Nick Jackson FCMA CGMA

Nick has had a strong interest in financial management and performance improvement throughout his career, working across a number of industries, including central and local government, energy and utility companies. Graduating in 1987 with a degree in education from Exeter University he taught in Africa prior to starting a career in the UK civil service. Nick worked for the Lord Chancellor’s Department and joined HM Treasury’s bursary scheme to train finance professionals within government. Qualifying as an ACMA in 1992, he supported the setting up of the Department of National Heritage including the implementation of a shared service for finance and HR.

In 1994, Nick joined Ernst & Young as a management consultant specialising in financial and performance management. He joined Capgemini in 2000, then the largest European IT company, as part of the sale of E&Y’s consulting practice and was appointed a Director in 2004, with responsibility for central and local government clients.

Nick obtained his Fellowship in 2008, and re-joined the civil service the following year. He worked for HM Treasury as Head of Finance Professionalism, including working with ministers to develop and publish “Managing Taxpayers’ Money Wisely” (2011) which set a vision for improving financial management under the coalition government. He later moved to the Ministry of Justice, managing the delivery of savings against the Department’s £8 billion budget and acting as financial adviser on reform of probation services; building new prisons; and transforming HM Courts and Tribunal Service.

In 2013, Nick became Director of Corporate Services at Ofsted, the inspectorate for schools and regulator for children’s services and early years’ provision. In this capacity, Nick led a programme to transform the way that inspections were conducted, managed a gross budget of £200m and delivered 15% savings in three years.

Nick currently works for Oracle, having joined in 2016. He leads a team of business development directors working across Western Europe. They are responsible for developing and promoting industry based propositions using Oracle Cloud services for financial and performance management.

Nick was co-opted to CIMA Council in 2009. This was in recognition of his role in promoting the value of CIMA as a balanced qualification for public sector finance professionals. In 2011, he became a membership assessor and in 2013, as Vice Chairman of the Professional Standards and Conduct Committee, led a review into the conduct processes, in light of concerns arising from a couple of high profile cases. The comprehensive review addressed concerns raised by members and provided a clear set of specific recommendations that have since largely been implemented. In 2014, Nick was elected to the Executive Committee as Member without Portfolio and remains an active advocate for CIMA, delivering talks to promote management accounting, with a particular focus within the public sector.

Nick lives in Buckingham with his fiancé. In his spare time he can be found in: an art gallery; the kitchen; underwater; singing; or watching rugby or cricket.