You can now book your place on our Management Accountants week taking place from the 16-19 November. We will be hosting a series of webinars across a range of topics which we hope you will find interesting and valuable to you and your team members. The webinars will take place throughout the day and we will update this page with the schedule.
The week will include:
Day 1 - Tuesday 16 November | ||
09.30 – 09.45 | Registration and Welcome | Rachel McLone, Learning & Development Manager - BUFDG |
09.45 – 10.30 | The state of Higher Education Dr Alexis Brown gives an overview of the latest policies and proposals impacting on the HE Sector. | Dr Alexis Brown, Director of Policy and Advocacy - HEPI |
10.45 – 11.45 | The current HE Finance Landscape and what this means for universities James Kennedy considers the current and future state of HE and what this means for Finance teams.
| James Kennedy, CEO – Middlesex University |
11.45 – 13.00 | Lunch Break | |
13.00 – 13.45 | Financial scenario modelling: a study of UK universities Financial scenario modelling appears to offer the potential to help universities cope with an uncertain funding environment. By means of a questionnaire survey of UK universities, supported by interviews with members of finance departments, this session explores the prevalence and construction of financial models used for scenario analysis. Please note this session will not be recorded. | Paul Cropper, Deputy Director of Finance – University of Huddersfield |
14.00 – 14.45 | Midlands and Wales Networking session We are hoping to use this week to launch some on-line networking sessions for Management Accountants, which we hope with support we can carry on post the event. Please come and join to meet other attendees and to raise any items you would like to discuss: How do others approach things? What are they working on or developing? What are their challenges and how have others overcome them? Rachel will be hosting with the support of a member of the BUFDG L&D Group. Please come ready to contribute. | Rachel McLone, Learning & Development Manager – BUFDG and Chris Key, Deputy Finance Director – University of Warwick |
15.00 – 16.00 | Holding Difficult Partnering Conversations The session aims to increase your confidence in holding some difficult partnering conversations and give tips, techniques and tools to support you in holding these coversations. | Shirley Dalziel, Director and Simon de Cintra, Communications Trainer - Develop Global |
16.15 – 17.00 | Sector Pensions: What next? Rebecca Dodd from Mercer and Stuart McLean from UUK will take you through what’s been happening and what is yet to come in the world of the sector wide pension schemes in Higher Education. Rebecca will look at the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) and will share what some institutions have done or are thinking about. Stuart will focus on the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) – the current situation and how things may develop in the future. Please note this session will not be recorded. | Rebecca Dodd, Partner – Mercer and Stuart McLean, Head of Pensions - UUK |
Day 2 - Wednesday 17 November | ||
09.30 – 10.15 | Trends in the Finance Sector An overview of what’s happening in the wider Finance sector and the skills required to succeed.
| Gemma Shooter, Senior Client Partner and Harry Mensah, UK Employer Relations Specialist - CIMA |
10.45 – 11.45 | Working in partnership with Planning to deliver strategy and compliance The session will look at compliance and address what planning functions need to do in order to maintain compliance to the various regulators, funding councils, and sector bodies. It will inform on the processes used and the people involved. | Miranda Routledge, Director of Planning – Loughborough University, John Britton - Experienced HE Planner (Wales), Laura Knox - Director of Planning, University of St Andrews, and Sally Turnbull, Interim Planning & Policy Lead - University of Wolverhampton |
11.45 – 12.30 | Lunch Break | |
12.30 – 13.30 | Communicating with Impact This session looks at ways to develop personal and team impact, building relationships and connecting with others through storytelling and developing engaging communication techniques and styles. | Claire Harvey MBE - Anatta Training Ltd |
13.45 – 14.45 | Course Costing for HEI's If a course or award is not financially viable in its own right, there may be stronger non-financial reasons for developing or continuing with it. Clive will take us through the many considerations to take into account to help the university make an informed decision. | Clive Fletcher, Principal Financial Accountant – University of Worcester |
