Case studies - business & administrative studies

• Commerce with French
• Accountancy

Simone - UK recruitment manager, Procter and Gamble

Simone chose to study commerce with French at the University of Birmingham.

Her business studies course has led her to roles with Procter and Gamble (P&G); first as a business account manager, a generalist human resources role, and subsequently as UK recruitment manager and specialist in graduate recruitment. Reflecting on the connections between choices made and outcome, Simone realises that a key theme is about getting everything she can from experiences. Business studies provided an environment of growth in which this outlook could thrive!

Simone advises fellow students to remember that "it’s all down to you." She suggests choosing carefully from options to shape your course. For her, a life-changing opportunity was provided by the chance to spend a year in France. She studied at Moulin III in Lyons and soon parted company with her English and Irish companions in university accommodation to lodge with a French national. She also took the chance to work at a local pizzeria in order to mix with the French in a lively work environment.

Simone’s experiences in France left her fired up to get all she could from her university experience in her last year. Her dissertation stressed to her the importance of self-managed learning. Because she knew what it was like to be an exchange student abroad, she channelled her energies into involvement with Erasmus and welcoming those in a similar position at Birmingham University.

Such experiences helped with her application to P&G. Many major companies have good links with UK university business departments and P&G gave a brand management presentation to her course group. The speaker triggered an interest in what it meant to develop others in a business environment. She was invited to a P&G presentation and soon after she submitted an application for human resources.

‘I’m glad I was not fully aware of the competition. It is important to trust your instincts about the function you want to work in. Also, just jump right in and engage with your time at university. Get involved, not only academically, but socially, and with societies; it will bring you opportunities! For companies, it really is all about life skills.’

P&G like to build from within and Simone is now getting to grips with her first management role. She has also become a specialist in team building. Looking back, she values some of the team-based opportunities her course provided and remembers stimulating case studies and the challenge of trying to get others involved. In the future she would like to take advantage of her company’s global perspective and work in Paris or Geneva. The idea of doing a broadening assignment in the mainstream of business development is an exciting future prospect.

Isabel – Trainee management accountant

Now in the final year of her three-year training programme with Masterfoods (part of the Mars UK Ltd Group), Isabel joined the company after graduating with a degree in accounting and finance from Lancaster.

Isabel chose management accounting because she wanted the variety of experience that working in industry allows. 'My training has allowed me to experience working in different areas of the company, to get to know the company and be a part of it. There is lots of interaction with other departments'.

Each year of training has been spent working in a different finance area of the company. The programme is structured around the practical experience required by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). This has included a factory-based role with an emphasis on cost accounting, budget management and capital control. Her current, and favourite, placement involves providing support to the sales and marketing departments. This involves tracking the performance of the company with emphasis on the brands, monitoring the market and providing information to the sales and marketing professionals. This function includes plenty of planning and forecasting. Isabel finds this area of work dynamic and when her three years of training is complete, she would like to remain in the field.

Many of the roles undertaken by management accountants focus on financial issues within the company, but there are functions that look outside, such as treasury and financial accounting. These roles can involve liaising with the outside world, such as financial institutions servicing the company, and preparing external reports. While Isabel tends not to have to wear business dress at work, those working in functions that do involve meeting with representatives of other companies and outside organisations have to keep to a stricter dress code.

The company has offices in various sites around the UK and trainees are expected to move around to gain experience and insight into the business. Isabel is currently based in the national headquarters in Leicestershire. Her current focus is on the final year of the training and on the final exams. Her degree subject was helpful; in particular it enabled Isabel to gain some exemptions from some of the CIMA examinations (all but one of the foundation examinations and one of the intermediate level). However, she has colleagues with degrees that are not relevant to finance or accounting who have progressed well. They have not had the benefit of exemptions from any CIMA exams but the introduction of computer-based assessment at foundation level has enabled them to progress faster than in the past. Now it is possible to take the assessment whenever they feel ready, rather than having to wait for the twice yearly exam dates.

The company pays for Isabel's exam fees and the taught courses and revision courses she attends. Some time off is given for study leave - two and a half days per course. However, this is for either a taught course or a revision course, so Isabel spends some of her own time on study. At the moment she attends two nights per week and some Saturdays. Unlike auditing where the work is often characterised by short-term assignments, it is not so easy to arrange study leave in a block with management accounting.