A focus on the highest quality is vital for Claire McGovern ACMA, financial controller at Savile Row bespoke tailors, Huntsman. Insight editor Adrian Clifton spoke to her in this interview and video to find out more.
Coming from a business background, Claire McGovern was always aware of the potential of the CIMA qualification. ‘My father had a very entrepreneurial spirit, so auditing didn’t appeal to me. I wanted to be involved in business and CIMA was the more rounded business qualification.’
Her career in accountancy and finance has certainly been varied. Having worked in the food and drinks industry, a shelving company, an estate agents and an art gallery, she is now at Savile Row bespoke tailoring company, Huntsman.
The shop, established in 1849, has a distinguished history, which is demonstrated by its client list. Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart are among the famous names who have shopped there.
Art and science
The mystique of working in the niche bespoke tailoring industry keeps Claire enthralled. ‘It’s very different, I’ve never worked in anything like it,’ she enthuses.
‘What thrills most accountants and lecturers is that this is both a retail and manufacturing industry. You have the retail, marketing and customer service – all are equally important to the actual quality of the garment.
‘We employ really skilled people: a cutter isn’t really a cutter until they have been doing it for about seven years. Even a cutter will turn round after 20 years and say ‘I’m still learning’.'
The cutters have to be multitalented. ‘I think of them as artists, but they’re also great mathematicians,’ Claire says. ‘When they make these patterns they’re counting in their head, working out that this is reduced by a quarter of an inch so the impact on this other part of the garment is going to be an eighth of an inch.
‘Quality is something CIMA really, really pushes. Savile Row is all about that quality.’
Soft skills
Claire feels CIMA has made her aware of the different pitfalls in business, and helped her appreciate the softer skills that minimise them.
‘CIMA has made me a more rounded business person, more sympathetic to other people’s needs,’ she says. ‘Prior to that, because I come from an entrepreneurial background, I was predominately interested in the bottom line. Now I see other things as equally important. It has made me a better manager.’
System clean up
Huntsman’s lack of IT literacy was a huge challenge when Claire arrived. ‘One of the first jobs I did was shut down all the computers [to] defrag and clean them all up. Then I realised nobody knew how to switch them on!' she chuckles.
‘It was very antiquated. When I came everything was handwritten by a salesman, then handwritten again somewhere else. The work was then shared out somewhere else, handwritten again. I couldn’t integrate any of this information.’
A streamlined system was clearly needed. ‘We devised a ‘story of an order’. An order is taken and you receive a deposit that has a paper trail. That paper trail has to go to the person who says how much cloth we need for this garment, then to the person who orders the cloth to create a purchase order.
‘Then the cloth comes in, and it needs to be acknowledged it’s been received. It goes to the cutter, who will cut out a pattern, making sure the measurements actually transfer onto this piece of paper. At that point the cloth is cut out and given to a tailor, and a time schedule is developed to figure out when the customer’s coming in.’
Claire focused her professional development on her understanding of IT, creating and integrating a system everyone could follow. ‘I inherited an access database, and had to tweak it so it talked to Sage and Excel. What we developed, based on the story of an order, was the system we now have in place. It’s made my life ten times easier.’
The value of CIMA
Claire says she would recommend CIMA highly. Before qualifying there were jobs she felt she was right for, but didn’t get the role as she didn’t hold the CIMA qualification.
‘CIMA gives me more kudos and a piece of paper that shows I know what I’m talking about. I am a more rounded professional.'
Watch
Hear more from Claire in this video interview.
Links
CIMA MY JOBS
CIMA professional development