MATTHEW GILL PhD ACA AKC
97 Santley House, Frazier Street, London SE1 7RF, UK
Tel.: 0207 2077 595 / 07989 028844. E-mail: . DOB: 3rd June 1976. Nationality: British.
EDUCATION, QUALIFICATIONS & PRIZES______
§ London School of Economics, 2002-06: PhD (Sociology)
Accountants’ Truth: Argumentation, Performance and Ethics in the Construction of Knowledge by Accountants in the City of London
Supervised by Professor Richard Sennett and Dr Don Slater
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; passed without changes
§ ICAEW, 1998-2001: ACA (Chartered Accountant)
Institute Prize-winner – 15th of 3,000 candidates, Final Admitting Exam, November 2000
First time pass – all professional exams passed comfortably at the first attempt
Fast track – selected to complete all but the final exam in my first fourteen months at PwC
§ King’s College London, 1997-98: MA English (Distinction)
Ingles Fellowship held during MA year (usually reserved for PhD students)
§ King’s College London, 1994-97: BA (Hons) English (First Class)
Adam Prize for best final year performance in the School of Humanities, 1997
Gilbert and Levison prize for best second year performance in English, 1996
§ King’s College London, 1994-97: AKC (Associate of King’s College)
§ A levels in Economics, Mathematics, Physics and English (all A Grade)
BOOKS_PUBLISHED______
§ Accountants’ Truth: Knowledge and Ethics in the Financial World, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press (hardback 2009, paperback 2011). This book is a sociological study of accounting practice. It explores the techniques accountants use to construct and simplify knowledge, and discusses the implications of those techniques for decision-making and ethics in business. Further details are available at: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199603107.do
PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS AND BOOK REVIEWS_ _ _
§ Review of Alex Preda, Framing Finance: The Boundaries of Markets and Modern Capitalism, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press 2009. In: Canadian Journal of Sociology 36 (1) 2011, 124-26.
§ ‘Rationalization Defeats Itself: The Limits to Accounting’s Framing of Economic Life,’ Socio-Economic Review 6 (4) 2008, 587-609.
§ Review of Brooke Harrington, Pop Finance: Investment Clubs and the New Investor Populism, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press 2008. In: Economic Sociology – the European Electronic Newsletter, 10 (1) 2008, 29-30.
§ ‘Facts in the City: How London Accountants Simplify Decisions,’ in Craig Calhoun and Richard Sennett (eds.) Practicing Culture, Taking Culture Seriously Vol. 1, Routledge 2007, 129-48.
I am currently working on the economic sociology of elderly care, and on libertarian paternalism.
EMPLOYMENT______
§ Financial Services Authority, London, 2009 to date
Prudential Policy (Pillar 2, Stress Testing and Operational Risk)
Our team develops and implements capital policy relating to all risks faced by banks other than credit and market risk. We also take the policy lead on stress testing and capital planning buffers. I am involved in many of these areas, but currently focus on:
§ Representing the FSA at the Basel working group on capital planning.
§ Leading our policy work on the future Pillar 2 capital framework under Basel 3 (including how we will transition to it).
My previous policy development projects have included:
§ Leading an internal working group to clarify and publish our approach to pension risk.
§ Clarifying our approach to management actions, particularly in capital planning buffers.
§ Representing the FSA on the Committee of European Banking Supervisors’ task force on business and strategic risk.
§ Hyde Group, London, 2009
Financial Analyst
My work for one of the UK’s largest social landlords included:
§ Designing financial performance dashboards for use by the Board.
§ Benchmarking financial ratios across the sector, and interpreting these in Board-level reports.
§ Washington University in Saint Louis, 2006-2008
Andrew W Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, Modeling Interdisciplinary Inquiry
This fellowship supports interdisciplinary work across the humanities and social sciences. Whilst in Saint Louis, I contributed to research workshops in various departments. I designed, taught and examined undergraduate and graduate courses on economic sociology, economic history, and ethics. I also served on the steering committee for the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities, and supervised a student research project within that program.
