Sponsored Competition Award: Who Won?

The winner of the Webexpenses sponsored competition to find the North West Financial Controller of the Year has been announced as Rob Prill.

Webexpenses MD Sanjay Parekh was on hand to congratulate the winning finance controller who works for Hotter Comfort Shoes at the North West Finance Awards (NWFA).

The winner was selected from a shortlist of nine finalists who had been selected by an expert panel of judges, including Martin Hanratty, the National Manager for the Association of Accounting Technicians and Jon Pinder, Managing Partner of RSM Tenon.

The sponsored award is part of webexpenses commitment to promote and raise the profile of the UK’s finance and accountancy teams.

The judges selected Rob Prill as the individual who best demonstrated their ability to provide vital support to the finance directors. The qualities the judges were searching for were:

• Experience of managing a team

• Delivery of financial info to support business needs

• Maintaining and improving the financial control environment

• Making sure the finance department adds value

The NWFA event was held within the conference suite of the Reebok stadium in Bolton with more than 500 in attendance.

Speaking after the event, Sanjay Parekh, said: “The standard of entrants was extremely high and it’s a testament to just how much talent we have in the UK finance sector.

“We were really proud to sponsor the North West Financial Controller of the Year award and in Rob Prill the judges have found a really worthy winner but all the finalists deserve a great deal of credit.”

Amongst the other awards presented on the night was the Accountancy Firm of the Year, SME Finance Director of the Year and Outstanding Business of the Year.

A spokesperson for the NWFA said: “We aim to acknowledge that every individual within a finance team is crucial to the overall success of the department and ultimately the business. The awards were created to recognise excellence and achievement at all levels.”