All in the design

ACCA Approved Employer Arup has embraced mentoring to support its ACCA students and members around the world. Victoria Morgan spoke to Arup mentors and ACCA students to find out more.

As you turn through the revolving doors of Arup's newest London office you are not surprised to find that you have arrived at an internationally renowned engineering and consultancy firm. This is a highly modern and effortlessly stylish setting for the design and implementation of some of the world's most stunning structures including the Sydney Opera House, 30 St Mary Axe ('The Gherkin', in London), and most recently the Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube in Beijing.

As well as its engineers, designers, and project managers, Arup also relies on its 200-odd strong finance team, some of whom are ACCA members and students, to deliver global accounting support and systems development (among other things) to its 90 offices around the world.

Arup Finance is spread across four regions, Australasia, Americas, East Asia, and Europe. The head hub, and also the main financial centre, is in London where currently around 90 staff work. This includes the Europe region accountants who provide support to the European offices. They include the UK Fees, Bookkeeping, Payroll and Costing staff, and the Global Finance team, numbering around 35, which is responsible for budgeting, management and financial reporting for Arup as well as for the implementation, maintenance and support of global financial. The East Asia, Australasia, and Americas regions each have 20 to 30 finance staff to support offices in their regions.

When Arup gained silver level trainee accreditation in 2004, and ACCA Approved Employer status in 2006, it was in recognition of the support Arup offered its ACCA students and members. As well as paying for students' tuition, revision courses and exam fees, and giving them study leave, Arup has also embraced other supportive practices with the help of three ACCA members.

Mentoring for success

Yasmin Rojee, Eileen White and Adel Kenworthy are all ACCA members. Yasmin and Eileen, both ACCA fellows, became voluntary mentors several years ago after realising that some of the ACCA students at Arup needed advice on study and on gaining practical experience. Last year, Adel was approached to help mentor the ever-increasing number of ACCA students. 'Since becoming mentors we've been involved with providing advice on practical experience, exam technique, and helping with continuing professional development queries. We also actively encourage students to maximise their opportunities in and out of the workplace,' explains Yasmin.

Workshops are also held regularly. These cover a wide range of topics including presentation skills, exam technique, mind mapping, minute taking, organising meetings, changes to exams and practical experience requirements following the introduction of the ACCA Qualification, and visits by tuition providers. The workshops aim to be fun as well as confidence boosting. More recently, they have been chaired by students, thereby providing even more practical experience.

'The feedback from students has been really positive,' says Adel. 'Workshops are a great networking opportunity since students work in different sections and offices.'

'As mentors, we were particularly impressed with the presentation skills workshop,' says Yasmin. 'It provided a supportive environment for the students, some of whom had never done a presentation before. I think it gave them a lot of confidence. The hard work put into preparation was well evidenced in the standard of presentation and the varied communication skills demonstrated.'

'We also make good use of student accountant magazine as inspiration for discussions and debates,' adds Adel. 'This helps students build their confidence, allowing them to communicate effectively during a discussion. We are aiming to provide the students with skills that can be applied to their current roles.'

Putting the business in context

'Another of our aims is to make sure that our finance staff can see things from an engineer’s point of view - something of vital importance to us working in an engineering consulting firm,' explains Eileen. Arup has a Finance Training Committee and a Staff Welfare Committee which organises representatives from sections of Arup to present at forums 'These forums facilitate key operational staff, such as the chief operating officer or the engineers, to come and talk to the finance team about the actual business,' explains Eileen. In addition to the forums, Arup also arranges site visits to give finance staff a better feel for the projects they might be dealing with.

Eileen is currently the chair of the Finance Training Committee, which is tasked with keeping the study package and mentorship up to date. 'As well as looking at the financial support we offer for external tuition, we also look at the in-house courses that students should take to update their personal development. The ACCA mentors report into this committee,' she explains.
 
More recently, accountant forums have been held with representatives from each region. 'We have invited our external auditors, members of the other services groups, and other key business staff to lead workshops and give presentations,' explains Eileen. This has helped staff to interact and to develop relationships with staff in different regions. Secondments between offices are also offered to finance staff around the world. 'We recently had one member of the Global Finance team, based in London, do a job swap with a colleague in the Australasia Finance team, based in Sydney. This gave the international hub accountant an opportunity to work from a global perspective and, of course, gave the Global Finance colleague the chance to work on focusing on one hub,' explains Yasmin.

Mentor experience

But why be a mentor? Surely it's just extra work on top of your normal working day? 'From the feedback we get, the students gain a great deal,' says Adel. 'It is good to share our experiences of juggling work and study.'

