Judge Information to be confirmed shortly.

David Buffham - Agent, Bank of England

David Buffham has worked for the Bank of England since joining straight from school. Most of the 29 years he has spent at the Bank were in London, where he held a wide variety of roles including banking supervisor (his first professional experience of accountants) and, latterly, as part of a small Bank team that trained central bankers from developing countries. Although most of this occurred in London it also provided the chance to travel to countries such as Poland, Abu Dhabi and Kenya.

In 2001 David applied for and got the job of Agent for the North East for the Bank of England. Principally this involves reporting to the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee about economic activity in the region. The raw material for this reporting comes mainly from a network of companies across the region which David and his small team see on a regular basis. Many of these contacts are accountants.

Brenda Readman-Bell, Group Finance and IT Director, J Barbour & Sons Ltd

Brenda is the Group Finance and IT Director for J Barbour and Sons Ltd based in South Shields. She has responsibility for the UK (parent), America, Germany and France (subsidiaries).

She has held this position since October 2004 prior to which she was the Finance Director for Ladieswear for Jacques Vert PLC. She has worked in accountancy for just over 20 years with all posts being held in the North East of England. Other accountancy positions held have been outside the clothing industry with Dunlop, NSK and Thorn Lighting Ltd.

As an associate member of CIMA, she has developed her career through a pragmatic approach delivering commercially sound results.