From television runner on the X Factor to Head of Finance at one of the UK’s most beloved charities, Bex McGann’s career path is anything but conventional.
Now an ACA-qualified finance leader at Comic Relief, Bex has built a reputation for modernising systems and championing the kind of sharp financial thinking that helps mission-driven organisations do more of what matters most.
Learn more about Bex ahead of her seminar at the FD Show, where she will be sharing the inside story of Comic Relief’s finance digital transformation, a journey from an unstable legacy system to a modern, cloud-based solution, and the lessons learned along the way.
What inspired you to get into the finance profession?
I almost stumbled into the finance profession. My very early career was as a television runner on shows like the X Factor, but with television production incredibly difficult to progress in, I started thinking about what else interested me.
This is when the charity sector really came into focus, alongside being good with (or not being scared of!) numbers. This is when I came across Sayer Vincent. Sayer Vincent are a fantastic audit and advisory firm working solely with charities and not for profits and is where I completed by ACA qualification alongside being able to work with hundreds of incredible and inspiring charities. This was the start of a career dedicated to the Charity Finance sector.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?
That every bit of work we do, we are working together as an organisation to create a just world free from poverty.
What made Comic Relief decide to implement a new finance system, and what were you hoping it would solve?
Like many organisations there were many parts of the organisation needing to innovate and technologically advance.
Our finance system was a legacy system, the platform for which was obsolete, no longer supported or enhanced, increasingly unstable and posed a risk to business continuity and compliance.
We wanted to resolve these risks by moving to a cloud based, best practice system which would improve data quality, controls, efficiency, integration with other systems, and the quality and timeliness of financial information across the organisation.
What are you most looking forward to at the FD Show?
I am really looking forward to meeting and networking with colleagues outside of the charity sector, to see where we can share ideas and learn from one another.
What do you want visitors to take away from your seminar session?
I hope that it brings to life the story of our finance digital transformation here at Comic Relief, and gives confidence to those embarking on system implementations of their own, whilst highlighting the importance of finance digital transformation in the context of wider organisational technology and digital strategies.
Bex McGann is taking to the stage with Neil Wildy, Xledger UK for ‘Three years on: Lessons from Comic Relief’s digital transformation‘, at 12.20pm, 13 May at FD Theatre 1.
