James read Economics at the University of Bristol, and then completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Law at BBP Law School, London. He joined the Finance programme in 2010.

I applied for the graduate programme at Atos because I was interested in joining an ambitious international company with extensive UK operations. The rotational nature of the programme, with exposure to diverse areas of accounting and finance, meant I could get a good grounding in management accounting.

In addition, I knew I’d be able to use my legal skills in the future, by working in the Commercial Finance team. I also discovered that Atos offers a generous CIMA sponsorship package, and is recognised as a CIMA Quality Partner too.
I was initially placed in the Consulting Finance team, where I had full P&L exposure – including forecasting, budgeting and the preparation and evaluation of month-end accounts. My role meant I worked closely with senior members of the business to ensure targets were tracked and achieved.

My more recent position has been in the Financial Planning & Analysis team. Here I’ve been helping consolidate the budget for Atos’ two legacy businesses, increasing the capabilities of our reporting package and preparing some ad hoc reporting for the UK Executive Board.

Whilst rotating around the Finance department, you‘re encouraged to become involved in different projects. For instance, I was fortunate to be involved on project that helped Atos become the first IT services provider to sign a memorandum of understanding with the new UK government in autumn 2010.