CFO on the Spot: Five minutes with Niall McCallum, CFO of LRQA

I have been fascinated by businesses from a young age. I was always interested in why some brands performed better than others and what drove their financial results.

I studied accounting and finance at university before joining KPMG, where I trained as a chartered accountant. I knew quite quickly that I did not want to remain in audit, but I did want to become a CFO.

I spent six or seven years in corporate finance at KPMG, advising companies on acquisitions and sales. I then joined the private equity team at a bank, which gave me exposure to company boards and allowed me to observe the attributes of effective CFOs.

My first role directly within a business was at Capita. That experience taught me a great deal about growth, cash generation, clients, and people. I later moved into the testing, inspection, and certification sector before working in a consumer business and eventually joining LRQA approximately three years ago.

Throughout my career, I have found that working for a business with a clear purpose is important to me. I am motivated by helping clients, supporting colleagues, and contributing to the growth of the organization.

One book I return to every few years is Jim Collins’ Good to Great. It was written some time ago, but its lessons about what differentiates successful businesses remain relevant.

I also recommend The Chimp Paradox by Dr. Steve Peters. Businesses are ultimately about people, and the book provides valuable lessons about self-awareness, relationships, and how we respond to situations. I have bought several copies over the years and often give them to other people.

For podcasts, I enjoy Acquired, which provides in-depth examinations of businesses and how they developed. I also listen to The High Performance Podcast, particularly its conversations with athletes and leaders. The episodes featuring Dan Carter and Jonny Wilkinson are two I would recommend.

I serve on the council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, and it is a privilege to give something back to the profession.

Technology and the wider economic environment are creating significant changes. ICAS is investing in AI and approaching it as an opportunity, while developing courses and accreditations that help students and existing members remain relevant.

When I qualified approximately 26 or 27 years ago, receiving my first laptop and email address felt like a major technological development. Today, much of the syllabus and learning experience is online.

However, I remain passionate about the value of meeting people in person. Finance professionals learn from one another, and the relationships they build early in their careers can last for decades. Some of my closest friends are people I met during my first week of ICAS training in 1996.

Technology will change how people learn and work, but personal connections must remain part of the profession.

During a particularly difficult period at a previous company, a colleague taught me to remember three Ps: a problem is not personal, not permanent, and not pervasive.

I keep those principles written on my wall. When something difficult happens, they help me step back, put the situation into perspective, and focus on what can be done.

I also find that taking a short walk can make an enormous difference. Even five or 15 minutes away from a problem can help clear your mind.

At LRQA, we hold a company initiative called Movetober that encourages employees to become more active during October. It led me to experiment with walking meetings, particularly for one-to-one conversations and small groups.

Those meetings often produced better discussions because people were more engaged and less tempted to multitask. Sometimes changing the environment is enough to change the quality of the conversation.

I would challenge the idea that CFOs were ever simply scorekeepers. I have always viewed the CFO as someone who should be at the heart of the business, working alongside the CEO or managing director as a partner.

However, the scope of the role has broadened. CFOs may now have responsibility for areas such as technology, procurement, legal, and cybersecurity.

Finance also needs to be involved when commercial and operational decisions are being made. If finance only reviews a decision afterward, the team may find itself looking back and asking why the financial implications were not considered earlier.

That is why effective finance business partnering matters. Finance professionals should bring a financial perspective to conversations across sales, operations, and other functions before decisions are finalized.

Reducing the amount of time required to close the books is part of that transition. If financial results are only available halfway through the following month, they are primarily a history lesson. Tools such as Power BI can give teams much more immediate insight.

Technology provides the information, but curiosity determines what people do with it. The willingness to keep asking questions is one of the qualities that separates good finance professionals from great ones.

Cybersecurity is no longer solely an IT responsibility. It is a boardroom issue and an important component of enterprise risk, which means CFOs need to be involved.

Companies can invest in tools and infrastructure to protect themselves, but people remain a critical part of the defense. Employees need to maintain a healthy degree of caution when they receive suspicious emails or unusual requests.

Testing that awareness is valuable. For example, phishing simulations can show whether employees will respond to a message that appears to offer a bonus or another attractive opportunity.

Technology is important, but an organization’s resilience ultimately depends on whether its people understand the risks and respond appropriately.

The fundamental skills will remain the same. Finance leaders must be able to interpret numbers, determine the right course of action, and remain curious enough to ask why something is happening.

What will change is how the work gets done.

We are investing in AI across LRQA to produce faster insights and improve efficiency. I use AI myself, but I also check its output with an expert or someone on my team. The technology can help develop an answer, but judgment is still required.

Power BI can now analyze information and summarize several important findings almost immediately. That can save time, but the finance professional still needs to decide what those findings mean and what action should follow.

Technology will help CFOs become more forward-looking and respond more quickly. However, finance will still be a people business. Leaders must be able to work well with others and become someone people want to work with and work for.

Spending time with my family keeps me grounded. My daughters are 19 and almost 21, and one recently graduated from university. The time passes incredibly quickly, so I try to make the most of it.

My wife and daughters are also my most direct critics. Time with them helps me put work into perspective and forget about it for a while.

I also enjoy playing golf. I used to ski, but golf feels like the safer option now.

When I’m on a golf course, I can switch off completely for two to four hours and focus on what’s happening in that moment. Interestingly, stepping away from my phone and email is often when new ideas come to me.

I have been fortunate to work with several excellent chairpeople and leaders throughout my career.

One piece of advice came from my first boss at KPMG. He told me never to do something during the working week that would make me want to cross Princes Street in Edinburgh to avoid someone if I saw them while I was with my family over the weekend.

The lesson was to treat people appropriately, and in the way you would want to be treated yourself.

It is simple advice, but it has stayed with me throughout my career. I never want to feel that I need to cross the road because of how I treated someone at work.