Alexis Warret “The main objective is to ensure the smooth running of the establishment’s activities.”
Since early November, Alexis Warret has been serving as accounting officer at the University of Montpellier for a four-year term, renewable once. With his deep knowledge of higher education and research, he has set two goals for his new role: modernization and simplification. When good accounts make good agents... Let's meet him.
Name?
Alexis Warret.
Position?
Accounting officer at the University of Montpellier.
Tasks?
I would distinguish between two areas. One is historical, the foundation of the profession: paying bills, collecting revenue, keeping accounts and inventory, producing accounts, what is known as producing the financial accounts for the fiscal year that has just ended at the beginning of the following year, etc.
The second set of tasks relates to the implementation of GBCP ( public budget and accounting management) and RCE ( extended responsibilities and competencies). These involve participation, management, and project leadership in the areas of financial and accounting modernization. This is the contribution that can be made to the strategic management of the institution by producing reliable accounting data that enables management to make decisions with all the necessary information at their disposal.
The challenges of your term of office?
The evolution of the Sifac budget, financial, and accounting management software into Sifac+, a much more comprehensive version, which will require around two years of preparation. We will begin in 2025, and this will be a key focus of my term of office. The second "challenge" is simplification. We will expand the scope of the modernization of payment tools with the purchase card, which will be a tool for modernizing payments and simplifying the expenditure chain for teachers, researchers, and Professors.
What skills are required?
We immediately think of the technical skills that are central to the job. Clearly, I think it's the ability to adapt to the higher education and research environment, which requires a high level of responsiveness because it is changing so rapidly.
For several years now, we have seen increasingly complex projects being set up, often combining several sources of funding with different rules, with regulations that are not necessarily appropriate or are somewhat outdated. So we need to work on adapting these regulations. We are also working with increasingly important partners, including foreign partners, which brings with it a number of management constraints.
Grasshopper or ant?
An accountant is rarely a grasshopper; I would say they are more like ants by nature. Especially in the current national context. It is uncertain and changing, with no national budget. The main objective is to ensure the smooth running of the institution's activities.
Rev counter or current account?
Neither. Public transportation. Montpellier is very well equipped in this regard, so that will be my contribution to protecting the environment.
Active or passive?
Let's say active. Accounting is all well and good, but you have to try to get away from it from time to time. I really enjoy traveling and I quite like reading: history, comic books... I have quite eclectic tastes.
Maroilles cheese, sauerkraut, or fougasse bread?
A little bit of everything. I'm originally from Pas-de-Calais, and I worked for quite some time throughout the region. Then I moved down to the Rhône region, to Lyon. I moved back up to Alsace, to Strasbourg. And since early November, I've been in Occitanie, in Montpellier.
Fiscal year or academic year?
Let's be clear, I'm very much an accountant. I started my career in traditional administration, as head of a research department at the University of Artois. Then I switched to the Treasury and retook the exam to become a university administrative advisor, for those who are familiar with the position, as the rank no longer exists.
From there, I pursued a career in accounting: accounting officer at IUFM Nord-Pas-de-Calais for five years; the University of Valenciennes for three years; the University of Lyon for a little over five years; the University of Strasbourg for nearly eight years, two almost full terms. And then the University of Montpellier, since early November.
Thank you!