§ London School of Economics, 2005-06
Research assistant to Professor Richard Sennett.
§ London School of Economics / New York University, 2003-06
Co-ordinator, “NYLON” Workshop in Sociology, Politics and Philosophy
I co-ordinated this workshop at the LSE for 3 years. It is linked to a parallel group at New York University, and the two groups meet for an annual two-day conference, which I co-organised and co-chaired in 2005 and 2006. Members’ work is now being published by Routledge in a series of books.
§ Metropolitan Housing Partnership, London, 2003-06
Corporate Analyst
Alongside my PhD, I worked on a contract basis for another major social landlord, advising the FD and CEO on cost control and strategy. My work included:
§ Benchmarking financial performance and efficiency against comparable organisations.
§ A wide-ranging options review concerning restructuring of the central services division.
§ Scoping the projected implementation of a new fixed asset accounting system.
§ Reviewing the cost effectiveness of all UK office premises.
§ PricewaterhouseCoopers, London, 1998-2002
Business Regeneration, 2001-02 (1½ years)
For household name clients, I carried out work such as:
§ Writing strategy section of an independent business review, and gauging creditors’ exposure.
§ Preparing sensitised cash flow forecasts, and presenting them to a client’s board and bankers.
§ Costing redundancies and planning communication with stakeholders during a wind-down.
§ Modelling, and then monitoring, stock realisation during a retailer’s exit from its UK market.
§ Writing the control manual for a finance function in crisis.
Audit (and Transaction Services), 1998-2001
I trained as an ACA in audit, working for clients including Express Newspapers, Carlisle Holdings (USA and Belize), the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, and Delta PLC. I also arranged secondments to transaction services and to the public sector audit group.
§ King’s College London, 1997-98
Ingles Fellow (this fellowship involved teaching a course of seminars on English literature).
§ Coopers and Lybrand, Birmingham, 1996
Vacation placement (Audit and Business Recovery)
TEACHING ______
§ “Economic Life in Modern Social and Cultural Theory,” Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities, Washington University in Saint Louis, 2008
§ “Ethics in Society,” Graduate Seminar, Modeling Interdisciplinary Inquiry, Washington University in Saint Louis, 2007 (co-taught with Mayanthi Fernando)
§ “Commerce and Character,” Washington University in Saint Louis, 2006
All of the above are new courses which I designed, taught and examined.
§ “The Great Economists,” Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities, Washington University in Saint Louis, 2007
§ “Workshop in Sociology, Politics and Philosophy,” Sociology department, London School of Economics, 2005-06 (assisting Professor Richard Sennett, see above)
§ “Texts, Culture, History,” English department, King’s College London, 1997 (as part of the Ingles Fellowship, see above).
OTHER ACTIVITIES______
§ Academic writing (ongoing)
I regularly present my recent and forthcoming research at international conferences.
§ Drama (ongoing)
I have performed in leading roles in London, Edinburgh and the USA, as well as directing.
§ Consultative Panel Member, Reporting With Integrity, 2007 (ICAEW)
§ Waterloo Community Development Group, 2004
I developed accounting and forecasting tools for this local charity.
§ Volunteer Mentoring, 2001-03 (initially through PwC’s Community Affairs)
I mentored long term unemployed young people seeking work or training.
§ Debating, 1995-2001
World Masters finalist in 2001; winner or finalist at various national competitions; member of the British Debate Squad 1998-99; chair of the London University Debating Society 1996-97.
§ Student Representation, 1994-2006
§ Member of LSE Sociology department staff-student committee throughout my PhD.
§ Sociology representative on the LSE’s MPhil / PhD students’ forum, 2003-05.
§ Member of English department staff-student committee throughout BA and MA.
§ Member of King’s College London Students’ Union’s governing body, 1995-98.
§ Independent delegate to the National Union of Students conference, 1998.
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October 2011