Your CV will thank you for it

In our own skyscraper city, Peter Anderson organised the securitisation finance for the construction of Canary Wharf. Gaynor Coley oversaw the financing and cost management of Cornwall’s newest tourist attraction, the Eden Project. John Smith, finance director of the BBC, “turned it into a different organisation, financially”, said someone who knows him well.

At the Learning and Skills Council, FD Philip Lloyd started at zero and, within six months, created a public body with an £8bn budget with which to fund colleges and providers of work-based learning. Eric Tracey was a Deloitte partner when he was seconded to bail out the troubled PFI group Amey. Rick Bloomfield of Don-Bur Holdings almost single-handedly steered the company away from bankruptcy.

You’ll agree that all of these are amazing achievements – but they have something else in common, too. All the FDs listed had their achievements recognised in the past three years by being short-listed in the Finance Director of the Year category of the Accountancy Age Awards. These awards recognise FD success in large organisations and small, in the private sector and public.

This year the category is split into three to reflect the different sorts of challenges facing larger companies, smaller businesses and the not-for-profit sector. Allow me to take this opportunity to encourage enterprising readers to email us for an entry form at [email protected], or visit our website at www.financialdirector.co.uk/awards. The deadline for entries is 23 July. Go on. Get yourself the recognition you deserve.