Meet our founder: Debra Adams ACMA talks about our business journey.

I created arena4finance in 2004, having spent a number of years working in both hospitality and academia, qualifying as a Chartered Management Accountant along the way and then completing my Masters degree in Online Learning. Over the years my amazing team at arena4finance have had the opportunity of developing and delivering one day, online and more extensive courses in hospitality finance for both finance professionals and operational heads of department in hotels, restaurants and leisure facilities. We are delighted to say that in 2021 we are still going strong and have been able to continue to grow our learning delivery team to meet the growing needs of our clients despite the challenges of the last 18 months. We have strengthened our team to include qualified hospitality accountants and learning technologists so when lockdown suddenly arrived we were well prepared to take on the opportunities arising from online and hybrid learning.

We regularly provide training support for recognised industry bodies including the Institute of Hospitality, the MasterInnholders, The European Clubs Association, TUCO and the Hospitality Professionals Association (HOSPA) where, until recently, I have held the position of Head of Professional Development for the past 20 years.

I have been involved with the hospitality industry for almost 30 years and have delivered courses and training to numerous organisations in the hotel and restaurant sector including leading hotel schools such as Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne and Glion Institute in the UK and Switzerland. Based on these experiences I am so excited to launch the third edition of my book 'Strategic Management Accounting for the Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Industries' in the coming weeks.

I am honoured to have recently been appointed as Trustee and Member of the Supervisory Board at the Institute of Hospitality and look forward to working with the lovely team there over the coming months. This Autumn we will be launching our recently updated range of short courses offered for the hospitality industry, including:

• Courses for Hospitality Finance Professionals
• HOTS Business Simulation - a course based on the highly acclaimed hotel management game
• Financial Awareness for Hospitality Heads of Department and General Managers
• Cost Control for Food & Beverage Operations
• Understanding and implementing the USALI

These courses are available both for workshop delivery and online. All courses delivered by arena4finance are based on the recommendations of the 11th edition of the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry which specifies the best practice for reporting and benchmarking.

Despite the challenges over the past 18 months, I am very proud of my amazing team and am looking forward to making a real difference over the coming years!

We would love to hear from you - come and say hello at [email protected] or call us on ++ 44 (0) 1202 849691.