Isel Barnard

Key Takeaways

Tell us more about the career path that led you to Atterbury? What made you take the step to join the company?

I am qualified Chartered Accountant, and I completed my articles at PWC in 2013.  I started off my career as a financial manager at a sugar import and export company. With the exposure to import and indirect taxes, I completed my master’s degree in taxation and joined PWC’s Tax Consulting team. Although I enjoyed the technical aspects of tax, I missed the other disciplines of financial management, and I started exploring growth opportunities.

My journey at Atterbury started in January 2020 with AttX (a previous joint venture between Atterbury and Excellerate) as a financial manager. AttX was responsible for the property management function on the Atterbury Portfolio. In July 2021, Atterbury internalised the property management business and consolidated this function with the asset management business creating, Atterbury Management Services (AMS). The AMS business model service an asset from the day-to-day operational management right through to shareholder value creation. As the Head of Finance, my team is responsible for the full financial accounting, reporting and management function for all the asset in the portfolio.

How does a typical ‘day in your life’ unfold in this position?

Whoever said finance is a boring function has never been involved in the property industry. This industry is fast paced, high volume, high value environment and the finance function needs to respond to all stakeholders with care and accuracy.  Apart from a fixed financial reporting cycle, there isn’t a fixed rhythm to a day. We can attend to anything from emergency plumbing payments to dividend declarations before our second coffee.

Tell us a bit about your personal life and what you are passionate about.

My husband and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary this year. We share a career in property, he on the development side and me on the finance side. We have three children (five, four and 8months) and two Golden Retrievers.  My two most prised possessions are my running shoes and a ring my husband gave me with the birth of our first child. I love running, but I took on the challenge to stretch myself with other disciplines so I’m currently training for the Mossel Bay Half Ironman in November.

What will be your focus for the rest of the year and going into 2023?

We see finance as a value-add function and want to provide Atterbury with accurate and valuable information to drive decision making. From a Group Reporting side, Atterbury partnered with a digital transformation company focusing to streamline and integrate information and processes across the company. We are currently busy with workshops and have identified a few financial and operational processes to be addressed in the next months before we get busy with half year reporting and the budgeting season.

How does your expectations compare to reality?

Some believe to shoot for the moon and if you miss, you’ll end among the stars – for me it will be extremely disappointing to miss a target as big as the moon.  I have high expectations for myself and others, but I’ve learned to factor in the variables of life, the same as we do with cashflows, investment returns and WACC.

In your career so far, can you share an “aha” moment, when a learning made a big impact on the next step that you took?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, I passed a vending machine at the Airport. What once was filled with Kit-Kats and earplugs, was overnight replaced with immune boosters, sanitisers and face masks.  I was genuinely impressed with the resilience of human nature.  This is the philosophy at Atterbury, you can always plan and adapt.  I can’t single out a specific moment, but this approach in general impacts my daily decisions.

If you could be a professional in any industry, what would it be?

I would be a professional art thieve, according to the movies this is quite a lucrative industry.  On top of that, I would love to be able to split under a laser beam, snatch a fine art piece, sky-dive off a building and drive a hard bargain with an art collector.