Sarah Ghosh FCMA, CGMA

CIMA President

Sarah is a proven finance leader with expertise in machine learning and experience in multinational organisations, SMEs and start-ups. She is co-founder and Director of Onyx AI, focusing on finance strategy and commercialisation for businesses across fintech and digital health. Sarah is currently in the Civil Service, supporting the Government Finance Function Strategy, with a focus on leveraging technology to drive value for money decisions. Sarah held leadership positions across finance, IT and operations, improving service provision and transforming processes using data analytics and machine learning.

Sarah’s academic background is in Computer Science & Economics, after which she began her career as a system engineer at Electronic Data Systems (EDS), a multinational software

services company. She worked on IT projects with major publicly listed clients, developing operational and financial systems across the motor and banking industries. Sarah then moved to the international finance division of EDS, and as a management accountant studied for the CIMA qualification.

After achieving CIMA Associate membership, Sarah then joined PwC as a consultant in London, working on client assignments in the communications, energy, water and transport sectors. She specialised in finance systems implementation and process effectiveness. After taking time away from work to look after her children, Sarah set up Lean Finance Consultancy. Working on behalf of clients, Sarah led finance initiatives with a focus on transformation, efficiency and managing change. She consulted in sectors including healthcare, insurance and government, working at companies with turnovers ranging from £7m to in excess of £1bn. Sarah then worked as both a finance and programme director in healthcare organisations across community and care settings.

Sarah was awarded Fellowship in 2013 and has been actively involved as an ambassador and advocate for CIMA over the past 10 years. She has held various leadership positions, with an emphasis on member engagement and events planning. Sarah served as a member of CIMA’s UK Board, and as chair of CIMA’s Central Southern Board and the UK Network Panel. In 2017, Sarah joined the CIMA Council, and a year later became a member of the Association Board and the Management Accounting Board. She works to raise the profile of women in global leadership and provides support through mentoring, with a particular commitment to opening up opportunities in India.

Sarah lives with her husband in Surrey, UK. They have two sons: one a London-based culture journalist; the other a consultant. Away from work, Sarah enjoys playing the piano. As a family they support Future Hope, a charity providing accommodation, schooling, sports and medical outreach to some of the most vulnerable children in Kolkata, India.