CGMA Finance Leader of the Year 2024 — Named at the “Oscars in Finance” in Shanghai
In November 2024, I was named CGMA Finance Leader of the Year at the CGMA Annual Awards & CFO Summit in Shanghai — one of the most prestigious individual honours in management accounting in China, and part of an awards programme that has run since 2005.
Known widely as the “Oscars in Finance”, the CGMA Annual Awards are jointly presented by AICPA & CIMA, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the worldwide body representing nearly 700,000 accounting and finance professionals across 188 countries. To receive the Finance Leader of the Year award at the 2024 ceremony, in a room full of China’s most senior CFOs and finance professionals, was a moment I am deeply proud of.
What the Award Recognises
The CGMA Finance Leader of the Year is awarded to senior financial leaders based in China who have made a significant contribution to the success of their organisation, demonstrating outstanding dedication and leadership that has driven continuous progress in a challenging era, with both strategic and financial achievements reflecting the highest standards of management accounting.
That description captures something I have spent the better part of two decades working towards. Joining C2W Group in 2007 when it was a small startup, building the finance function from scratch, and helping grow the business more than thirty-fold, from a £542,000 operation to a group with over $28 million in turnover and 130+ team members across Asia, has required exactly the kind of dedication, adaptability, and purpose-driven leadership this award recognises.
The Ceremony
The CGMA Annual Awards were initiated in 2005 and are widely recognised as setting the gold standard for management accounting excellence in China, building a platform for communication between CFOs, enterprises, investors, and academics, and pushing forward the development of management accounting research and practice in the country. Cncima
The 2024 ceremony in Shanghai brought together finance leaders from across China and beyond. Vicky Li, FCMA CGMA, Regional Vice President – North Asia at AICPA & CIMA, delivered opening remarks reflecting on the growing movement from digital exploration to real implementation in Chinese finance teams. Andrew Harding, FCMA CGMA, Chief Executive – Management Accounting at AICPA & CIMA, delivered a keynote on the Future of Finance — noting that “finance is moving beyond finance,” from digital transformation to ESG disclosure, and that the importance of the profession has been emphasised again and again.
Both themes resonated with me. At C2W Group, finance has never been just about the numbers. It has been about governance, ethics, sustainability, and — above all — trust.
What It Means
I have been a CIMA student, on and off, for the better part of twenty years. Earning my FCMA CGMA designation in late 2023 — finally completing the qualification I had started as a young man — was one of the proudest moments of my professional life. To follow that, less than twelve months later, with the CGMA Finance Leader of the Year award in China, feels like something of a full-circle moment.
This award belongs to the entire C2W and Shield Works team. Finance leadership is only meaningful when it serves the people and organisation around it, and the team at C2W has given me everything I needed to earn it.
🔗 CGMA Annual Awards 2024 🔗 AICPA & CIMA 🔗 C2W Group 🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn
Mark Clayton FCMA CGMA CPA KOR — Group CFO, C2W Group | Chairman, British Chamber of Commerce South China
Some Chinese media on the event can be found here:
“财界奥斯卡”20年：见证财务与会计行业的创新与未来——CGMA 2024年度中国大奖暨CFO高峰论坛圆满举行 获奖榜单揭晓|界面新闻
and here:
