This month, our main interview is with Ruxandra Ștețca FCCA, who swapped her career in finance for landscaping and arboriculture, having cofounded the business with her husband in Bucharest, Romania, back in 2009. ‘We put all our knowledge together in one pot – my experience of business and art history and his knowledge of plants and forestry,’ she says. Dig deeper.
We also look at how hedging energy prices can be a delicate balancing act; successful price risk management is all about exposures and not second-guessing the market. Hedging strategies can backfire and introduce additional accounting complexity. However, if done right, they offer clarity amid uncertainty. Learn more.
In careers, we learn more about the non-linear career shift – from micro-retirement to mid-life sabbaticals, professionals are reimagining their working lives. Apparently, the only way isn’t always up. This is the conclusion of WorkL’s 2025 Global Workplace Report, which, after analysing employee experiences in 120,000 organisations, found that flexibility has become the biggest career priority. Find out more.
This is set to be a great sporting year, with plenty of global events to look forward. But what’s it like to work in the world of high drama and nail-biting penalty shoot-outs? In our sector series, we look at career avenues for finance professionals in sports and entertainment, and what to expect. Kick off your career change.
And we ask what tomorrow’s career will look like. Finance professionals across Europe and North America must prepare for rapid changes. A major new report from ACCA looks in some detail at the way career paths for finance professionals globally are changing, with the aim of providing accountants with the necessary context they need to maximise their career potential in this new world. The report is part of a suite of ACCA resources that explores how careers in the accountancy and finance profession may evolve between now and 2035. Learn more.
Finally, ever heard of the ‘lipstick effect’? Offbeat economic indicators (OEIs) have been gaining traction since The Economist originated the Big Mac Index in the 1980s, famously comparing the price of hamburgers across major world cities. Among the most intriguing of these ‘psychological’ OEIs are those that operate as counter-cyclical indicators. These are typically ‘affordable luxuries’ that consumers seek out more frequently when bigger-ticket items become out of reach, one of the most famous of which is lipstick. Pucker up and find out more.
