Farewell PKF

Thursday was my last day at PKF, in fact it was everyone's last day at PKF. From midnight on Thursday, the trade of PKF was merged into BDO; the combined firm will be known as BDO going forwards. The origins of PKF date back to the late 19th century, with Pannell Kerr Forster being created in 1980, latterly rebranding as PKF. Whilst the UK firm has been sold, PKF International continues, so I'm sure at some stage, a new firm in the UK will be branded under the PKF International umbrella but without any of the history associated with the current holder of the name. We're not moving offices quite yet, but the office will be rebranded over the weekend and so any mentions of PKF will disappear. It's sad to be at the end of an era and so I took a few photos throughout the day as a memento.

Coming into the office for the last time.

Passing through our reception area.

Our old scrap books were out, who'd have thought we used to have a hot air balloon? I guess shaping it like a bowler hat wasn't too stereotypical back then!

My boss always buys everyone an Easter egg. Best thing about the merger? This time we got one from our new employer too.

We all ended up outside when the fire alarms went off, no doubt someone breaking all the health and safety regulations by cooking hot cross buns.

There are a number of members of staff, not just in their 20s and 30s, but also in their 40s, 50s and 60s who have worked at PKF (or its predecessor firms) since leaving school. For these people who have never worked anywhere else, the change will clearly have a massive impact. For the rest of us, it'll be odd going from our spacious office of about thirty people, where everyone knows everyone, with contacts in every office around the country, to a more populous environment where initially we're bound to forget peoples' names and have new procedures and policies to learn. Whilst no merger is ever completely smooth, and there are bound to be some difficult issues to surmount initially, hopefully it will be a good thing for the firm in the long term. 

For now though, I need to start practising introducing myself as Rachel from BDO, not Rachel from PKF. That alone will take a little while.

The only people who like change are wet babies

I was struggling for a title for this post and so looked through some proverbs about change, this one, unfortunately from an unknown source, was the one that struck me. I've wanted to blog about work for ages, but I've struggled over how to approach it. I think I've finally got all my thoughts straight in my head, albeit I feel a little uncomfortable voicing my thoughts.

By way of background, I'm an accountant. More specifically, I work in audit as a senior manager for a medium sized firm. When I look back, I think I've been very fortunate to get to where I am today. I left school with some very average GCSEs and some poor A level grades, and as a result couldn't get into the university I wanted, and had to settle for a College of Higher Education (by good fortune, it's now a university, so my CV doesn't look quite as bad!) where I graduated with a very average degree. Things weren't looking good. I applied for accountancy training positions when I graduated, but no-one would look twice at me. I took a part-time job in a department store for eighteen months, until a threatened move to childrenswear brought me to my senses. I resigned, telling HR I was going to be an accountant. They looked at me like I'd said I wanted to be a brain surgeon. I stepped up the application process and managed to get two interviews, out of which I got two job offers. I accepted the one at the larger firm at the princely salary of £6,500. It got my foot on the very lowest rung of the ladder. I struggled a bit initially, a large part of being an accountant is getting a professional qualification. I had to teach myself the first level from study books, it was hard work, but I developed a skill I'd not managed to previously, how to study. I realised why I'd struggled at school and college, but I passed my first exams easily. I was hit hard by glandular fever and had to take some time off work and defer my next exams as a result, which threw me off the usual timetable, but a stiff talking to by the managing partner got me to regain my focus, and I managed to persuade him to let me attend classroom courses for future exams. That made it much easier. With the exception of an IT paper, all about networks and computer systems (honestly!) I passed all my exams at first attempt. After five years at the firm, I was well respected, but a change in management meant I wasn't happy, so it was time to move on.

I went to a recruitment agency, who told me about a local firm who were really well regarded for their training. I went for an interview, was offered the position and accepted. What a mistake. It was so old fashioned, certain clients wouldn't allow women on-site, so I was stuck in the office, and as I was studying for ACCA not ACA, although I was part qualified, I was aligned with the first year ACA students. I lasted nine months, and literally skipped out of the building when they released me before the end of my notice period.

I'd again gone to an agency, stating that I'd worked for the only firms I wanted to in the area, and so was looking further afield. They found a well-respected regional firm about 70 miles away who liked me and offered me a job. I went house-hunting and moved down there, literally not knowing anyone within 50 miles. People have told me they admired my confidence, but I literally had no doubts or concerns, although I have to admit it was a bit lonely at times. I loved the job and bought a house down there (again, flying by the seat of my pants, it was whilst I was waiting for the results of my final exams, and I knew that if it didn't pass, I realistically wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage, luckly I passed). It was a good role that gave me more experience and responsibility. It was only when I met the man who is now my husband, who lived a further 50 miles south of my new home, that I decided it was time for another move.

