Source: Lancashire Business View Jan/Feb Edition 2011

NW FINANCE DIRECTOR FORUM

Wednesday Nov 17th saw the launch of the very first NW Finance Director Network. Over 60 of the regions senior finance professionals from all industry sectors gathered at the event aimed at networking, learning and sharing best practices on key financial issues facing businesses across the area. 

AFR Consulting the regions leading financial recruiter joined with Moore & Smalley and Barclays Corporate to set up the NW FD Network to develop a network of like-minded individuals tasked with the same responsibilities so they could exchange ideas and learn from leading industry speakers.

Phil Scott Director at AFR Consulting said, “The event came about after a number of FD’s over the years had explained their frustrations to me. When you become a finance director you sometimes feel isolated with limited options to turn to when looking for a sounding board for financial related issues and ideas. We want to create an event where people can learn from each others experiences and felt that AFR would be in an excellent position to help facilitate as we know most of the regions top FD’s and their backgrounds and can easily connect people together with similar interests.”

The event lasted two hours and started with networking followed by key note speakers from Moore & Smalley on accounting, audit & tax.  

Neale Perrins from Motive Technology said “The Moore & Smalley presentations were extremely useful, they were very informative whilst being concise and to the point. They clarified a few points I was previously unclear on and I felt the whole event managed to pack a lot in”

The event finished with an interactive workshop hosted by AFR Consulting. The groups debated issues from Bank Funding, Start ups accessing supplier credit, iXBRL and disaster recovery. The team from Barclays Corporate were also on hand to offer help and guidance on some of the issues.

Mike Berry Finance Director from Panaz said “The workshops provided a great opportunity to meet people and review current business issues with fellow senior financial professionals. The case studies really stimulated a debate where you could take away some useful ideas.”

The next event will be hosted on March 25th and the speakers will be focusing on the budget and the economy. The workshops will be selected from topical issues and will be volunteered by group members on the run up to the event.

For more information call AFR Consulting on 01204 694973.

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