Business growth adviser

Audrey Williamson

Name: Audrey Williamson
Job Title: Business growth adviser, Deloitte
Working Hours: 40-50 hours a week
Employer: Deloitte
Salary: $50k-$60k for newly qualified person, up to $150k with experience
Qualifications needed: Degree in accounting, commerce or finance plus chartered accountant (CA) qualification or equivalent.
Career prospects: Partner in a global professional services firm.

What do you do?
There are two main parts to my role. One is to help young New Zealand businesses raise capital - this is under a New Zealand Trade & Enterprise-backed initiative called Escalator. The second is to act for privately owned businesses or individuals who want to either buy or sell a business.

Why did you choose the job?

I trained as an accountant because I liked working with numbers. I was probably also influenced by my father constantly telling me that he wanted an accountant in the family.

Over time, it became apparent that preparing and auditing accounts wasn't a passion and that I was happier talking to business owners about their growth aspirations and helping them meet those goals.

Having realising this, I moved to a corporate finance role in Scotland after I qualified as a chartered accountant and, a few years later, I had the opportunity to come to New Zealand on a two year secondment with Deloitte. That was five and half years ago - and I'm still here.

Why is the job important?

The capital raising part of the job is important because it's helping Kiwi entrepreneurs realise their dream - to find them the funding they need to make their idea, invention or start-up business into a commercially viable and successful company.

When I'm helping someone to buy or sell a business, they are either creating or realising their wealth - this can be very emotional when the company is the owners 'baby', which they have built from scratch.

What is the best part of the job?

The satisfaction of completing a transaction as it means that my client can start the next phase of their company's growth plans or start working on their next personal objective. It's common for these kinds of transactions to take four to six months to complete so it's great to see the hard work over that time come to fruition.

What are your strengths?

Financial analysis and professionalism is ingrained in my role but it also calls on a good deal of tenacity and negotiation skills. As I get to work with a variety of people across a wide range of industries it's also important to be able to adapt to different people and different situations.

I've also developed my sense of humour and a thick skin - being the person in the middle of negotiations means that I'm quite often in the firing range from both the buyer and seller in a transaction.

What are the challenges of the job?

Finding capital can be difficult as entrepreneurs and investors have different views and different risk profiles.

My challenge is to make sure that entrepreneurs have a well developed business plan that can stand up to robust questioning from potential investors as well as making sure that the two parties are compatible from a cultural point of view. It's important for me to be aware of industry dynamics and know who is prepared to invest and on what terms.

What experience / skills do you require to do the job well?

A good knowledge of the venture capital industry and recent business and economic trends together with an understanding of what makes a business 'tick'.

Analytical skills are also really important. I'm lucky because Deloitte has developed an excellent framework called GrowthPLUSTM which helps me with my analysis. It's also important to be well networked, have a good track record in the market and have excellent project management skills.

Where would you like to be in five years?

Since I've left it a bit late to have an international yachting career I'd be delighted to still be working for Deloitte. I've found a career that I really enjoy in a company that has a great culture and is performance driven.

Job hunting advice?

Take a long term view of your career. It may be worth a couple of years of 'pain' to get where you ultimately want to be. Also, choose organisations that have cultures that are aligned to yours - if you don't enjoy who you work with, it's unlikely that you'll enjoy your job.