What does your role look like day to day?

I now look after the capital and treasury section of the business and have a team of people who I manage, all up-and-coming young professionals who are moving up the ladder. This includes a Treasury Analyst who looks after all the day-to-day banking side of things. An Assistant Capital Account deals with the capital accounting, completing the monthly capital related tasks. And a young lady, whose role is as Property Securitisation and Insurance Officer, works with me across insurance, which falls outside of pure finance, but within Wandle, because it's a small housing association, we all take on additional tasks. In bigger organisations, that would be a completely separate section of the business. Personally, I carry out the finance business partnering of the executives and budget holders and, I have to say, enjoy this above other aspects of finance I’ve done in my career

What is the biggest challenge for the housing sector?

I think there’s a perception of the housing sector from the snippets you hear in the news about negligence and things like damp and mould, and you think that all tenants are being subjected to horrible, rogue landlords. But I've specialised a lot in the repair areas of these businesses and if there is one incident where there’s an issue, you don’t hear about the 1,000s of cases where tenants are exceptionally well looked after.

Of course, different housing associations have their strengths and weaknesses but, generally, when you work in the sector, you come to realise how much people really do care about the end goal, which is giving somebody a home. These people are the equivalent of nurses in the NHS.

Where issues can crop up is with the Government not understanding the problems that housing associations face, particularly in only charging social rent. These organisations are capped on what they can take in, in terms of income, and when the Government introduces new legislation that requires major changes, it depletes the cash and eats into profits. I think that's something that needs to be tackled in housing.

How has your experience helped you to secure this role?

Following my time in the private sector, I worked in a number of roles for the NHS, and from there I found my way into housing, where there’s more flexibility and more autonomy. Unfortunately, the NHS suffers from bureaucracy and it can be hard to progress tasks without various layers of approval. In housing, however, yes there is Government involvement through grants, but you're still free to run things as a business and make improvements. Initially, it was intimidating to switch sectors, but it was my capital experience that the organisation was looking for and they were happy to teach me the industry.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in finance?

I’ve come across many people in finance who have plateaued, and I think there’s an element of needing to push yourself out of your comfort zone to avoid this. I’m not one for repetition or monotony, and I can remember a job where I could tell you what I had done every day for about four months – that didn’t stimulate me.

Nowadays, the norm is to do an ACA qualification, or similar, and if you do so, you won't have a problem finding a role. And things have changed in that a lot of companies will now offer study support. But my advice would be to not sit still. At most companies there will only ever be one CFO or one FD, but by moving around and gaining experience, you are opening yourself up to more opportunities. Particularly in the early stages of your career, if you’re in a role for more than a year, nothing will change in the second year of that position.

So, get your qualification, work in a variety of roles, broaden your knowledge, diversify, keep moving, keep challenging yourself and expose yourself to as much of the finance profession as you can.