Allison Kirkby FCMA: Allison Kirkby FCMA

CASE STUDY Allison Kirkby FCMA

CIMA where business + finance meet Allison Kirkby FCMA Managing Director, Wella UK Procter & Gamble

Allison broadened her business horizons with CIMA, joined Procter & Gamble and brought a dormant market back to life taking P&G into profitable new territories.

This is her story‌ When Allison applied to join multi-national Procter & Gamble (P&G) she was tempted by the prospect of working with an organisation that delivers household names to consumers in 180 countries. It signalled the beginning of a truly inspiring international career that has delivered real dividends for P&G. The CIMA qualification opened the door to P&G and gave Allison the financial acumen and the broad business skillset to work on an international scale – qualities Procter & Gamble were quick to capitalise on.

CASE STUDY Allison Kirkby FCMA

Leading P&G into new territories By the mid-nineties, P&G began expanding operations across the Balkan regions. A CIMA background – with its international business and ethics focus – made Allison an obvious choice to lead the Eastern Europe team.

‘It was so exciting to be going into the country the minute the sanctions were lifted – and the challenge was to get P&G products out there, right across Serbia.’

Allison’s challenge? Entering and reinvigorating a dormant market and developing a sustainable, financially attractive business for P&G. It was also essential that they invested in local distributors to create a sustainable business, despite the difficult economic climate.

A unique situation Allison’s responsibility was to ensure that they had sufficient cash flow capability to actually buy the products and wait for the time of receiving the money back from retailers.

She also needed to make sure they had the ability to convert the local currency into hard currency as they were working in a hyper inflation environment.

‘The role of the finance manager in developing countries is absolutely critical. And CIMA provides a great grounding for supporting business growth in these interesting parts of the world.’

The situation presented a number of complex and interesting challenges, challenges that Allison feels she was able to work through thanks to her CIMA qualification and its focus on organisational development and strategy.

Broad business vision From a starting point of introducing simple necessities like soap, distribution was staggered, gradually introducing more luxurious goods and creating profitable results. Allison adds, ‘P&G’s business in Eastern Europe and the Balkans has gone from strength to strength’.

Adding value to P&G P&G recognises the value a CIMA qualified individual can add to the organisation, encouraging their finance managers to study for the CIMA qualification. Allison explains, ‘The added value of a CIMA trained individual is that they have a broader set of commercial knowledge and commercial finance skills.

The CIMA trained individual is able to work in partnership with manufacturing or commercial leaders and that means they add value from day one in their career.’

CIMA and P&G – a pioneering partnership Allison explains that companies like P&G don’t look just at your numerical qualification, they’re looking at what else a person has done around that and she feels that’s the difference with CIMA:

‘The CIMA qualification allowed me to train in a real live business environment. I’m a forward looking finance professional and with my CIMA grounding I was able to work within the business, driving the business forward.’

If members of the press are interested in CIMA case studies, please contact: Annette Heninger Press Officer T. +44 (0)20 8849 2427 E. annette.heninger@cimaglobal.com For general enquiries please contact: CIMA Contact team Chartered Institute of Management Accountants 26 Chapter Street London SW1P 4NP T. +44 (0)20 8849 2251 E. cima.contact@cimaglobal.com www.cimaglobal.com