Growth for Secantor

Secantor, a leading network of finance directors who offer a highly flexible, on demand service, designed to meet the needs of small and medium sized companies, have recruited three new associates, Ian Cooper, David Charlton and Emma McIlmurray.

Ian Cooper is a retail and manufacturing specialist and joins from shoe manufacturer and wholesaler Grenson Shoes where he was commercial operations director. Previous roles include managing director of Tu Childrenswear, director of Adams Childrenswear and head of commercial operations at Shoe City (now Brantano). A keen golfer, Ian is also a chartered accountant.

Prior to joining Secantor, David Charlton, who is another retail specialist, was managing and finance director of Wingam Garden Centre. He has also worked as business advisor and company secretary for bathroom retailer HBC in Derby and spent twelve years in various roles with the Punch Group. In addition David is a business mentor for the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Business Link and an associate chartered management accountant. He enjoys playing golf and mountaineering in his spare time.

Emma McIlmurray also joins the network as an associate management accountant. A Birmingham University graduate, Emma has fulfilled a number of management project roles for The Spirit Group, Phoenix Manufacturing and UK Pallets Ltd. She has also worked for the Birmingham Post and Mail before setting up her own accountancy service business.

Julie Pomeroy, regional director for Secantor said: "Ian, David and Emma bring a wealth of experience which is available to East Midlands companies who are looking for experienced and flexible finance support to help their businesses grow or deal with current projects or one off issues."

Posted: 24-10-2008 17:45:10

High Powered Recruit for Secantor

Philip Stanyer has joined Secantor, a leading network of finance directors who offer a highly flexible, on demand service, designed to meet the needs of companies of all sizes.

Prior to joining Secantor Philip, who is based in the East Midlands, worked in a number of sectors including manufacturing, retail, service and distribution and previous employers include motor retailers Stratstone and New Crown Sharpes; Stoke City Football Club and Coalite. He gained his first Board appointment as a finance director at age 26.

On joining Secantor he said: "I am looking forward to use my wide ranging experience to help businesses through a challenging time."

Julie Pomeroy, regional director for Secantor said: "We are really please to have someone of Philip's calibre join us at Secantor. He is a very experienced finance director with experience in a variety of sectors and we look forward to his contribution."

Philip is also currently the vice president of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce and is due to take over as President in October.

Posted: 17-10-2008 17:11:08

Gordon Waine Retires from Secantor

Gordon Waine, the founder of Secantor, has retired from his position as chairman.

Secantor, a leading network of finance directors who offer a highly flexible, on demand service designed to meet the needs of companies of all sizes, was initially set up in 2001 in the East Midlands. It now has over 80 associates across the country.

Gordon started his career with the National Provincial Bank in Sheffield and went on to spend over 40 years with NatWest, working through the ranks to become the regional executive director based in Nottingham before he retired from there in 1995. He is a well known figure in the local business community. The concept of Secantor came from this experience of working with businesses where he saw a need for experienced finance directors to work on a part time basis. Gordon will continue to be involved with Secantor on development and project work.

Julie Pomeroy, regional director for the East Midlands said: "With his vision and foresight Gordon has supported many businesses in the region. I am pleased he will continue to be available from time to time to support me in my role."

Tony Timberlake, the former deputy chairman will now become the chairman. Tony, a widely experienced finance director, is based in the Midlands.

Posted: 14-10-2008 17:15:54

Company Reports - A Tutorial

Julie Pomeroy, regional director of Secantor, a leading provider of high-level FDs on a part-time basis to small and medium businesses

Where do you start? You have a blank sheet of paper in front of you and you feel daunted.

For me the start point is to agree with the board what you want from the company's annual report. Is it purely a document to convey the legal requirements or is this an opportunity for the company to communicate various messages or information i.e. a marketing document? Many companies opted for a marketing based document, especially when they are a newly listed business. Although a newly listed company will have issued a prospectus, this is a very dry document full of factual information and very often nearly unreadable.

It is worth early on involving the management team on what key messages you want to put across to stakeholders. Hopefully involving people at the start will help ensure no major rethinking is required at the end of the process. Once you have the messages I usually get a designer involved. There are some very good designers around who specialise in annual reports and they understand the process and what is required by when. It is worth tendering the first time around. The design companies usually invest some time with you and come up some good ideas if you brief them on the messages you are trying to get across. It also makes you think clearly about what you are trying to convey. I always enjoy seeing what the design companies come up with.

I like to see photos, graphs and other graphics but this is all down to personal taste. I used graphics of "post its" and a note pad to put key messages on in a report I did last year. In fact a "post it" graphic was used on the front cover and it was so realistic you wanted to pick it up.

Once you have appointed your design company (who will usually organise the printing with a secure printer), you will need to put together a timetable and also decide what is going into the various sections. If you are commissioning photographs get it done early and this includes photos of board members. Do not rely on board members supplying their own if you can help it - you end up with different qualities and backgrounds which can detract significantly from the finished product.

Another thing I think is essential is a agreeing a common format and spelling of key words that will be used frequently throughout the document eg Director or director and Board or board. In the medical device company we had to decide on whether to call it a needleless injector (not to be confused with needless!) or needle-free. We settled on needle-free with a hyphen. Getting them right to start with saves time later.

You need to structure the front end of the document around the key messages and decide who is going to be responsible for writing it. The other more technical sections e.g. Corporate Governance Report also need writing by someone. Have several different annual reports around of companies in your sector and outside of it. It will give some good ideas on what works and what doesn't.

One person should be project manager and they should read all of the sections as they come in, ensuring that the sections work together and that the language is reasonably consistent through the various sections. Once the main sections are written (treat the financials separately initially), get a group of people together and read the whole thing through aloud (one person reading and the others looking at the text). I find this approach, although time consuming, usually tells you where the wording doesn't flow and also picks up a lot of typos. I repeat this exercise at least one more time during the process.

You have to remember you are trying to communicate information to people who do not know your business as well as you. The look and feel of the document can help get information across to stakeholders.

Once you have a reasonable draft in word format, you can circulate it to the board members or send it the designers for type setting. I prefer to circulate a typeset version to the board as it has the pictures and other graphics in so that they have a better sense of how the document will look. I also think you have a better chance of getting people to read the document fully and in depth. You also need to check how often the board wants to see the document. I think it is good for them to see an early draft so they can comment on it and then to see another draft towards the end of the process (they will of course see the final document to approve before it is issued - but you do not want any comments at this stage).

Also someone needs to be responsible for correlating the changes and making editorial decisions where two people have made different suggestions on the same sentence. Once the changes have been sent through to the designers someone also needs to check that they have all been processed correctly.

I always like to see the printers proofs before the document is printed - just to have a final check on colour, layout and of course a final read through.

It is great to see the finished document but try not to read it again, as you normally spot the one typo you missed straight away!

Posted: 28-08-2008 16:41:56