On 9th October 2024, I was named a finalist and runner-up for the Finance Business Leader of the Year award at the AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE UK & Ireland Finance Awards 2024, held at the Hilton Tower Bridge in London, as part of CIMA’s flagship two-day ENGAGE conference.

Coming second out of the entire AICPA & CIMA membership base across the UK and Ireland, nearly 700,000 members and candidates worldwide, is something I am genuinely proud of. And I mean that without any false modesty. The competition was exceptional.

The Winner, and the Most Remarkable Coincidence

The Finance Business Leader of the Year was won by Huiming Chen, Chief Financial Officer – Europe Commercial at Illumina, who was commended for successfully driving organisation-wide change in just under two years, including revamping the company’s incentive scheme to foster accountability and drive better employee performance, while effectively leading its people through this change. AICPA & CIMA

Huiming is a remarkable professional and richly deserving of the award. But here is something that I have to share because it is genuinely extraordinary.

Huiming Chen was born and grew up in Zhuhai, South China. She now lives and works in the UK. I was born and grew up in the UK, in Hexham, Northumberland. I now live and work in Zhuhai, South China.

We literally swapped lives. The two finalists for Finance Business Leader of the Year in the UK 2024 had, between them, made the same journey, in opposite directions. I don’t know what the odds of that are, but I’m fairly confident it’s evidence that we live in a simulation such as The Matrix!

What the Award Recognises

The Finance Business Leader of the Year recognises a C-suite leader who has made a significant contribution to the leadership and success of their organisation’s finance function, demonstrating how strategic leadership has enhanced team performance, strengthened collaboration, and delivered measurable value to the business.

That is a description I have tried to live up to every year since joining C2W Group in 2007. Building the finance function from scratch. Growing with the business through every phase of its development. Making finance a strategic partner to operations, not just a reporting function. This recognition, in the country I grew up in, from the professional body whose qualification I first earned as an apprentice in Hexham, meant more to me than I can easily express.

The Day Itself

ENGAGE 2024 was an outstanding event. The conference theme was “Engage & Prosper” — built around the idea that engaging with people and technologies is how finance professionals can truly prosper in an era of relentless change. AICPA & CIMA

Keynote speakers included Steven Bartlett — entrepreneur, Sunday Times bestselling author, and the youngest ever investor on BBC One’s Dragons’ Den. AICPA & CIMA Hearing him speak earlier in the day was one of those genuinely energising moments. Steven has a remarkable gift for distilling complex ideas about mindset, growth, and purpose into language that actually lands — one of the great wordsmiths of his generation.

The awards ceremony itself was presented by Simon Bittlestone, FCMA CGMA, CIMA President and Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, who personally presented me with my runner-up finalist certificate. A genuine honour.

And then there was magician and entertainer Ben Hanlin — who hosted the evening with extraordinary talent and warmth. In one of those spontaneous moments that you genuinely cannot plan, Ben and I ended up in a completely unrehearsed double act that, by all accounts, looked like it had been rehearsed for weeks. A testament entirely to Ben’s brilliance as both a performer and an instinctive entertainer. It was one of the most fun moments of the whole trip.

Putting It in Context

In the space of a few weeks in late 2024, I placed second in the Finance Business Leader of the Year at ENGAGE in London, and then won the CGMA Finance Leader of the Year in China at the Shanghai ceremony. Two different countries, two different ceremonies, one extraordinary month.

I started my career as an AAT apprentice in a small practice in Hexham. I am now being recognised, twice in the same year, at the highest levels of the global management accounting profession.

Back yourself. Whatever your background, wherever you start. It’s possible.

🔗 AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE UK & Ireland 🔗 AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE Finance Awards 2024 Winners 🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn

Mark Clayton FCMA CGMA CPA KOR — Group CFO, C2W Group | Chairman, British Chamber of Commerce South China