Which would you prefer? Gallivanting across the ski slopes of Switzerland or the grunt work of an audit? At the tender age of 21, accounting was the furthest thing from Rebecca Worthington’s mind. But for Worthington, now one of the UK’s youngest and most successful plc FDs at Quintain Estates, things have been much more exciting than she thought when she swapped her skis for a calculator.

‘It was my last year of university, and one thing I was absolutely sure about was I didn’t want to become an accountant,’ Worthington says candidly. Instead she chose to test the ski slopes of Switzerland and work in an international school teaching economics and serve as a housemistress. But she ‘absolutely hated it’. Fortunately with an economics and philosophy joint degree her route back to accountancy lay open.

Against all expectations

Despite her earlier preconceptions of tying herself to accountancy, Worthington ended up having a great time among like-minded people determined to get ahead in life: ‘I found myself among 600 other people who’d rather be students.’

Unlike many of her peers training at Coppers & Lybrand, she chose to study for three months then work for audit clients for the subsequent nine months. ‘When everyone is working until midnight you’re seen as a lightweight leaving at five thirty even with extra studying to do….I’d always recommend full time study courses.’

So Worthington knuckled down, seconded mainly to insurance clients, an experience she says she does not wish to repeat.

By the time she had worked with the audit team at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a scheme she had enjoyed as a young woman, she was unambiguous that ultimately an accountancy qualification would enable her to achieve her goals of travelling, enjoying herself, and earning money.

Her first job, following a job interview in a local pub, was a baptism of fire. ‘I wanted to work for a small business, and found myself at the Britton Group. They were consolidators, this time within the paper and plastics’ industry. I lasted five months.’

The company went through a partial management buy-out and a hostile takeover culminating in its eventual acquisition. Worthington learned her most important lesson during this period within her role as financial controller: man management.

Her FD invited her into the boardroom, where influential, rich executives that were interested in the business were gathered. He said: ‘Beccy, she’s brilliant…she can sort out anything financial you need to know.’ Inspired by her line manager’s confidence, Worthington set out to prove him right.

Once the acquisition was completed, a confident Worthington set her sights on another small exciting business where she could exert some influence. In 1998 she joined a 14-strong team at Quintain Estates.

‘I wanted to work somewhere I could make a difference. I got on well at Coopers but never fitted into their mould…never towed the line enough. The thing with audit is you’re always looking backwards and checking where I wanted to make a difference, which is especially easier in a small business.’

After two years, during which she helped the company introduce a Windows based accounting system, freeing it from old-fashioned DOS, she wanted to change her role again. ‘By the end of the second year there were no challenges left, so i knocked on chief executive Adrian Wyatt’s door and asked him what was my next challenge.’

New challenges

Although the company had grown, it faced a perception issue in the City. Its share price was ‘languishing’, so having found her new challenge Worthington set out to straighten out the company’s image.

With increased responsibility Worthington grew, as did the company. The business came under pressure to appoint an FD and the group accountant fitted the bill.
‘The City knew me well and thought me capable of doing the job, I’d been presenting the numbers and so Quintain decided to make me FD in July 2001.’
Leading the company through a refinancing project, in which the company renegotiated a move from fixed charges against assets to a syndicated corporate facility, gave the company flexibility. The change has enabled it to work on high-profile projects like the urban regeneration around Wembley and attain preferred bidder status to build a zero carbon science park in Bristol.

Despite, or maybe thanks to, her success in the world of finance Worthington is no conformist. Neither is she a sentimentalist over the future of the accountancy profession, despite it having given her the skills to forge her career. While she acknowledges that it gives students the very best background to move into business, she cites no-one from the industry as an inspiration.

That said she strongly advocates working in interesting companies that are small enough to make a difference in. ‘There are opportunities for people to take more senior roles in smaller businesses. If it takes you 15 years to get to FD of a FTSE 100 company ­ you’ll start off as a virtual teaboy… or going through FD of this and FD of that, my route seems more interesting to me.’

She believes that no one should change their personality to ‘fit in’, a thinly veiled reference to at her time at Coopers where she saw many women ‘give up what they were’ to progress. ‘And that’s why Quintain has been so brilliant for me ­ Adrian doesn’t want people to compromise their personality to fit in.’

But some things don’t change. Despite a new breed of female FDs coming through the ranks, few populate the higher echelons of the FTSE. Worthington believes things are still hard for women, as inevitably one member of the family has to compromise their career to look after the children, something she has experienced first hand. Thankfully her husband has taken on the main responsibility for looking after their two children.

‘Honestly without that I wouldn’t know what I’d have done.’
‘People shouldn’t hold themselves back for fear of failure, give it a go. If you don’t try you’ll never succeed. What’s the worst that can happen? You lose your job, so what?’

Click here to read the full newly qualified special report