Journey To CFO Series: supporting accountancy and finance professionals on the road to the top job in finance

​Part of the Investigo family for eight years, Andy Young’s helped hundreds of accountancy and finance professionals navigate just about every obstacle you can imagine on their rise up their career ladder. Those obstacles tend to get higher the closer you get to chief financial officer. Keen to ease that transition to the top role in finance, Andy launched the Journey to CFO – an initiative which provides guidance, insight and inspiration for accountancy and finance professionals looking to take the step to CFO.We caught up with the director for Investigo’s accountancy and finance team to find out more about Journey to CFO, how it’s gone in its first year and what’s coming up in 2024.

Tell us about the Journey to CFO series.

Journey to CFO is a series which aims to provide inspiration, insights and advice to current and aspiring CFOs through events, thought leadership content and community. Accountancy and finance is the heartland of Investigo – it’s where our brand began over 20 years ago and over time, we’ve built up a huge network of quality candidates, worked with hundreds of highly reputable companies and established a team of expert consultants who we believe are the best in the business. This series is all about using our combined knowledge, experience and network to create something that adds value back to the industry.

What kind of events have you hosted so far?

Last year we hosted a Football in Finance event featuring Tom Ball, CFO of Ipswich Town Football Club, who delved into the intricacies of running a professional football club from a finance perspective. The event welcomed over 50 senior finance professionals and the feedback we received from clients and candidates was overwhelmingly positive.

For our second event of the year we partnered with KPMG to host a panel discussion on how ESG will change the landscape of finance. The panel included George Richards, Hilary Eastman and Chirag Shah, all from KPMG, Kylee Dickie from National Grid, and me, and we discussed everything from business readiness, reporting systems and assurance, to the effects of ESG on fundraising.

We’ve been sharing a bunch of content on our events, from interviews to articles, on our LinkedIn channel.

What has been the response from our network and the market more broadly?

It’s been really well received. We’ve tried to create a broad plan to ensure we have something for everyone in our network, regardless of their seniority or industry. In addition to being educational and inspirational, we’re aiming to create a sense of community and the feedback we’ve received so far suggests we’re on the right track.

 What’s coming up this year? 

Our first event of the year will be a panel discussion around navigating a career as a female in male dominated industries. We have some really impressive panellists lined up and it’s set to be a fantastic event. We’ll be sharing more details shortly.

We also have an interview with Hilary Eastman at KPMG, which we’ll be sharing for those who weren’t able to attend the ESG event. We have plenty of other events, interviews and content planned for the remainder of the year, including a focus on newly qualified accountants.

This series is ultimately designed for our network and we’re always open to ideas and thoughts on topics, so please reach out to me at Andy.Young@investigo.co.uk if you’d like to discuss them with me.

​How can people get involved?

Apart from keeping an eye out for communications on our LinkedIn channel, the easiest way to get involved is to sign up to the Journey to CFO series on our website: Journey to CFO. Alternatively, feel free to contact me directly and I’ll be happy to tell you more about the series and discuss your individual career – wherever you are on your journey.

If you’re an accountancy and finance professional looking to secure your next role or you’re a hiring manager looking to add to your team, please contact our accountancy and finance team.