15.00 – 15.45 | South-West Networking Session We are hoping to use this week to launch some on-line networking sessions for Management Accountants, which we hope with support we can carry on post the event. Please come and join to meet other attendees and to raise any items you would like to discuss: How do others approach things? What are they working on or developing? What are their challenges and how have others overcome them? Rachel will be hosting with the support of a member of the BUFDG L&D Group. Please come ready to contribute. | Rachel McLone, L & D Manager, BUFDG and Simon Arthurs, Chief Operating Officer and Finance Director – Plymouth Marjon University |
16.00 – 17.00 | Building Resilience and Dealing with Adversity This session will help you to explore why challenges and resistance appears, and how to build personal and team resilience and better manage uncertaintly, such as how to approach a certain problem or what goals to prioritise. | Claire Harvey MBE - Anatta Training Ltd |
Day 3 - Thursday 18 November | ||
09.30 – 10.15 | Environmental Sustainability is everyone's responsibility If 2020 and 2021 brought challenges around the way we live and work as a result of the pandemic, then 2022 will undoubtedly bring further challenges relating to climate change and environmental sustainability. All over the world, people are questioning the behaviours and practices which are leading to loss of biodiversity and climate change, and looking at new ways of working and living. We all await with interest the outcomes of COP26, taking place in Glasgow in November. Looking at our own organisations, how is the relationship between environmental sustainability and financial sustainability developing and how, as finance professionals, can we bring about change in our organisations? The session will look at the external and internal drivers for change and focus in particular on how Finance teams can respond to these challenges. | Sally McGill, Chief Financial Officer – Staffordshire University |
10.30 – 11.30 | Writing an effective Business Case A powerful business case is the key to making good ideas happen. In this fast-paced session, we’ll look at what a business case is and what it needs to do. We’ll explore the three key elements that make a compelling case for change. And we’ll discover how we can use words, data and emotion to persuade even the most sceptical stakeholder. There’ll be plenty of time for questions and discussion, too.
| Simon Perks, Director – Sockmonkey Consulting |
11.45 – 12.15 | CIMA – An Introduction to Qualifications
| Gemma Shooter, Senior Client Partner and Harry Mensah, UK Employer Relations Specialist - CIMA |
12.15 – 13.00 | Lunch Break | |
13.00 – 14.00 | Effective Data Visualisation for Finance - An introduction The insights gained from data analysis are only ever truly valuable if they can be clearly articulated to other people. This talk will introduce the ingredients for a successful visual presentation of data – from considering the needs of your audience, through choosing the right charts and graphs, to applying design techniques with human perception in mind. | Alan Rutter, Founder – Fire Plus Algebra |
14.15 – 15.00 | USS Deficit Recovery Contribution Modeller A walk through of the USS provision modeller for those interested in how the mechanics of how the calculation works. This session is aimed mainly at those who are new to the calculation, rather than those who are experienced users. | Chris Swift, Finance Manager – University of Warwick |
15.15 – 16.00 | Juggling the short, medium and long term job list With 101 things to do in the day/week/month, one of the hardest things to do is create time to be better positioned in the future. i.e. to start tackling the things on your list which you know will be needed, but which will not deliver immediate benefit. This session is about:
| Alan Bates, Independent Consultant to UK Higher Education Institutions |
16.15 – 17.00 | South-East Networking Session We are hoping to use this week to launch some on-line networking sessions for Management Accountants, which we hope with support we can carry on post the event. Please come and join to meet other attendees and to raise any items you would like to discuss: How do others approach things? What are they working on or developing? What are their challenges and how have others overcome them? Rachel will be hosting with the support of a member of the BUFDG L&D Group. Please come ready to contribute. | Rachel McLone, L & D Manager - BUFDG, Andrew Grice, Finance Director - University of Reading and Elizabeth Francis, Director of Financial Planning and Analysis - University College London |
Day 4 - Friday 19 November | ||
09.30 – 10.15 | Research Funding and Finance, an update from UKRI Andrew will discuss how to maintain compliance against UKRI financial grant terms and conditions, the balance between pre and post award responsibilities and highlighting common errors to avoid, all wrapped up with what to expect if UKRI pay you a visit.
