Recently named Young Finance Director of the Year at the 2024 Finance Awards Wales, Katherine Bowen FCCA is a walking illustration of the value of a career in accountancy. In the space of just six years, she has moved through a rapidly changing organisation to become one of the youngest CFOs in the country.
It is, she says, a really rewarding career. ‘You have a seat at the table when the fundamental strategic decisions are made. You’ve got the flexibility to work in any industry, anywhere in the world. You can make a real difference and have a positive impact on the success of the company,’ she says.
The CFO of the operational transformation and business processing services provider Target Group qualified while working for a small firm of accountants in her native Swansea – winning two global awards along the way (for the highest aggregate mark in the professional papers and the highest audit mark in the world), as well as the Sir Julian Hodge prize – before moving to Deloitte in Cardiff.
‘If you’re all pulling together you can achieve pretty much anything’
‘I wanted to start my career off in practice because that was my opportunity to gain a breadth of experience in different industries and different technical areas,’ she says. ‘But I always wanted to move into industry because you have a chance to make a difference to a specific company and add value as part of a core team.’
Stepping up
Target Group was set up in Cardiff in 1979 as a financial services software provider, developing over the years to provide Financial Conduct Authority-regulated business process services to the UK financial services market. Its acquisition by the Indian multinational Tech Mahindra in 2016 triggered a stage of intense change.
The company was already in the midst of a significant modernisation process when the Covid-19 hit. ‘The pandemic was a crazy time,’ says Bowen. ‘We were designated as key workers, and we had to move the entire workforce of about 1,100 people to remote working. It proved that if you’re all pulling together you can achieve pretty much anything.’
CV
2023
CFO, Target Group
2021
Director of strategic finance, Target Group
2020
Head of strategic finance, Target Group
2019
Chief of staff, Target Group
2018
Finance business partner, Target Group
2014
Assistant manager rising to senior manager, Deloitte
2011
Audit and assurance senior, Gerald Thomas & Co
The pandemic arrived while Bowen was undertaking the role of chief of staff to Target Group’s CEO – a role she was initially hesitant about accepting, as it was a step away from core finance. ‘Chief of staff is quite an American concept, and I wasn’t familiar with what the job would mean, but I thought I had nothing to lose so I went for it.’ It was, it turns out, ‘the best experience’.
‘My CEO would point me towards anything that was keeping him up at night’
‘My CEO would point me towards anything that was keeping him up at night, which meant I was always in the front seat when exciting things were happening. I loved it.
‘That was the thing that really allowed me to step into an executive mindset. It gave me exposure to the executive team, and to different levels of the company. I attended board meetings and helped to build our relationship with our parent company in India.’
Bowen was asked to stay on in the role as the company went through three rapid changes of CEO: ‘I became the “right hand” for each of them during the transition, and that allowed me to step up a little bit more.’
Strategic shift
The pandemic accelerated a shift in strategic focus for the company. ‘It helped us realise that we could work with our UK colleagues remotely,’ says Bowen, ‘so we asked ourselves why we were not working just as closely with our colleagues in India.’
The result has been a much closer relationship between the UK company and its Indian parent, which in turn brings significant benefits to clients, with the UK bringing regulatory expertise and Tech Mahindra powering digital transformation.
After a restructuring at the top of the organisation, Bowen was appointed CFO in January 2023. Her nomination for the Finance Awards Wales, initiated by her own team, talks of her strategic clarity, her ‘ability to tackle challenges with calmness and determination, as well as her drive to encourage a culture of accountability… Her dedication to enhancing the quality of financial reporting has facilitated more informed decision making throughout Target.’
‘It’s not about how many hours you do. It’s about the quality of the output. That’s what matters’
Quality of life
The culture at Target Group has clearly had a profound impact on Bowen. ‘I moved from a Big Four firm where we worked long hours, which I found very motivating,’ she says. Target’s approach is very different but, it turned out, equally effective. ‘Our culture is clear that colleagues are at the heart of everything,’ she says. ‘The belief is that if a team is happy and fulfilled, it will be more productive. It’s not about the quantity of your work, or how many hours you do. It’s about the quality of the output. That’s what matters.’
It’s a style of working that, at the time, was unfamiliar. ‘I am definitely guilty of being a workaholic on occasion and I find it hard to switch off, so it was a struggle to move to a culture where people were actively encouraging me to go home on time and not to work at weekends,’ Bowen admits. ‘I’m very grateful to my boss at Target for making me do things differently.’
‘Finance is the output of a business, but people are the input’
The culture has, she adds, had a huge impact on her own leadership style. ‘Finance is the output of a business, but people are the input and are critical to making that business a success. If they are happy and engaged, they run the business successfully,’ she says. ‘I like to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard, and they all feel part of something. That really matters to me.’
The award ceremony was held in Cardiff in May, while Bowen was on maternity leave. ‘I got in the car, brushed my three-year-old’s Monster Munch crumbs off my dress and had a great night,’ she recalls. ‘It was a really fun evening with lots of familiar faces that really showcased the talent we have in finance in south Wales.’
