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PQ magazine for part qualified accountants.
Read the latest web issue here, if you like what you see sign up today |
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A sporting chance |
Accountant Paul Rawnsley speaks to PQ Magazine about the world of finance behind football |
Name: PAUL RAWNSLEY
Job: Senior consultant, sports business group
Employer: Deloitte
Age: 33
Qualifying as an ACA provided me with the foundation to create what's become a hugely rewarding career. I work in the sports business group at Deloitte where I get to work on a wide range of assignments involving governing bodies, clubs and sports businesses throughout the UK and Europe. The immense variety of my work is one of the things I really enjoy. Since moving to the sports business group in 2000, I've worked across all the service lines that Deloitte delivers, from audit and corporate finance to forensic accounting and consultancy or advisory services.
I get to work with some of the highest profile clubs and sporting bodies around, including the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the English Football Association (FA), Premiership football clubs, the Rugby Football League and World Snooker. I also work with commercial partners and sponsors, banks and venture capitalists, people looking to buy clubs – a really wide range of clients. My advisory work includes preparing expert witness reports, due diligence examinations of Premiership clubs for potential investors, reviews of club finances, corporate governance reviews of governing bodies and feasibility studies on sports-related business concepts.
What I'd say to someone thinking of training as a chartered accountant is take your chances. I've always been passionate about sport and in 1997 I was the offered the opportunity to work on the audit of a premiership football club. I had worked in the audit department since I qualified in 1995 and had already become a manager. I didn't know how I was going to fit this new project in with the rest of my work, but I jumped at the chance and made it work. I got to know the partner in charge of the sports business group and continued working on assignments for them before moving into the group full-time in 2000.
I'm now the project manager and sub-editor of several Deloitte publications, including our Annual Review of Football Finance, which I've been involved in since 1999 – it's really become my baby. The review gets enormous coverage and I'm also responsible for managing the media relations work that goes with it. Currently, I'm working with UEFA on developing a club licensing system that will affect all of the top football clubs across 52 European countries – some 700 clubs. The scale of the project and its implications are huge and it gives me a real sense of achievement to be involved in it.
Deloitte has grown into the number one consultancy in sports business and we have an excellent, global reputation now. Sport is different from all of the other industries I've worked in. It has such a high profile, and with business and finance being so closely aligned with sport now, we're often working on projects that appear regularly in the media. No one project is the same, which makes the job very challenging and extremely rewarding. It's satisfying to be involved in the type of business issues that everyone talks about.
On the personal side, my expertise and experience as an ACA gave me the opportunity to get involved with my community in saving our local football club, York City. In 2002, the owners put the club up for sale and it looked like it would close down. The fans launched a campaign to save it and I was invited to attend a small meeting. The next thing I knew I was chairing a public meeting in York and was responsible for setting up a Supporters' Trust.
I was instrumental in leading the trust's work and we raised over £500,000 to save York City when the club went into administration. In March 2003 the trust bought the club and ensured its existence. It was such a massive achievement for everyone involved and I feel privileged to have played such a leading role. In some ways, football clubs are the single biggest manifestation of the local community and I'm very proud of my role in saving York City. To a large extent it was due to the respect I got as an ACA and the skills I'd developed at Deloitte.
A look at the business side of the world cup
While some commentators have questioned the commercial stability of the game, the generation of over $1.7 billion from the 2006 World Cup rights demonstrates the continued global appeal of quality football to spectators and commercial partners.
Over the past five to ten years the football industry has become increasingly globalised. This can be seen in the player transfer market, clubs' marketing strategies, global brands investing in the game, TV rights sales and cross-border ownership. It is important that football's leaders work together to make the most of the opportunities as well as tackle the issues that arise from globalisation through strategic forward-thinking. This will help ensure the continued success and appeal of the world's favourite sport.
Paul Rawnsley's three business likes:
* Being able to combine a passion for sport with my professional career.
* A wide variety of work; each day is different.
* Working with quality people.
Paul Rawnsley's three business dislikes:
* Long meetings.
* People who view the glass 'half-empty' rather than 'half-full'.
* Balancing work with life's other commitments.
A version of this article first appeared in Vital (issue 28), the magazine for ICAEW students |
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