Case studies: Management accountant/finance analyst: Gemma Lewis

Gemma has a BSc in Actuarial Science at the University of Kent. She is a chartered management accountant and currently works as a management accountant/finance analyst.

After leaving university, I initially applied for graduate programmes. I was offered a graduate role in Mercer HR’s executive remuneration consulting team. Even though the role was different from what I had initially applied for, I was very excited to do the role as it seemed very interesting and I felt it would give me a great opportunity to develop.

My time at Mercer was very important in helping me to reach my current job. Not only did my experiences help me during the recruitment process, but more crucially, in the consulting team I enjoyed supporting and understanding the business I was working in and wanted to combine this with finance. I decided that I wanted to study for accountancy and specifically CIMA, as it is an accounting qualification with a business focus.

I successfully applied to the FSA’s management accounting programme. The programme is approximately three years and provides CIMA study support and the opportunity to complete a series of rotations around the finance division. The rotations helped me build my experience for my CIMA work experience log (which is needed to qualify) and also enabled me to build relationships across the division and gain an understanding of the different financial teams. The different rotations helped me realise that I most enjoyed the management accounting role, where I used my technical skills but also needed to work with the business to help them understand their financial position.

When I finished on the graduate programme, I started my current role as a senior management accountant with line management of a small team (one to two people). The CIMA qualification (I qualified in December 2010), the skills and behaviours that I developed throughout the graduate programme all helped me to get this role.

I have always been interested in managing people, as my experience during the graduate programme has given me the opportunity to observe different management styles and has made me realise what an impact a good manager has on their team. Therefore, I am happy that my current role has given me some line management experience, which means I am able to go on management training courses and get hands-on experience.

I really enjoy the people I work with and the culture at the FSA. Everybody I work with is friendly and open, and will take time to discuss any questions you have.

The FSA is not profit making and instead, works to regulate markets to protect firms and consumers. As such, I feel that the people that work here like fighting financial crime and are very passionate about what they do because they are doing it for the better of society.

The CIMA study is a big personal commitment, so make sure you’re ready and willing to take it on. As long as you are, there is great study support available and it is very rewarding in the end.

Additionally, technical accounting is only one part of a career as a management accountant. Other very important skills for a management accountant include building relationships, understand the business you work with, communicating and team work. These all make the role more interesting.