I joined the Government of Jersey as a trainee accountant nearly 20 years ago after graduating from university. I worked in many roles, including management accounting, governance and transformation. In addition to my current finance role, I have recently been appointed as the chief officer of the employment, social security and housing department. This is outside of the finance function and shows how accountants can transfer their skills.
I love working in the public sector and being able to make a real difference for islanders. Government in Jersey combines elements of national and local government, which keeps things interesting and satisfying. I’ve been involved in building, and paying for, a new hospital for the island; understanding the impact of multinational tax agreements; ensuring the sustainability of our long-term care scheme; and redrafting laws. It’s also a privilege to work alongside such great people.
Jersey is fortunate to have relatively low levels of borrowing and good reserves
Jersey is a wonderful place to live, but it faces some challenges. It is small, which means we are a tightknit community. However, this can create issues around the availability of resources and working at a smaller scale. But being smaller can also be an advantage in the public sector, as it means we can be nimble and join up services more efficiently than in bigger jurisdictions. That said, we do also face similar problems to many other places, such as shifting demographics, climate change and the rising costs of healthcare. Finance professionals have a key role to play in supporting government in meeting these challenges. Jersey is also fortunate to be in strong position, with relatively low levels of borrowing and good reserves.
I believe my biggest achievement has been that in every role I’ve ever had, I’ve left things better than when I found them. Part of this is through building great teams, and I get a real sense of achievement in seeing people develop and grow.
My favourite quote comes from Albert Einstein: ‘Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler’. This can be applied in many situations where you are looking to make improvements to processes.
If I had law-making powers, I would make 3D pie charts illegal
If I had law-making powers, I would make 3D pie charts illegal. If I wasn’t in finance, I think I would still be doing something numerical, possibly in analytics or data science. The advances we are currently seeing in these areas are incredibly exciting, and I believe it is a core area that accountants should be getting involved with.
Outside of work, I have three children who keep me busy. However, I do make time to do exercise, which is important to help keep your ‘balance’, especially when work is demanding. I like to swim a couple of times a week, and enjoy running on Jersey’s beautiful cliff paths.