Yasmin enjoys mentoring for the personal reward. 'It is great to know that we're making a difference to the development of staff, and perhaps even preparing them as mentors of the future. The experience of being a mentor has helped me become a more effective manager, able to get the most out of people and myself.'

'We have a very good, trusting relationship with our students. And we can share the load now there are three of us,' says Yasmin. 'As we grow in student numbers we hope to develop more mentor roles for those who qualify.'

Once ACCA students qualify, they are given even more opportunity to progress. 'There is a wide variety of finance work and Arup makes sure that it keeps staff interested,' explains Yasmin. 'You have to be proactive in taking on new tasks - systems work, project work, etc. We are all encouraged to offer ourselves for work that we’re interested in.'

Shaping a better world

Mentoring at Arup has been built on the values set by Arup's founder, Sir Ove Arup, who stated that in Arup 'every member is treated as a human being whose happiness is the concern of all'. This can be evidenced by the high staff retention rate and a better than average length of service profile.

ACCA students in focus

Helen Sterry, assistant systems accountant, Global Finance

I originally joined Arup as a receptionist. Arup has a great training philosophy for staff and supports staff obtaining qualifications where they are relevant to your role. I investigated my options and came across the CAT qualification. I thought that would be a perfect way to work towards a qualification while still being able to work.

Soon after starting the CAT qualification, I moved into the London Estate Management department at Arup and became a facilities coordinator. I was quickly promoted to deputy house manager. I finished the CAT exams in 2005, and then started ACCA. The first ACCA exams were quite a challenge, partly because I don't think I was aware of how much harder the exams would be. However, I passed, and continue to take one or two exams each session. I have eight exams to go until I finish.

In October 2007 I started working in the Global Finance team as an assistant systems accountant. I am responsible for the support, and assist in development of the Arup Financial systems and interfaces. Although I have to be reasonably IT literate, accountancy is key to the systems role. This role has given me a good insight into the business.

Arup is very supportive and I am confident that I will be able to achieve the remaining performance objectives for ACCA membership within my current role.

My career at Arup has developed amazingly since starting as a receptionist, so I'm looking forward to what the future holds for me. Becoming a qualified accountant is the first step. Once that happens then I can see where else my career at Arup can take me.

Caroline Swan, assistant accountant, Europe Region Finance

After I completed my degree in biology at Cardiff University in Wales, I was undecided as to what career path to take. I started work at Arup in Cardiff as a financial administrator. Eventually I became head of the financial administration team. Even though I had not planned a career in finance, I found I enjoyed the financial aspects of my role. Therefore, I decided that the best next step was to aim for a professional accountancy qualification.

I had always planned to move back to my hometown, London, and so enquired whether there were any finance opportunities in our London offices. I was successful and was offered a position in the Europe Finance team, which I accepted. I had the option to start studying either ACCA or CIMA and after speaking to various people from both bodies I chose ACCA since, in my opinion, it seemed ACCA was a broad enough qualification that would let me move into a wide variety of areas. Being so new to accountancy I wasn’t aware of the areas I could to go into in the future, and I wanted to keep my options open. I started studying at the start of this year.

I'm currently an assistant accountant reporting to the chief financial officer of Europe. I have many responsibilities, including management and financial accounting for our Italian offices. I am also responsible for producing numerous reports for the Europe CFO.

My time in the finance department has been a real learning curve and I feel like I have really landed on my feet. At the moment I’m not sure the direction I'd like my career to take. My top priority for the next few years is to get qualified.

Frances Macdonald, assistant accountant, Europe Region Finance

I joined Arup as an office clerk in the UK fees section. I was responsible for data entry and the maintenance of client records. I used this role as a stepping stone towards my chosen career path. After six months, I successfully applied for a role as an invoicing coordinator, where I stayed for 18 months.

At the end of 2004, I started studying for the foundation level of AAT and this provided a good grounding in the fundamentals of accounting. My managers encouraged and supported my studies; their confidence in me helped motivate my progression to my next role as assistant accountant within the Europe finance team. I now support the Middle Eastern offices, reporting monthly management results and board reports, preparing statutory accounts and UK tax computations. It's a mixture of both financial accounting and management accounting, which I enjoy.

Having successfully completed AAT, I registered with ACCA in June 2007. My studies have supported me in my role, and, in turn, my work experience has helped me put my study into practice.

People here at Arup are very friendly and supportive. Many of us are doing, or have done, exams and so we can all help each other and understand what we're all going through. 

I really enjoy what I do at the moment. I learn something new every day and I'm in touch with the people who actually carry out the business. There are lots of different opportunities within Arup and all jobs are advertised internally. Perhaps in the future I could become involved with the business and future projects to improve my commercial awareness.