Sandy Murray, CGMA, never dreamed of being an accountant as a child. She just knew she wanted to be good at something. Murray’s aptitude for maths and business led her to pursue the CGMA® designation and her current role of finance director at Bender UK. She’s had a successful career so far, but in her mind, she’s just getting started.
‘The world is still my oyster’, Murray said.
In podcast episode five of AICPA® & CIMA® CGMA® Success Stories, ‘Breaking barriers and empowering women’, Murray shares her story and offers advice on how others can chart their own path to a fulfilling career. Here are three highlights from the episode.
Accounting often doesn’t fit the stereotypes
Murray admits she held preconceived notions about accounting when she was younger.
‘At school I thought the accountant was the person locked away in the office wearing a pinstripe suit that just told everybody “No”’, she said. ‘I think when you get into business you realise the role is much more varied and you can have a massive impact on the organisation’.
She came to realise the finance function touches all aspects of the business and an accounting career offers an exciting challenge.
‘It felt like the jigsaw pieces seemed to fit together around that finance function’, she said.
The CGMA designation offers a well-rounded perspective
Murray chose to pursue the CGMA designation in large part because it covers a broad range of essential topics and prepared her to excel in the finance function.
‘There is a broad range of things you need to understand, discover and pull together, and one of the things I find I do a lot of is translating information into useable language that other people understand’, she said.
As Murray was preparing for the exams, she began working in the accounting function, which she says helped bring the study material to life.
‘Accruals and prepayments are just theoretical concepts in a textbook until you see them in real life’, she said.
She added that earning the CGMA designation encouraged her to look outside the box, consider different pathways and broaden her view.
‘I think that’s helped me get the role I have now, which is very broad and looks after a lot of aspects of business’, she said.
Your career path will be unique
Murray’s path was certainly unique, and yours will be, too. She encourages others to remain curious and follow their intuition.
‘Don’t be too fixated on the path being a perfect path’, she said. ‘If you stay curious and keep learning, then it definitely will be the right path for you’.
Murray grew up in Bradford and Leeds in West Yorkshire and was raised by her father in a single-parent household, which she says was highly unusual in the 1980s. Her dad told her if she worked hard, she could be whatever she wanted. At the time, she didn’t know any finance leaders to look to as role models, but she hopes to be that for others.
‘If there are people who need to see it to be it, then look at me, because if I could do this, then other people can do it too’, she said. ‘Whether you feel like you need to see somebody who came from a single-parent household doing this, or if you need to hear my voice to know somebody with a northern accent can do this’.
When asked what’s next for Sandy Murray, she said she plans to take some of her own advice.
‘I think I would try and take some of my own advice and not map out my path too precisely, but keep going and keep learning’, she said.
Venture down your unique path to career success by registering as a CGMA candidate and starting your learning journey towards the CGMA designation.
