EUROPE

UK

Ocean Outdoor WINNER:

CFO Insight Q

Stephen Joseph

What are your most important professional achievements at your current company?

Improving profitability and leading the MBO of the business during a period of recession. Outdoor advertising is dominated by a few large players and to be leading a young team breaking the mould by pioneering technologies and creative ideas is in itself rewarding. Ensuring our people are aligned to the success of the business is an achievement I am most proud of, as well as being shortlisted in the ICAEW FD’s Excellence award for ‘Young FD of the year 2012’.

Q How did you do that?

Profitability was driven by a focus on project appraisal methods. Introducing criteria of not only the correct location but correct deal meant we made better decisions for our shareholders. Differentiation has also been a key factor - doing things differently to the standard has enabled success in all parts of the business.

Q

What education or prior experience helped you succeed at your current company?

It's the prior experience of those around me that I try and absorb as well as my own. From my CEO Tim Bleakley, it's that sales people react to their incentive schemes. It doesn't need to be complicated, in fact the less so the better.

Q Q

Q

What lessons did you learn on your way to becoming a CFO?

The best argument wins the debate and once a decision is made it’s a de- cision the team stands by.

What lessons have you learned as a CFO?

Your people are the most important part of the business and you need to have the ability to articulate a good argument particularly in debates with your CEO.

What are the key success factors for a CFO?

Being close enough to the CEO to be

able to provide challenge and being close enough to the business to feel its pulse.

Q

What are the key challenges for a CFO?

As well as the fundamentals such as cash flow I think it’s important a CFO ensures their team really understand the business and find their work adding value not creating process for its own sake.

Q

How did you overcome those challenges?

Again, it’s simple things – my team sit near me in an open plan office. I am open about commercial decisions being made and actively seek the team’s opinion. On the cash flow side I have a Rottweiler of a credit controller!

Q

How do you manage the relationship with your Board of

Directors?

With a rule of ‘No surprises’. If something is not going to plan we adopt 3 steps - inform, provide a solution and ask opinion.

24 Finance Monthly CeO AwArdS 2013