Jenny Ehrdhart
Accountant for the NHS
Name: Jenny Ehrdhart
Employer: NHS
Subject: Mathematical sciences
Graduated: 2000
Area of work: management accounting
What do you do?
I'm hoping to qualify as a chartered public finance accountant within the NHS this year. I am currently in the management accounts team, which provides information and advice to managers and clinicians to enable them to make more informed decisions. I also provide information on numbers of HIV/AIDS patients to the commissioning bodies responsible for the treatments. The NHS is the largest employer in Europe and the intellectual challenge of managing it is immense.
What does the training involve?
As trainees we are placed in a hospital and move around the whole finance department over 40 months, taking on different roles and gaining experience in all areas. The emphasis is on financial management and we undertake management development training as well as studying for an accountancy qualification.
What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
I like the fact that my work can help to improve patient care. Within this sector accountants are much more financial managers than number crunchers, with real input into the decision making and running of the organisation. I rarely work overtime, I'm allowed study leave and there is scope for trainees to take on as much or as little responsibility as they feel able to. After 18 months on the scheme, I was asked to manage two staff and be responsible for the technical management of budgets of £80 million.
What makes you rue the day you ever went into this field?
Being told about my friend's granny's difficulty in getting a GP appointment when I'm in the pub!
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