Connected FM welcomed its latest arrival this month as John Ferry settled into the role of Commercial MD for the business. John brings with him extensive experience in sales and project management from his work in the interiors fit-out sector. He will be managing the sales and marketing side of the business, with the assistance of Shona Lyttel.

The emergency budget today must have been the most widely anticipated budget of all time, with predictions and pre-budget analysis running amok. I like everyone else anticipated the impact from both a personal and business perspective with some trepidation, were my fears realised, well, not exactly.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills published a short summary of the impact on business, and it does not seem that bad. Reduced Corporation Tax being the main one, and of course the rescinding of the previous governments move to increase NI.

The VAT increase was widely reported and anticipated, and I was surprised it is not going to be introduced until January of next year (Christmas and January sales will be interesting!).

I suspect that the increase in CGT and VAT may have a bigger impact on the building industry than FM, and in fact this could suggest another period of increased focus on Opex not Capex. I look forward to the CIC view of this. The BIFM have a perspective here.

From a personal perspective I am warned that my income will reduce by 2% in the coming 12 months, which to be honest was not entirely unexpected. Like everyone else, we tightened our belts some time ago and even more so in anticipation of this budget.

The Telegraph has a good five minute guide to give you a quick overview. Scottish Enterprise have their perspective here.

How does this impact on Connectedfm remains to be seen, we like everyone else are working very hard for our margins and I suspect that decreasing spare money will exacerbate it. However, we have been telling everyone that we are a business which can help deliver 'best value', so I suspect now is our time.

We are focused on growth, so some of the NI holiday measures (if we can take advantage of them) might help us, couple this with people who want to work for a stable employer and are less inclined to move, then I would hope we can continue our development as a leading FM provider.

• Appropriate financial qualifications for working in an SME (current TO circa £5m) ACCA, CIMA or CA qualified at minimum with several years experience
• Proven financial management experience with references
• The ability to implement financial processes across the business
• Excellent knowledge of all financial instruments including Invoice Finance and Online Business Banking
• The business acumen to relationship manage the businesses banking
• The ability to produce regular Management Accounts, P&L Accounts, Cashflow & Financial Projections
• Analytical skills in relation to productivity, cash management, supply chain partner terms, material supplier terms, stock management and purchase order management
• Production of the Board papers for financial reporting will also be required