Staff Profile | Newcastle University Business School

Gill Holden

Senior Lecturer in Accounting

Address: Room 7.24, 7th Floor
Newcastle University Business School
5 Barrack Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4SE

Introduction

Gill Holden is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and is a Chartered Management Accountant and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Prior to joining NUBS full time in 2013 Gill was a self-employed management accountant providing accountancy, payroll and tax services to sole traders and small / medium enterprises. Gills’ teaching is thus informed by her prior experience in industry and as a self-employed accountant.

Gill is flexible in her teaching and has delivered a variety of subjects, including management and financial accounting, to postgraduate and undergraduate students in both large lectures and small seminars.

Gill is currently the module leader for a compulsory core stage 2 module in the UG Accounting and Finance degree programme, ACC2021 Understanding Company Accounts, a module that enables students to develop analytical, written, presentation and team working skills, thus enhancing their knowledge and employability. In addition Gill is currently teaching in the stage one management accounting module and the stage two financial accounting modules.

The strategic themes of the business school of the Future of Work and Leading on Leadership are of particular interest to Gill and she is working continuously to enhance the employability of the Accounting and Finance Graduates. For example Gill currently meets regularly with professional services firms and industry, including EY, Sage and Proctor and Gamble, as well as the professional accountancy bodies, including CIMA, ACCA and ICAEW, regarding the characteristics of accounting and finance graduates desired by employers. This information informs her teaching and discussions with the subject group head and fellow module leaders in the accounting and finance degree and ultimately informs curriculum design for the undergraduate accounting and finance programmes. In the 2017 DLHE survey 95% (2016: 91%) of respondents were in work or study 6 months after graduating.

Gill is instrumental in the integration of technology enhanced learning (TEL) in the A&F Subject Group e.g. Ombea (interactive voting), Slido.com, Microsoft Teams and Turnitin online marking. For 2 years Gill led on innovative engagement work with Ernst and Young (EY) in the development of the ACC2021 Understanding Company Accounts module. David Smith, Associate Partner, presented to students at the start of the module regarding the relationship of the module to the workplace. Students work in culturally diverse groups for the academic year on a report and presentation about a company. In line with developments in the workplace Microsoft Teams has been introduced to the students via workshops run in conjunction with NU IT. The module was reviewed with EY so that it enables the students to develop many of the new NUBS graduate attributes desired by employers, whilst simultaneously aligning the module to the new School strategic themes of the Future of Work and Leading on Leadership. Stage 3 students and alumni have commented that the module helped them secure a job by giving them examples to discuss in competency based interviews and the confidence to give presentations upon starting their careers. The module is continually being developed and the embedding of MS Teams in the module will enhance engagement, collaboration and inclusivity going forwards as well as developing the digital skills of the students.

Gill not only uses TEL in her modules but has disseminated information to colleagues in NUBS and the University. An interactive voting quiz was demonstrated at a Newcastle University Technology Enhanced Learning Advocates (NUTELA) workshop (2016) and the value of slido.com to elicit student questions has been widely discussed.

The A&F programme is research led and it is accredited by multiple national and international professional accountancy bodies. Gill leads on the NUBS and NUL relationships, including but not limited to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Meetings are arranged with the accreditation managers, HE Representatives and MLs to ensure the programmes at NUBS and NUL remain in line with syllabus changes. The exemptions available to students are mapped to the programme and modules and disseminated via the A&F blackboard community. The extent and variety of accreditations, balanced by research-led teaching, are valued by both current students (evidenced by NSS feedback) and prospective students (via Open Day surveys).

Gills' innovative education has been recognised by Microsoft for the second year running (Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert 2020 21) & incorporated into a national & global case study.

In 2017 Gill initiated and led the engagement work with Sage plc to offer a new internationally-recognised CIMA-accredited qualification in Sage accountancy software to stage 2 A&F students. As a result, students can demonstrate an additional competency to employers beyond their academic degree. Sage also sponsor an iPad prize for the stage 2 Intermediate Financial Accounting module. Both are offered on an ongoing basis further demonstrating the support for employability.

In 2016 / 17 Gill was funded by the HaSS faculty to take part in the Aurora Leadership Programme for women run by the Leadership Foundation and Gill has successfully gone on to lead the NUBS and NUL programme and managing the links between the Newcastle and London module leaders.

Gill has previously been the Degree Programme Director BSc (Hons) Accounting & Finance with placement and study abroad variants (N400. N401, N403) at Newcastle University Business School (NUBS) and Degree Programme Director BSc (Hons) Accounting & Finance with placement and study abroad variants. (N402, N403, N404) at Newcastle University London (NUL)

Roles and Responsibilities

Responsible for the accreditation of the above programmes at NUBS with multiple national and international professional accountancy bodies, including but not limited to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Mentor on the NEPS programme

Conferences and workshops

December 2020: Virtual Learning in Business School: An Inside Look,

International Panel Event facilitated by Kirsty Setz-Carke using the educational events platform Access. As a panel member I joined my colleagues Dr David Grundy and Dr Benjamin Bader to discuss online learning.

April 2020: Microsoft UK EduDay: Remote Learning with Teams and Newcastle University,

Professional Development Bootcamp for HE and FE, Glasgow, February 2020, presented experience of introducing and using Teams in a large group work module.

January 2020: BETT 2020

Presentation: Working Better Together: Using Teams to embed digital skills at Newcastle

With Marc Bennet, learning technologist, NUIT.

May 2019: Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS): Learning, Teaching and Student Experience (LTSE), The changing landscape of Higher Education, Manchester.

Workshop: Enabling teamwork work using Microsoft Teams and collaborating with EY

With Marc Bennett, learning technologist, NUIT.

Poster presentation: Adding skills via additional external qualifications

May 2019: BAFA: Accounting Education Special Interest Group conference, Ghent, Belgium, attendee as A and F Subject group representative.

April 2019: Newcastle University Learning and Teaching Conference

Workshop: Working Better Together: Using Microsoft Teams to support and enhance the educational experience in group modules.

With Marc Bennett, learning technologist, NUIT

January 2019: Future of Finance Festival and Professional Qualification Launch 2019, Attendee as A and F subject group representative.

October 2018: Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Roadmap - Professor Suzanne Cholerton

Attendee at presentation as DPD of A and F programmes and out of scholarly interest as passionate about TEL and using technology to enhance engagement, collaboration and inclusivity.

May 2018: British Accounting and Finance Association: Committee of Departments of Accounting and Finance Annual Conference. Attendee as DPD of Accounting and Finance programme.

April 2018: CABS: LTSE, Glasgow, Attendance as T and S Staff of NUBS.

March 2019: Invited by ACCA to attend as their guest, the ACCA UK flagship conference: Shaping the future: unlocking your organisation's potential

June 2017: CIMA Academics’ and Careers Advisors’ Conference, London, invitation as DPD and lecturer in Accounting from CIMA.

May 2017: CABS: LTSE, Bristol, Attendance at conference by invitation of NUBS DELT as a T and S staff member.

2016/17 Aurora programme, Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, Leeds. Nominated for faculty support by the PVC of HaSS, Professor Julie Sanders, to take part.

Qualifications

Certificate of Advanced Studies in Academic Practice (CASAP) (2016)

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA)

BSc (Hons) Newcastle University

Memberships

British Accounting and Finance Association

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE)

Associate Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA)

Previously North East Coast Branch of CIMA committee member and represent the North East Branch of CIMA at North East Area Meetings

External Examining Positions

University of Derby (2018 – present) – undergraduate programme

Gill Holden

Senior Lecturer in Accounting

Undergraduate Teaching

Prior teaching

Postgraduate Teaching