Annie Guerard: finance director, Diesel.
| Position | ONE 2 ONE - Interview |
At the start of your career you wanted to be a dancer. Why did you opt for spreadsheets rather than the stage?
When I left school in France I wasn't too sure what direction I wanted to take. I was always good at ballet when I was young, but after passing my exams I decided to go to business school. My grandfather was a chartered accountant and it seemed like a sensible thing to do that would give me something to fall back on. At that age you want to try out all sorts of things, so after that I decided to come to London to study different dance techniques.
In the end, however, you earn more being an average accountant than being an average dancer, so I applied myself in that direction. My grandfather used to tell me that figures were the lifeblood of the company. He planted the accountancy seed in my mind at quite an early age.
You've clearly done better than average. Why do you think there are still so few female finance directors?
There are some excellent female accountants around and their numbers are growing. Accountancy is a great profession for women because at the lower level it can offer the flexibility of working part-time, say, with bought ledger, if they have children. It's a profession in which women are very much accepted.
The reason why more women don't make it to FD is mainly the choice they make of putting parenthood before their careers. Obviously you read about these superwomen who manage to juggle both, but the reality is that most of us are in the middle ground and, when children come along, our priorities can change.
Do you think it's feasible for women to have a family and be a successful FD?
It's possible, but I think it would also be immensely stressful. In a way, you'd have two families: you'd have your children at home and you'd have a team to lead at work. If you take your commitment to the shareholders and the board seriously and you are committed to your family, there's going to be a clash at some stage. Even being a management accountant is difficult in this situation. What if you're about to produce your month-end forecast and one of your children has a crisis? Some of the people on my team have such dilemmas and it can be heartbreaking to see. When you have a small team, you have to deliver, whatever your personal circumstances.
Do you think women still have to fight harder to make progress in accounting?
I've been lucky enough never to have experienced any kind of sexual discrimination. When I started out, I...
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