Bang on the money

Newly appointed Financial Director Nadean McNaught and her predecessor Jim Wallace explained to Elizabeth Howlett why being an FD at Transdev Blazefield isn’t all about numbers 

I met with the new Transdev Blazefield Financial Director (FD), Nadean McNaught and her predecessor Jim Wallace at the company’s Blackburn offices. It has been at least 10 years since CBW has interviewed an FD – let alone two at once. Jim was focusing on imparting some of his 11 years of experience on to Nadean, while preparing for retirement. On the other hand, newcomer to the transport industry, Nadean was rearing to use some of her commercial background to enhance the business.

When I began the interview, the pair asked what I was expecting a financial director to be like. I didn’t have any expectations, but whatever I could have imagined would not have done either of them justice. The stereotype of finances is certainly challenged when faced with Nadean and Jim.

What does an FD’s role entail?

Jim Wallace (JW): In my opinion, finance is no good if you sit in the office and do accounts all day. Sometimes, the finance office will do the accounts for the month and then slide the figures under the Managing Director’s door, without communicating with anyone. That’s not how we do things here.

My view is to do it well, you have to [wlm_nonmember][…]

[/wlm_nonmember][wlm_ismember]be involved with the business and communicate with everyone at every level to understand what it is doing. If they got a new route tender I would review it and see what pricing was involved. When someone discussed a Blackburn service for example, I had a basic understanding of what was going on. If they wanted to change a route, I had a flavour of what was involved.

Nadean McNaught (NM): You have to have a commercial understanding of the business and understand its operational drivers. The numbers are just the output of those two things.

There is the traditional way of looking at a bus business and then there’s the consumer way. The blend of the FD role covers a lot of aspects to do with people, which Jim and I are very passionate about. It is a strategic enabler for us.

If you look at the bus industry, everything is increasingly focused around social media and digital marketing. Everyone wants WiFi and USB ports on their buses and it is important that we move with the times.

Can you describe an average working week?

JW: We would typically have two days in Harrogate, one day in Burnley and then maybe two half-days in Blackburn. Our role is structured to be split between finance and commercial. For example, last week we were in York and Harrogate going through budgets with the business managers. We then met a local authority in York to talk about going forward and had a discussion with our lawyers. We also travelled to Keighley for a board meeting.

NM: We are much more focused around influencing strategy, so we need to be out there and meeting people. Given the geography and depth and breadth of the role it’s probably more enhanced in this business than in others.

I think it is right for us to be out and about. However, one of the things I am mindful of is how we use technology so that everyone doesn’t have to go to a particular location; we lose a lot of management time when we have 10 people travelling. There is an opportunity to reassess that and use technology to our advantage.

Jim, can you tell us about your many years with Transdev?

JW: When Transdev bought Blazefield 11 years ago, they wanted someone to help with the transition from being a privately-owned company to becoming a group. I helped with that for a year and was then appointed as the FD. We then merged with the commercial side and my role ever since.

I have enjoyed being involved, extending my role to support other members of the team. We have seen 11 years of gradual growth while dealing with various issues of loss and profit, while making sure everyone has all the correct information. It’s a balance of working together and pushing people along when needed.

Our Blackburn depot has had a rollercoaster ride since 2009. It has been up and down and is now on the way up again. When it was down, there were staff and fleet reductions and it was a tough balancing act. Finance is there to provide support. Over time we have had 11 clean audits and haven’t missed any deadlines, but that isn’t an achievement. That is simply me doing my job.

Nadean, what aspect of the role most appealed to you?

NM: I was interested in the role but it wasn’t until I met with Jim and Alex at the interview that I thought; I really want the job.

The variety of the role and the business itself were appealing to me. Coming from a retail background allowed me to see some of the possible synergies. Alex Hornby’s approach plays to my strengths. Looking at the business in terms of product lines is very similar to a retail environment.

I spent a lot of time when I was at CostCutter looking at what the consumer proposition was. This is an eloquent way of knowing who the customers are and understanding what attracts them to you. A customer or passenger has to feel an attachment and that’s got to come from real clarity about what the business is offering. Alex has got that passion.

