
Education 2 A-Levels
7 O-Levels
Interests Im a social personandenjoygoingoutwithfamilyand
friends aswell asmostsports.