New Associate Andrea Pankhurst: a Problem-Solving SME Finance Specialist

Nov 13 2024 Business Updates

Andrea Pankhurst’s approach to leading finance and financial management in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is shaped by years of experience across diverse business sectors.

She appreciates the variety and scope that come with working for an SME, where the finance role often extends beyond monthly management accounts and business plans to include responsibilities for HR, IT, insurance, and even legal matters. As she puts it, “There isn’t really a typical day!”

Andrea’s career began as an auditor with a ‘Big Four’ accounting firm, where she earned her Chartered Accountant (FCA) qualification. This solid foundation, combined with her all-rounder approach, has allowed her to build practical problem-solving and commercial skills that are especially valuable in SME settings.

Over the years, Andrea has taken on roles such as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Finance Director (FD), and Financial Controller (FC), across fields as diverse as technology, retail, commercial cleaning, care provision, and the arts.

About Andrea

Andrea applies her problem-solving mindset primarily to streamline and improve inefficient or error-prone processes and systems, but she believes that any change must translate to measurable business improvements, ultimately enhancing financial performance.

She has successfully managed several system implementations and integrations that have had significant, lasting impacts on the businesses she’s worked with.

Another focus for Andrea is team development and mentoring. She has built finance teams from the ground up and is passionate about helping her team members grow and reach their full potential. This investment in people has helped create strong, motivated finance teams that contribute meaningfully to the business.

Andrea’s experience across different sectors and growth stages has made her a confident communicator. She’s skilled at engaging with various audiences, from Board and audit committee members to non-finance colleagues who need financial information explained in practical terms, to supporting apprentices as they learn the basics of transaction processing.

What Andrea will help EFM to do

Andrea brings a record of improving business performance and supporting growth, covering everything from turnaround roles and acquisition-driven expansion to helping early-stage companies transition to scale-ups and managing major change initiatives.

Her commitment to refining and integrating systems, both within Finance and across other business processes, will help EFM clients increase efficiency and productivity. This approach will also lead to clearer, more accessible management information (MI) that allows for timely reporting, budgeting, and cash flow analysis.

Andrea’s communication skills and commercial outlook make her a valuable partner to clients, whether assisting a sales team in preparing financial data for a contract bid or negotiating directly with bodies like HMRC to resolve tax issues.

For smaller SMEs and start-ups, her expertise in building finance teams from scratch offers a cost-effective way to establish an in-house finance function by using EFM’s outsourced services.

In her own words

Andrea says of becoming an EFM Associate: “For someone like me, who comes from a highly SME-focused background but has worked across many different sectors, EFM is a natural fit.”

“I will be able to work with a wide-ranging SME client portfolio, and those clients get the benefit of a part-time Finance Director they can use as and when needed, rather than paying a full-time FD’s salary. Additionally, I will have a variety of work, which will keep me stimulated and I will benefit from a great work-life balance thanks to EFM’s flexible operating model.”