| Andrew Dicken, Deputy Head of Funding Assurance - UKRI |
10.30 – 11.15 | Optimising Research Finance - Northumbria University The sector level TRAC data recurrently tells us that the financial recovery on research is around 70%. This creates challenges for institutions as other funding streams becoming increasing squeezed (capped UG fees since 2017 and costs continue to rise) and rising costs (staff 5-6%). Optimising external funding therefore becomes essential for institutions in achieving financial sustainability across a portfolio of activities. Simon and Fiona will share some ideas and suggestions from a range of institutions and scenarios, which may help colleagues understand how they can support research colleagues in optimising the benefits of external funding. | Fiona Belsey, Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Simon Newitt, Chief Financial Officer – Northumbria University with Samuel McClenaghan, Deputy Finance Director and Yvonne Burrell, Head of Finance (Research) – University of Warwick |
11.30 – 12.15 | Research Finance Networking session Following the two research presentations, we will use this time to reflect on some of the current challenges and opportunities withing research finance. Please join the session ready to participate. We hope to use this session as a launch pad for future networking sessions for Research Finance members. | Samuel McClenaghan, Deputy Finance Director and Yvonne Burrell, Head of Finance (Research) – University of Warwick with Fiona Belsey, Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Simon Newitt, Chief Financial Officer – Northumbria University |
12.15 – 13.00 | Lunch Break | |
13.00 – 14.00 | Developing a Business Partnering Function The session, through use of a case study, will identify the critical areas to consider at each point of the partnering journey. Shirley will highlight questions to ask to identify roles, skills and structure required in a partnering approach. Also how to make the partnering approach work in practice by the use of virtual aligned teams; communications; helping managers to be 'willing, able and allowed' to move to a partnering approach. | Shirley Dalziel, Director – Develop Global |
14.15 – 15.00 | Understanding Financial Performance through TRAC This session will unpack what TRAC is, the information it uses and the outputs that can be generated from it. We will outline how the data has been used by Government and Funders and the benefits that can be drawn from this. We will consider the benchmarking information that is available and assess the different alayses that can be produced from the data to support the institution. The session will give you an opportunity to consider how the TRAC data set can further enhance the analysis of financial performance of different activities across the institution. | Andrew Bush, Director - KPMG |
15.15 – 16.00 | Northern and Scottish Networking session We are hoping to use this week to launch some on-line networking sessions for Management Accountants, which we hope with support we can carry on post the event. Please come and join to meet other attendees and to raise any items you would like to discuss: How do others approach things? What are they working on or developing? What are their challenges and how have others overcome them? Rachel will be hosting with the support of a member of the BUFDG L&D Group. Please come ready to contribute. | Rachel McLone, L & D Manager, BUFDG and Victoria Jackson, Director of Finance - University of Sheffield |
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We are still working with a number of potential contributors for which we expect to confirm some additional sessions next week.
Delegates just need to purchase one ticket to access all the sessions. This will allow access to all the recorded sessions and resources should you miss any throughout the week. Tickets cost £95 plus VAT, however, there will be a 20% discount for additional tickets for staff at the same HEI (see details below). For any queries on the event, please contact rachel@bufdg.ac.uk
Discounts for additional tickets:
When you book your first ticket your booking confirmation email will include a 20% discount code for you to share with colleagues at your own HEI so when the code is used on any additional bookings from the same HEI they will be discounted by 20% (i.e. additional bookings will cost £76 plus VAT when using the code). Therefore, if you have several bookings to make for your HEI, ensure you book a single ticket first, wait for the discount code in the confirmation email and then book the other tickets. If you are likely to have several bookings from your HEI, please co-ordinate this process before any bookings are made if possible, to avoid the need for refunds as much as possible.
Tagged : Management Accounting, Annual Conference
Type : Training
Please contact info@bufdg.ac.uk for more information
