In loving memory
“Her lessons were never just lessons — they were experiences.”
Clare trained with KPMG and qualified in 1990 — and quickly discovered that teaching accountants was far more fun than auditing them. In 2012 she left a senior role at Kaplan with a bold idea: that accountancy training could be better — more flexible, more personal, and far more engaging. She co-founded HTFT Partnership, built around the flipped-classroom model.
With a background in audit and financial reporting, Clare combined deep technical knowledge with a genuine passion for innovative education. She was a true pioneer in accountancy training, and she changed the lives of so many — students, colleagues, and everyone lucky enough to learn alongside her.
Clare had the gift the very best educators share. She could take something complex — something that felt impossibly out of reach — and make it not just understandable, but memorable, meaningful and human. She taught through stories, and those stories stay with us.
Red picks flowers for Grandma — but needs two of every kind. For CIMA Operational Case Study students it became an unforgettable rule: every paragraph carries two marks. Had you picked both flowers, or moved on too soon and left marks behind?
Meat, potatoes, a carrot for everyone — and not forgetting the peas. A simple picture that made sure students answered every part of the question, leaving nothing on the plate.
“Only Dirty Red Tanks Can Attack Enemy Military Forces” — a Clare classic for remembering IFRS 1, and a story we still love telling.
Students who arrived on the edge of failing would leave Clare’s sessions with something shifted — not just knowledge, but confidence, clarity, and a way through. Stories bypass the part of us that resists learning; they stay with us long after the facts and figures fade. Clare knew that. She lived it. And she passed that gift on to everyone she taught.
Clare’s influence reached far beyond any one classroom. She authored A Student’s Guide to International Financial Reporting Standards — the Amazon number-one bestselling IFRS book since its publication, and a reference guide that generations of students have kept close. Throughout her career she put students at the heart of everything she did.
She became the first-ever recipient of the ‘Hall of Fame’ award at the 2025 PQ Awards — well deserved, and long overdue. Across ACCA, CIMA and AAT, her energy, intellect and warmth shaped the careers of countless accountants who now go on to teach, mentor and lead others in turn.
When news of Clare’s passing spread, hundreds of students and colleagues shared what she had meant to them. A few of their words:
Clare taught me in 2003–04 at Kaplan Birmingham — an outstanding tutor with incredible IFRS knowledge and a truly kind person. More than two decades later, I now teach FR and audit, and I know how much of that inspiration traces back to teachers like Clare.
I am proud to have been a student of Clare’s. She was an amazing human being, and her legacy will live eternally through her students, who themselves go on to positively affect others.
An amazing tutor and a fantastic role model for women in finance.
Her passion for teaching and her perseverance with students like me — who did not pass exams first time — will always inspire me.
She was a wonderful person, inspirational, and taught me so much. Loved by everybody.
Who else could make IFRS interesting? The patience you showed, the time you took, but most importantly the encouragement you gave, was another level.
A supportive and inspirational person, always helping to guide me through my CIMA journey. We spent many precious hours together working through complexities, and Clare would always give me the confidence to continue.
Funny, thoughtful, creative, driven, loyal and very kind — and don’t ever criticise double entry. She made the world a better place.
Technically brilliant, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of corporate reporting, and one of the best communicators and teachers I have known. Above all else, a kind and incredibly generous person — a beautiful human being with a beautiful soul.
If you’re facing something that feels impossibly hard right now — in your studies, in your career, in your life — perhaps the answer is closer than you think. Sometimes the most basic of things, told in the simplest of ways, is exactly what helps us find our way through.
That was Clare’s gift, and it is her legacy. Her impact is woven through every person she taught, mentored, encouraged and uplifted. We are better — personally and professionally — because she crossed our paths.
Thank you for the wisdom, the warmth, the laughter, and the stories.
Your legacy lives on in all of us. 💛
