The Post: Director of Recovery and Reorganisation, Grant Thornton
The Post Holder: Gareth Latimer
No two days are the same for Recovery and Reorganisation Specialist, Gareth Latimer.
HOW I BECAME A RECOVERY AND REORGANISATION SPECIALIST
Give a brief outline of your career to date.
After a few years working in the Civil Service, including five in the Insolvency Service, I moved into the private sector in 2006, joining Grant Thornton’s Recovery and Reorganisation team in 2015.
What was your favourite subject at school?
History and politics.
Did you go on to further/ higher education, if so what did you study and where?
I studied history and politics at Queen’s University, Belfast.
How did you get into your area of work?
After graduation, I started work in the public sector. After several years, I thought it was time to take control of my future and applied for an internal job in The Insolvency Service.
It was an attractive position because the job provided the opportunity to obtain professional accountancy qualifications along the way and, from there, I moved into recovery services in the private sector.
Is this what you always wanted to do?
No, I had initially wanted to become a teacher and actually taught English as a foreign language in Greece for a year.
Were there any particular essential qualifications or experience needed?
Usually, those entering the profession have an accountancy or law qualification, although there are specific insolvency examinations including a Certificate of Proficiency in Insolvency.
In order to become a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner, which allows you to take the role of appointment taker, one has to pass the relevant Joint Insolvency Examination Board (JIEB) examinations.
Are there alternative routes into the job?
The alternative route into the job would actually be the more traditional method, which is to study for an accountancy or finance degree and then join one of the large accountancy firms as a trainee and make your way onto the recovery team.
What are the main personal skills your job requires?
It is important to have the confidence to engage with a wide range of stakeholders. Due to the nature of restructuring, a degree of sensitivity is also required. You may have to meet with workers at a distressed firm to inform them they’re being made redundant or speak to someone that is owed money, so your approach must always be adapted according to who you are meeting.
What does a typical day entail?
No day could ever be described as typical – again, it comes down to that range of stakeholders that we engage with. A day could start with meeting someone on a building site who is owed money by a client and might finish with me addressing a board of directors to give a presentation on the financial position of their company.
Why is what you do important?
The importance of recovery and reorganisation has become all too evident during the recession. We have played a key role in helping businesses through some of their most difficult periods financially, in many cases safeguarding them from total collapse, thereby securing their future prosperity and that of their employees.
A recent engagement involved taking control of a business in the pharmaceutical sector. This concluded with the firm being saved, the retention of all jobs and the secured creditor being paid in full. Although this is not always the case, the first objective of the Insolvency Practitioner is to rescue all or part of the business, including safeguarding as many jobs as possible.
What advice would you give anyone looking to follow a similar career path?
Recovery and reorganisation really is a niche area, so my advice to anyone considering it as a career would be to gain some experience at the outset. The work isn’t for everybody, so it is very important to gain a full understanding of what it entails by securing a placement.
If you weren’t doing this what would you like to do?
If I had to consider something else, I would probably have studied law with a view to becoming a solicitor.
If you could go back, what is the one piece of advice you would give to yourself on your first day?
My advice would be the same that I give to anyone starting out in their careers – never be afraid to ask questions. The easiest thing in the world is to sit back and not speak up when you don’t understand something, but it is only through asking that you will learn and develop as a professional.
Describe your ideal day off.
A day off would ideally be spent on the north coast with my family and include a nice meal in one of the lovely restaurants up there.