I have to admit, I moved job to be nearer to him. Almost from day one, I knew the job wasn't going to work out, but decided I had to stick it out for a couple of years. I did, but was very glad to escape. It was a larger firm, which gave me less independence, and indeed less challenging and interesting work. The management structure meant that I was being micro managed, which I didn't take kindly to.

And that brings me to my present role. I've worked for my current firm for five years, initially as a manager and latterly as a senior manager. There have been bad days, normally when I'm short of work, but on the whole I've enjoyed it. It's given me fresh challenges, more responsibility and a greater variety of clients to interact with.

It's fair to say that it's been clear something has been going on for a year or more. Firstly non fee earning staff numbers were streamlined, we lost our local IT support and one of our secretaries. Even well regarded staff nationally, such as the head of training, left. Rumours hit the press in the middle of last year that the firm was in merger negotiations, and few people were surprised, even though the rumours were stamped down. Towards the end of last year, the rumours were confirmed, five months on and the merger is due to go through by the end of the month.

Reaction has been mixed. I'm sure from the firm's point of view it's a good and necessary move. Fee earning staff have been reassured that there will be no redundancies (however, this is clearly dependent on there being no loss of clients), and roles which are seen as vulnerable won't be put under review until post merger. There are six cities around the country where both firms have offices, mine being one of them. In those locations, our offices will be closed and we'll be moving into their offices.

I have to admit that I have my concerns. We're merging (realistically, being taken over) by a larger firm. Having worked for a larger firm previously, I know that it means that local offices will be less empowered to make their own decisions, a supposition which I've already seen backed up my managers having their hands tied in interactions with us. Presently, I'm in a senior position within the department and effectively run it, as the audit partner gives me plenty of freedom, he knows and trusts me to go to him when I need to. Joining a firm with other staff at the same level, clearly suggests I'll be losing this degree of authority and independence, at the same time I'm concerned that I'll have someone micro managing me again, which never goes down well. Evidence also shows that they work long days as a matter of course, whereas my team generally work 9 to 5, and only on exception have to work longer hours to get their work done. I'm concerned that this will cause friction between the teams, or 'my' team feeling they have to be seen to work longer hours and their work life balance being negatively impacted as a result. Finally, we're due to move offices shortly after the merger, despite initially being told that they have plenty of room for us, it's rapidly becoming clear that that isn't the case. It appears that room is so short that staff visiting from other offices will have to book desks in advance as there may not be room for them if they turn up on spec. All staff, except partners, hot desk, and will be going from sitting three to a bench to four to a bench. In contrast, I always have a spare six foot desk free next to me, which I'm used to spreading over when I have a lot of work on the go. Equally, it means I have a degree of privacy. As a manager there are times when I'm working on things that I don't want other members of the team to see. I'm not sure how that will work going forwards. Finally, and this is a purely personal issue, I'm really susceptible to distraction. Noisy eaters set my teeth on edge, gossip distracts me and coughing annoys me. I'm seriously very concerned that I'd end up with a high level of workplace stress, or a murder charge, with such a large increase in people all around me.

Whilst I know the merger is necessary from a business case, I'm sure some of our longer serving members of staff will be lost, whether voluntarily or through redundancy. Myself, whilst I'm open minded, I'd be very surprised if it will be a positive move for me. I think I'll find it stressful and feel demoted and demotivated. I have a number of clients who are recruiting and recruitment agencies calling my mobile on a daily basis. As such, I'm in the fortunate position that I, hopefully, have other options, but it's going to be a difficult decision when the time comes. 

It's fair to say that the next few months will be difficult and challenging, but hopefully it will all work out for the best, however it turns out.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The glory days of auditing

For anyone who knows what auditing is, it hardly sounds like something that would have glory days. In its simplest terms, it's basically a means of verifying a company's financial accounts. Are you still awake? Hello??

Much as it sounds deathly dull, it's how my husband and I started out in accountancy and, to be honest, we had a blast. There was normally a team of you of similar ages sent out to the company's premises and over time you get to know your team members really well from spending so much time together, and know what makes them tick, and guffaw.

