SSF UK brought its Financial Accounting & Reporting Network together today at member organisation BDO LLP in Liverpool for a day focused on control ownership, intercompany processes and the people behind effective finance operations.
The day opened with a welcome and introduction before hearing from Nigel Britton, Partner and Head of Shared Services at BDO, alongside Andrew Ward and Ben Hall, who shared an overview of BDO’s reporting lifecycle. The session explored how their approach to FP&A, management reporting, statutory accounts and group consolidation has evolved, along with the key strategic and regulatory drivers shaping its next phase.
A key focus of the morning centred on control ownership and accountability, with members taking a deeper look at how controls operate in practice. Moving beyond theory, discussions explored the behaviours, responsibilities and organisational dynamics that determine whether controls truly work, and how factors such as clarity of ownership, team capability and stability can influence long-term effectiveness.
The conversation then turned to the people behind the process. Thank you to Remy Caplan and Cai Dennis from Hays, whose session brought a valuable people-focused perspective, exploring how talent strategy, retention and workforce capability directly impact whether control frameworks succeed in practice.
Following a networking lunch, the focus shifted to intercompany, with a member contribution from Hologic. Thank you to Michael Purvis for sharing practical insight into managing intercompany reporting across a global organisation, including the benefits of dedicated teams and the challenges organisations continue to face in driving consistency and accuracy.
The final session of the day reframed intercompany as more than a routine finance activity, positioning it as an early warning system for wider process and control issues. Members explored how recurring discrepancies can point to upstream challenges such as poor master data or unclear ownership, and how these insights can be used to strengthen governance and improve collaboration across shared services and local finance teams.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to join us today and contribute to the conversation, the buzz in the room, the networking and the conversation was brilliant and created an insightful and engaging day.
Thank you to BDO LLP for hosting the event, for keeping us fuelled and hydrated all day and providing the perfect setting for a day of open discussion and shared insight.
And a huge thank you also to our Network Leaders, Izabella Hockenhull and Fatiha Bougrassa, for all your hard work and planning shaping the agenda, facilitating today, making everyone feel welcome and comfortable to contribute and share and for continuing to evolve the network to reflect the priorities of the network.
Today’s event once again highlighted the power of bringing our members together to share real experiences, challenge thinking and explore practical solutions to common challenges.
The next event will be our Forward Focus session taking place online this September and we look forward to sharing more details soon!!
