Published: November 01, 2014
This month, Helen Sanders, Editor, talks to Irene Atkins, Head of Global Treasury at leading optical and hearcare company, Specsavers, based in Guernsey. In this feature, Irene shares her thoughts on the importance of personal and professional development, and the power of positive thinking, derived from a career that has spanned 35 countries and an enormous diversity of treasury activities.
Like many people, my treasury career started largely by accident. Initially, I was a trainee accountant for Grand Metropolitan plc (now Diageo following the merger with Guinness plc in 1997), involved with tasks such as accounts payable, receivables, bank reconciliations etc. with the view that I would pursue a career in accountancy. This experience proved very valuable later on in life when I became involved in setting up shared service centres, as I had a working knowledge of the tasks to be performed.
When I decided to make my next career move, I was offered two jobs at the same time: one accounting role, and one in treasury accounting. The treasury accounting role was in a more convenient location, so I opted for this position, but I quickly realised that my approach and attitude were very well-suited to treasury. While accounting is very valuable to every organisation, I liked the fact that treasury was at the sharp end of the company, making decisions on cash and risk that add significant value to a business.
In the late 1980s, I moved to Eaton Corporation, a US automotive business, where I spent the next ten years. This was a formative stage in my career, both professionally with the help of an excellent mentor, but I was also studying Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) exams and had my children while I was there, but continued to work full-time. Initially, I was responsible for domestic cash management, but this evolved into a European-wide role. I was also involved in a wide variety of different activities including treasury management system selection and assisting with the implementation of a netting system.
After ten very happy years, I moved to Samsung as a finance manager in treasury. Although this was a relatively brief appointment, I thoroughly enjoyed the role as I was able to experience a very different business culture than the companies I had worked with previously.
As my time there coincided with the Asian crisis, I was concerned about job security, so I moved to EDS, now an HP company, as European cash manager, a role I did for the next eighteen months. During this period, EDS took the decision to centralise its formerly regional treasury structure into a single, global treasury centre in the US. This was a very interesting initiative to be part of, and ultimately I became a global treasury consultant to the business for the next eight years, involved with a mergers and acquisitions, divestments, global bank account structures, in-house banking, intercompany borrowing programmes etc. – a tremendous opportunity to get involved in a really diverse range of activities. As EDS operated in 80 countries, I travelled all over the world, including setting up shared service centres in India, Hungary and Latin America, not only to support EDS’ business, but as a service offering to other organisations.
My next career move was to Travelex, where I spent two and a half years as head of global cash management. Although treasury was centralised at a regional level, there was still some repetition of activities and infrastructure, so my time there was spent centralising and rationalising treasury to make better use of its tools and resources. Once this had been completed, I had really worked myself out of the interesting part of the job for me so I was looking for the next challenge, and with the children at university, the opportunity to move to Guernsey and run the treasury function at Specsavers proved unmissable.
Specsavers is a very different company to those I have worked for in the past. It remains family-owned, but is transforming into a global corporation, with strong growth not only in Europe but as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. The company is cash-rich, which is a different dynamic to other companies I had worked for. It was a complete about turn to the way I had previously managed bank relationships and counterparty risk. It’s a very privileged position to be in but still a massive challenge surrounding the safety and best use of the company’s liquid assets. The family are all involved in the business on a day-to- day basis and it’s inspirational to be part of an extended family team committed to delivering the best for partners and customers whilst managing the requirements of an ever evolving corporation.
Although risk management has always been an important concern for treasurers, there has been a far greater focus on issues such as counterparty risk since the global financial crisis. In the past, treasury policies got dusted off and revamped every so often; today, they are working documents that constantly need to be reviewed and refined in the light of changing market and regulatory conditions, and the evolving needs of the business. In this context, banking relationships have never been more important. Both banks and corporates need to be comfortable with the risk that the other presents to their business, which often requires a regular dialogue.[[[PAGE]]]
It’s difficult to pick out an individual event, as there are so many things I’ve enjoyed being part of, such as setting up shared service centres, global M&A etc. I realised recently that I have worked actively in approximately 35 countries throughout my career so far, which I take great pride and pleasure in. On a personal level, I have been very fortunate to have three inspirational mentors during my career, which has been an important factor in developing the skills and confidence that have enabled me to be successful. Having built up a range of experiences, and with a large team for which I am responsible, I hope to be able to inspire and encourage new entrants into treasury just as I was encouraged, to help them in their personal and career development. For the past few years, I have been a presenter on the ACT’s Certificate of International Cash Management (CertICM) programme, which continues to be a very rewarding and enjoyable experience.
I tend to look for attitude and work ethic rather than specific technical skills: the reality is that there will be rarely a complete fit from a technical perspective, but those skills can be taught, whereas attitude is far more difficult to change.
I encourage all my staff to pursue professional education and development and we have people studying for a range of different qualifications, including accountancy and treasury. Whether an individual studies for a specialist treasury qualification, such as AMCT, will depend on their long-term career plans, but continuous learning and development is important for all practitioners. In the early stages of a career, this is best achieved through formal qualifications, whereas later, on-the-job development becomes more important. We also provide a wide range of internal training and development opportunities in addition to external education programmes.
From a management perspective, just as important as encouraging younger treasury professionals to pursue professional education is to ensure that they have the opportunity to use and reinforce these skills in the workplace; otherwise, there is little value to them completing these qualifications. With a team of thirty staff, and five direct reports, well over half of my time is now spent on managing and mentoring my team rather than just treasury activities. I am lucky enough to have a great team around me so our success is based on the contribution of a very engaged group of individuals. I would never have thought when I started out that I would spend as much time on people’s feelings and development as I do risk management.
Personal and professional development are key to success but it is also important to understand the business you’re part of. Treasury does not need to be an enigma, so make sure you can articulate clearly what you do, and how it benefits the organisation. Then you can engage and develop credibility more widely in the business. Business leaders are already accustomed to consulting tax and legal departments on strategic issues, and treasury plays just as significant a role in supporting business strategy and execution, so you need to be visible and make the right connections to enable that to happen. It’s all about early involvement.
This year I went to Peru and Sri Lanka to meet my son who was travelling, but after this, and a whole career of international travel, I am looking forward to a holiday closer to home in Scotland next year, Special time with a special person! Also next year will be spent trying to spend as much time as possible with my first grandchild who will appear late March.
When I was travelling or commuting, I was able to read a great deal, not so much now. A book I re-read is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice which I love. I am currently re-reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne which I first read a year or so ago. The book discusses positive thinking and its impact on your life. I have been very fortunate in my career and I have worked very hard to be successful, professionally and personally and it is a compelling idea that positive thinking can be instrumental in achieving one’s goals. She encourages readers to think not about what they can’t do, and haven’t got, but to take pleasure and pride in the things they can do, and the people and things that they value. Gratitude is a powerful tool as well as emotion.
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