JW: Interviews are a two-way street. People need to know what sort of company they’re coming to. There is approximately £50m of revenue, so it is a good size operation but not too big. At the end of the day we employ people we like and I think that came across in the interview. It was a unanimous decision to hire her.

Nadean, what do you hope to bring to the business?

NM: This is my first director role, but I have previously been in senior finance roles. In my last position at CostCutter, I looked after a senior management group, consisting of 43 people.

I have been fortunate in some of my roles in not being blinkered by only seeing things from a financial point-of-view – but from different perspectives.

In all business decisions there is a financial impact that you need to be thoughtful of. Jim has 11 years’ worth of experience and it isn’t going to come to me overnight. I need to try to understand where I can help support and influence some of the decisions.

First of all I hope to pick up on the work that Jim has started and get the business focused on how we can boost driver operational efficiencies. My experience has taught me to start with that end, and work backwards.

I am also trying to get the team thinking about where we want to be in 2020 and work backwards. I will look at what needs to happen in each of those years and deliver against that, break that down to a traditional budget but then look at the operation plan that needs to deliver that. Then I need to focus on week by week performance and implement some longer term strategic thinking. It is about being a little bit more reactive in terms of how we manage performance.

The challenge is a cultural change. Some of our more experienced staff will be leaving soon, and we need to plan for the future to make sure it doesn’t catch us by surprise. The people aspect of the business is critical and we need to manage to ensure longevity.

So those are the areas I will be focusing on, along with traditional aspects of finance. I am building on the foundation that Jim has left for me.

JW: We are all focusing on products and Nadean comes from a product-based background. We have literally got data coming out of our ears, and she brings strength in how to analyse that data. I think that will help going forward. She has a lot of skills that are really pertinent.

Would you say that the link between commercial and products is important?

NM: It is about getting that connection. A consumer probably wouldn’t have a connection with a bus. They would if they knew the driver, the quality of buses, if the route had a name and it had an app to go with it. There still needs to be an underlying connection to the wider brand as you don’t want to restrict your offering. Heinz may want someone to buy their beans, but they will also want people to buy other Heinz products as well. We need to make sure that the underlying theme of Transdev comes along with that.

Bus stations are functional places. That’s where people spend most of their time. We are looking at ways to make that more of an inviting place to be and again maybe use some of the retail contacts we have to make the bus stations come alive and be more reflective of us. We want to use data in the right way to drive changes. We could use it to potentially understand what our market is – rather than what it is right now. There’s lots of opportunity. The challenge for me is to understand what to focus on.

Blazefield is introducing new ticketing schemes like contactless and Beacon. How are you involved in that?

JW: When people pay by phone, they think it’s instant but it is not. We are trying to work out a safe system for the new types of ticketing as there are a lot of new questions around payment methods. How do we get the money? Where is it going, and how does it get back here?

NW: We are involved from a financial governance and security perspective. We want to use technology to drive people to use our product but we need to make sure that it works, people are getting a good experience and the integrity of their financial data is maintained. We need to ensure that it works seamlessly so it operates like cash, but in a more efficient way.

What is TOM (Transdev Operations Manager) and how does it work?

JW: TOM is a performance management system that displays our figures for every day or week. It enables us to look at Transdev’s KPI (Key Performance Indicators) in approximately 10 countries. It is a really good tool to help move a business forward. We are implementing the next stage of it which will start in a few weeks.

NM: TOM is effectively a way of looking at the business to get an awareness of managing margins. Understanding what operational issues can affect that. It’s a real fusion of operational thinking and financial performance.

Do you have any parting words of wisdom for each other?

JW: It does take time to establish a relationship with the business, but you’ll be surprised at how much you can pick up in a year.

It is all changing now and some of the stuff I knew is irrelevant. It is an exciting time for you as you will be at the forefront of that.

NM: Jim has so much experience in terms of who to talk to, how the mechanisms work, and where to find what he wants. His connections in the industry and his relationships with councils, not to mention people externally will take me years to build up. When he leaves I will have some big shoes to fill.[/wlm_ismember]