My husband's memories include one audit where he was working next door to the company's accountant who suffered with persistent flatulence. Every time she broke wind, she'd immediately get out her Impulse and spray it, oblivious to the fact that the auditors in the next room could hear the parp, then the spray and were doubled over in silent hysteria. At another company, he was looking through the accountant's cupboard for a file and knocked over some floppy disks, whilst restacking them, he noticed one labelled 'Tits and Bums' which to his glee he held up to the window connecting the office to that which his colleagues were working in. More hysterics ensued.

My own favourite memories inevitably invole working with the same senior who taught me everything I know about auditing. His sinuses were in an awful state, until the day when he returned to the room following a meeting with one of the directors, to announce that the guy's body odour was so bad that it had cleared his sinuses for the first time in years, and he could smell the pine trees outside. Another time he returned to the room in stitches and wouldn't give away what had happened, eventually he admitted that he'd been to the loo and his zip tab had broked off. Resourceful as ever, he'd fixed it with a paperclip.

Of course, it wasn't all laughing until your pelvic floor was fit to give way. My husband worked for a manager with unrealistic dealines and worked every waking hour until the team broke and started to work to rule. In contrast, my workload was light, but I seemed to get a reputation for a reliable person to undertake mundane tasks, from collecting cheques from clients to collecting staff members from hospital. I vividly remember being sent to collect a cheque for a long overdue debt from a poultry processing client and being told to take the office mobile phone (those were the days!), "in case they try anything". I quietly wondered whether I was supposed to hit them with it. On arrival the premises were grim, blood everywhere from the door handles to the photocopier, but I got out with the cheque and without having to wield the mobile phone.

To this day I'll never understand how it was never fed back to us that from the client's point of view, it sounded as if there was constant uproar from our room on-site. Perhaps the managers and partners shielded us from it on the basis that we always got the work done, or perhaps the clients were oblivious. I certainly never get any such feedback on my teams, which makes me a bit sad in a way. I'd hope there are still some laughs to be had out of auditing.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net  

Do graduates have it too easy?

I can answer my own question in a way. I didn't. Back in the day, I got very average GCSE grades and left school with some pretty appalling A levels. As a result, I didn't get into my chosen university and got into the only college I could through clearing. I really wasn't suited to studying, but it was the done thing. As a result I came out of a poor college with an average degree. I took a job in a shop to keep out of the unemployment statistics, as no-one would offer me a position in my chosen career, but after 18 months of folding towels, decided it was time to try again.

I managed to get two job offers. One at the grand annual salary of £4,600 and one for £6,500. Both pretty lousy, but I took the one with the less heart-stopping salary as it was a step onto the ladder. Here I am 17 years later, after a number of moves up the ladder and I've got a senior management job with a reasonable sized firm. I worked hard, got through my professional exams with barely a hiccup and, bizarrely, have made a success of it all to date.

The shoe is now on the other foot and I'm the one trying to recruit graduates. We offer a lot more than £6,500 by way of salary, but wouldn't offer a position to anyone with my educational background (or my boss's, amusingly enough). I spent a lot of time interviewing about eight months ago, and saw graduates with a variety of social, numerical and literacy skills, until I interviewed one candidate, who seemed perfect for the role. We made him an offer to start with us in September 2012 and he was delighted to accept. I relaxed and was happy to have more time in my diary for the day job as I had no more interviews to conduct. Fast forward to three weeks ago, when he contacted us to say that despite signing a contract months ago, he wouldn't be joining us, and had decided to work for a bank instead. I'm not sure I'd have have the self confidence to turn down a job three weeks before I was due to start now, let alone when I was 21. There was nothing we could do, so it was back to interviewing. We interviewed one candidate, who intimated throughout the interview that he would accept our offer, if he wasn't offered one for more money elsewhere. It seemed odd, as he hadn't been made an offer, we clarified that point and moved on. We decided that he wasn't the right person for the role, and rejected him and later received a confused call, asking why the offer he'd previously received had been rescinded. Whether he was confused, naive, or just wanted the job so desperately, that he'd convinced himself it was in the bag, I don't know.

Another department has been looking for an office junior. They've only received two applicants. One was invited for interview, which they accepted, didn't turn up, and is now ignoring contact. The other has ignored our best attempts to contact them for a couple of months. Perhaps the reality of a nine to five role isn't so appealing when it comes down to it, perhaps they've had a better offer; but what confuses me throughout, is the common sense and common courtesy that seems to be missing.

Anyway, I'm back to interviewing and hope to strike lucky this time. All I can pin my hopes on is that the staff that we have successfully recruited are happy, genuine people, with a good work-life balance and are making the same sort of success of their lives as I did all that time ago. Surely it shouldn't be so difficult to find someone that wants that?

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