Finance Business Partner & Project Accountant.
Qualified CIMA Accountant with over two decades of finance experience — supporting leadership and managing £100m+ IT & Change project portfolios.
Advising on AI in finance — staying at the front of the knowledge reshaping our profession.
© Phil Sargent
© Phil Sargent
Over two decades in senior finance roles where reporting, control, and decision support have to stand up under pressure.
Most of my career comes back to one thing. I help leadership teams understand what is happening in the numbers, what is driving it, and what decision needs to come next. I bring the financial reality into that conversation — where the risk is, where the opportunity is, and where the next decision needs to land.
Today I'm managing a £100m+ IT and change project portfolio, and I've been the finance lead on dozens of major programmes — the ones that only run smoothly when someone is really watching the numbers. Budgeting, forecasting, executive reporting, and the quiet process-improvement work that turns a messy month-end into something that runs on rails.
I've always focused on process improvement and efficiency, which is why AI now matters to me. Used properly, it has real potential to change how finance teams work.
Strategy. Insight. Clarity. Each one is built on the back of a different discipline — and every piece of work I do draws on all three.
Senior finance business partnering at the most strategic level. Budgeting, forecasting, and portfolio reporting for £100m+ IT and change programmes. I design the month-end processes, the reporting frameworks, and the executive packs that make decisions easier.
I'm actively researching how AI can improve finance work in practice. That includes testing tools, following developments closely, and separating genuinely useful applications from hype.
Finance first, process improvement second. I look for where teams lose time, where reporting breaks down, and where a better workflow can remove friction.
Every role a step deeper into the intersection of finance, systems, and change. Always working where finance, systems, and change overlap.
Partnering the CIO and leadership boards on a £100m+ IT & change portfolio. Architect of the FIT reporting tool that consolidates 100+ projects monthly. Leading a team of 3.
Streamlined monthly project financial reporting — cut the close cycle by 4 days and absorbed 1 headcount through process redesign.
Built the full EMEA expense allocations model. Supported the Cognos reporting system decommission.
Partnered senior budget holders across Operations, IT, HR, Marketing, and the CEO office. Managed group consolidation of $700m+ global expenses and delivered executive-level MI to the Group Executive Committee. Redesigned reporting packs adopted across the business, and a core contributor to the General Ledger system replacement project.
Partnered Operations, Warehouses, Property, and the FDRC subsidiary on monthly reporting, income statements, and balance sheets. Led cost-saving initiatives during the 2008 economic downturn — contributing directly to strategic decisions on port operations at a critical time. Reduced month-end hours significantly through purpose-built spreadsheet automation.
Sole finance professional on site, managing 2 administration staff. Activity-based costing, budgeting, forecasting, payroll, and full site financial management. Redesigned the payroll and bonus process — absorbed 1 headcount and cut weekly workload by 3.5 days. Reduced period-end turnaround by 5 days.
Early-career management accounting — budgeting, monthly reporting, financial controls, and first exposure to process redesign. Where I built the foundational discipline that's underpinned every role since.
Alongside the day job, each one sits at the intersection of senior finance, leadership, and where technology is heading next.
A plain-English guide for project managers who want to understand the money side of their projects. Everything I've learned at the front line — budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and how finance actually sees your programme — distilled into the book I wish existed when I started.
Read More ↗A research and writing platform exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping the finance profession. Plain-spoken, practitioner-led, for senior finance people who want to understand what's really changing — and what to do about it.
Visit CFAIO ↗A finance-led project portfolio system designed to improve visibility, reporting, and control across large programmes, with AI helping accelerate development and workflow design.
Learn More ↗
© Phil Sargent
If you'd like to talk about finance leadership, project portfolio reporting, or practical uses of AI in finance, get in touch.
Philsargent@hotmail.com →