Mr John Forgan

I joined LSBU having spent over 30 years as an academic at another London University where in addition to teaching topics from basic accounting record keeping to financial accounting and reporting, management accounting, company law, audit, tax and corporate finance I was The MBA Course Director and latterly the Director of Corporate Partnerships. I have also had a long career as a Chartered Accountant and am currently working mainly with small enterprises in the creative sector. At LSBU I am a Senior Lecturer in the Finance, Economics, Accounting and Analytics Division.

My interests are working with new enterprises helping owner managers develop skills and processes to enable them to make optimal decisions, devise deliverable plans and exert effective financial control of their business. This experience has helped me in my academic life working with business and management students and in designing and delivering corporate executive development programmes. Currently at LSBU I am working on the Help to Grow programme a UK Government funded initiative designed to help small enterprises develop robust business plans to facilitate growth. I am particularly interested in financial distress and developing strategies for financial recovery and resilience. This is very relevant to the Help to Grow project as growth, especially transformational growth, can put businesses under severe financial stress.
As a full-time academic in a triple accredited business school in addition to teaching I had a number of course leadership roles including that of MBA Course Director where I was able to explore the links between the different business subjects and develop teaching skills in such subjects as strategy, leadership and enterprise all of which drew on my professional and commercial experiences. As an MBA Course Director, I worked closely with accrediting bodies and advised several business schools seeking accreditation. I have held a number of external examinerships on MBA programmes. Additionally, I have taught at several overseas institutions most notably in Haarlem (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium) and Moscow (Russia) where until recently I was a Visiting Professor.
In conjunction with my academic and professional work I wrote and edited MBA study texts for BPP publications. I also wrote a guide to sources of finance for a top 10 accountancy firm and for 4 years I was an editor for the Croner CCH Small Business Handbook. I have also presented on the ICEAW's Business Advice roadshow programme.
My professional, commercial and academic experiences enabled me to establish a Centre for Corporate Partnerships. The centre oversaw all the Business School’s external partnerships including accreditations, placements, Knowledge Transfer Projects (KTPs) and executive development programmes including Work Based Learning awards. As Director I led management and executive development programmes most notably with The European Commission, UNHCR, Action for Children, Merlin Entertainments and Park Plaza Hotel Group. I also led on a project with the British Cabinet Office designing and delivering financial management training and development to senior civil servants in several government departments and agencies.

Auditing and assurance
Taxation
Management Accounting
Financial reporting
Behavioural Finance
Financial Management
Funding Enterprise Projects