She points to progress in other firms: “The Big Six have senior women in corporate finance.” It remains, however, a very male-dominated area. At Azets’ national corporate finance partner meetings, Broadhurst is still the only female out of more than a dozen partners. But, she says: “We’ve got some brilliant women coming up through the ranks, including a director in my own team.”
Broadhurst’s role covers South Wales and the South West, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Wiltshire and Devon and Cornwall. It’s a big area. She’s lived and worked in Cardiff for more than 20 years and is from Plymouth originally, so knows the region pretty well.
“All the regions have spin-outs from more traditional industries, as well as new emerging ones. Gloucestershire has some very interesting technology, cyber and future industries receiving investment; South Wales has pockets of tech and pharma; and Devon and Cornwall have dynamics that are pretty similar to South Wales – the geography, declining industries and new industries that are looking for funding. No two days are the same for me and to be still learning adds to the interest and excitement.”
Regional knowledge
The post-lockdown blended approach to work of face-to-face, Zoom and Teams meetings has actually helped her learn about the opportunities and challenges in her region: “Developing relationships with other partners across the region became easier and more natural. I effectively met them more quickly. Then once out of lockdown I was able to meet physically.”
Her corporate finance team increased from four to six last year – she says they will recruit two more this year – and is now half and half male and female. There are 65 staff working in corporate finance for Azets across the UK. “Our services are delivered with the weight of a national firm, but also with regional knowledge – and the businesses we deal with want that regional touch point.”
Broadhurst started her career in corporate finance with South Wales-based firm Broomfield & Alexander, (see The career, below). In 2019 the firm was acquired by Baldwins, part of the accountancy consolidator group Cogital, and then in 2020 the whole group rebranded as Azets. The 2019 takeover, she says, unleashed the growth of the corporate finance business: “My mantra is always that no client should go unserviced. They should never feel like they need to go anywhere else. No matter the size of the deal, we aim to deliver those services in a quality, value-for-money way and find them solutions.
“When we were a smaller firm, progress could be slower because it was so much more about individuals. Being in a bigger firm feels more like a meritocracy, which drives personal development. If you keep delivering the numbers you are rewarded and there are wider opportunities.”
Greater scope for change?
Broadhurst was able to go part-time while her children were pre-school age. She says she has seen first-hand that attitudes to such arrangements have changed – and are still changing. “Irrespective of what the corporate finance industry is like, I think clients are more accepting that everybody has a personal life. And they don’t expect people to be pushed around here, there and everywhere. They are much more accepting of flexibility.
“I can have Teams meetings in the evening, around clients’ business and my family responsibilities, too. That has certainly enabled more diversity to come in. But there’s still a long way to go.”
She also points out that many family businesses, a significant proportion of the client base, involve strong women. Added to this, as the region’s reliance on heavy industry declines, more gender-diverse businesses are emerging.
“I believe I can bring more emotional intelligence to deals,” she argues, “and that’s important. Even in a traditional family business with a male figurehead, we need to understand his motivations and find a solution without anyone being concerned about being judged.”
Welsh beginnings
Competition across the region was limited when she started in corporate finance, as were deal volumes. There was one boutique and the Big Four that had corporate finance teams based in Cardiff, she says, while other small local firms provided services without the specialism.
“Wales is still behind other regions in the amount, level and popularity of private equity. The Development Bank of Wales established its equity fund very early on, run by Gary Partridge, which has been key in raising awareness and educating businesses.”
Neither has the region had as much direct private equity interest as other regions, but she often finds herself advising on hybrid trade-private equity transactions for private equity-backed portfolio companies.
Broadhurst was the first person at Broomfield & Alexander to qualify as an ACA within the corporate finance team. She says it was hard because she was the first and because of the nature of corporate finance work: “You have to deal with corporate finance projects as they come up, whereas audit is all scheduled. But I had realised pretty quickly that if I was going to progress in corporate finance I had to be qualified.
“There is a determination about me. I’ve always been somebody who’s had a lot on, but I am very organised and I am good at juggling things.”
She also says she is pretty frank with people coming in to corporate finance and training as an ACA, telling them it is challenging.
Secrets of success
“South Wales is a small place. Clients know each other and word spreads that way. Success is about how you develop relationships and provide solutions.”
Her boss and mentor, Seamus Gates, retired in 2020 and, she says, “I credit Seamus for seeing something in me that said: ‘Yes, we can do this.’ I’ve seen lots of people come and go in that time, but we believed in what we could do.
“In a male-dominated environment where misogyny still exists, I learned how to become more assertive and I learned to become confident in my difference and to recognise allies. But when I look back, one theme through my career has been to take opportunities. They may not have been obvious at the time, but they took me somewhere.”
The career
Katherine Broadhurst graduated from Cardiff University in 2000. She had a degree in law and German, and had spent a sandwich year at the University of Bern, studying international law in German. Without the resources to move to London, nor the larger regional firms offering trainee opportunities, she took various temporary executive roles in Wales before moving to the newly established Finance Wales (since 2017 called the Development Bank of Wales) in 2001. There she helped set up its central systems and processes.
While working in the Welsh government’s Access to Capital programme, which provided guidance to SMEs on funding and advisory support, she was introduced to Seamus Gates, a partner at Broomfield & Alexander: “Having tried it, the public sector wasn’t really right for me. I was keen to not only understand the detail, but to get things done more quickly. I was asked to help Broomfield & Alexander on a project in this area for three days – and that was 20 years ago.”
She joined the company in July 2002. Recognising the benefit for progression in qualifications, she secured an apprenticeship as an accounting technician. “I had no accounting background and this was effectively an apprenticeship scheme for people who wanted to change career.”
She qualified as an AAT in 2006 and started to study for her ACA exams. She had exemptions from a few of them and became an ICAEW member in January 2009, but it wasn’t easy doing this while working in corporate finance and having more seniority and responsibility than most entry-level audit trainees.
Broomfield & Alexander was still a pretty traditional firm, where employees didn’t progress until they were qualified, which she did. She was advising clients on fundraising and strategy: “There were a lot of grant applications and looking at the economic benefits of an expansion to demonstrate value for money for government.”
The firm was developing its advisory services, focusing on advising on succession planning, with a robust management plan.
That all came to fruition when she qualified as an ACA in 2009. The specialist team formed in 2011, from when her progression gathered pace, first as an assistant manager, in 2016 manager and in 2018 associate director.
Then in April 2019, the Hg Capital-backed advisory business Cogital’s subsidiary Baldwins acquired the firm, which became Azets in 2020. She became a director in September 2019 and was promoted to partner in January 2021. “The business had gone from a traditional partnership – albeit the largest independent – to the regional arm of a national firm. I probably wasn’t ever going to make equity partner without the acquisition.” She received recognition from her industry peers, being named Wales Insider Dealmaker of the Year in September 2022.
