Lou Gray- Head of Transitions EY Absolute

“People are very open-minded about new things, as long as they're exactly like the old ones.” —Charles F. Kettering

 

I have been married for 29 years and have a 25 year old daughter, Jessica, who is a P4 teacher in Aberdeen and a 19 year old daughter called Georgia who is attending Harper Adams Veterinary College and excitedly sent a Whatsapp recently about her successful dissection of a heart! 

 

I started working in 1988 and I have worked in payroll/finance for 32 years in both private and public sector.  In 1995 my financial controller called me into her office and told me that my career was over when I was 4 months pregnant.  A year later in 1996 I passed my Accounting Technician exams to prove to what I was capable of!  This qualification allowed me to move into the Finance office at Ards Borough Council – a government body.

 

In 1999, while pregnant with my second child, I graduated with a payroll degree through the Chartered Institute Payroll and Pension (CIPP).  In 2011 I asked my Financial Director, who was part of the Stormont Finance Committee to form the Local Government Payroll Working Group for the 26 NI councils.  As the chairperson I had responsibility to look at the implementation of Real Time Information, Auto Enrolment and Local government pension reform and remained in this position until I moved to a private business environment. 

 

Over the last number of years, I have learnt so much, met so many new colleagues and friends and had so many experiences.  At the end of 2018 I became a payroll conference speaker, which I am extremely proud of.  2019 was also an extremely busy year.  I joined the editorial board for Reward Strategy which is the leading media brand catering for professionals and influencers within payroll, reward, pensions, benefits and HR and in February the CIPP asked if I would be their NI ambassador to raise the profile of payroll and encourage payroll professionals to become a member of the chartered institute #bepayroll 

 

My biggest achievement professionally was being recognized as at the top of my payroll profession – Individual Chartered Status.  As a Chartered Member, individuals are recognised within the industry as achieving the highest level of qualification within our profession and are committed to compliance and best practice within payroll and pensions administration and management. In November I begin a new chapter at EY as the Belfast EY Absolute Head of Transitions.

 

Payroll is becoming increasingly complex, with more scrutiny from regulatory and tax authorities than ever before. I believe the approach to transforming payroll delivery with clients should be to minimise compliance risk, streamline processes, standardise controls and improve efficiency and flexibility. 

 

As a Payroll professional we take on huge responsibility, as part of our spectrum there is the mandatory compliance and the need to understand that the decisions that are taken can affect a large number of people and which may have implications for the wider business infrastructure. It is essential to have a careful thought process.