PETER WALKER - VICE PRESIDENT (FINANCE)

Peter Walker is a law graduate & a barrister; he obtained his London University degree & read for the Bar as a result of part-time study, but rather than to work in the legal profession he preferred to remain in industry. Peter explains that an understanding of accountancy is an essential background to much of his work in industry & commerce, particularly when he was involved with a company expanding through take-overs. He was able both to analyse the accounts of prospective acquisitions, & to provide the legal advice during meetings with merchant bankers & financiers.

He has also undertaken special projects, such as the rescue of a business from probable insolvency, and the turn-around of poor accounting practices of another. He further used his accountancy knowledge in preparing business plans as well as to analyse those prepared by businesses seeking finance. Peter Walker was surprised at the occasionally poor quality of the information provided by business people looking for such assistance. Vital figures, such as a balance sheet, would not be supplied, and in one instance there was an error of 2 million pounds in one generally incomprehensible set of figures. He thought that those who prepared such plans were not applying sound book-keeping and accountancy principles to the figures, and felt that his involvement with the IFA and IAB helped him to find such errors and to avoid them when he had to prepare business plans.

He also benefited in another way, because his first published article was in the IFA journal, and since then he has written regularly for many magazines in the UK and for the British Polish Chamber of Commerce journal published in Warsaw. He has written four published books including ‘Finance for your Business’, which contained a chapter on how to prepare a business plan, but the publication now in print is a 4th edition of his Consumer Law published by Cavendish Publishing. This is a broad approach, but Peter Walker like many people in the modern economy has had to reinvent his career. His combination of law and accountancy qualifications have helped him to overcome those challenges, and he is currently Vice President (Finance) of a small company specializing in a particular sector of the telecommunications. 

CLIVE JOHNSON - MANAGING DIRECTOR,
KC & CO. FINANCIAL ACCOUNTANTS

Clive has worked as a chartered banker working with various establishments in London, before going on to re-train as an accountant, and holding the position as a Financial Controller for an international pharmaceutical company. Currently, Clive owns KC & Co Financial Accountants, an accountancy practice in Coventry that caters for much of the West Midlands area. Clive finds time to be involved with local traders associations where he gives advice on Tax related matters.