Six years on from the global economic crisis, the financial services industry continues to grapple with how to repair its reputation and prevent such a crisis from happening again. But are the right controls being put in place, or have efforts to regulate the industry gone too far? These are questions Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean and Professor of Management Practice in Accounting at London Business School, is well placed to answer.

When it comes to corporate governance and accountability, Likierman, who is also a non-executive chairman of the National Audit Office, boasts an impressive CV.

He has chaired a government study on professional liability, advised the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and been a member of a number of official inquiries, including into North Sea oil costs. He was also a member of the 'Cadbury Committee' on UK corporate governance, set up in May 1991 in response to continuing concern at the time about standards of financial reporting and accountability, particularly in light of the BCCI and Robert Maxwell cases. He has also been a non-executive director of the Bank of England and Barclays. 
"We want to give people a framework for understanding the ethical aspects of the decisions they take""As always with regulation, there has to be a balance, and that's a matter of judgment," he says. "There are those who say all regulation is burdensome and we could do without it. I don't think that is realistic.

The CV
Present:

Dean and Professor of Management Practice in Accounting, London Business School; Non-Executive Chairman, National Audit Office

Past:

Private sector: management accountant, Tootal; Managing Director, Qualitex; Non-Executive Director, Barclays plc; Non-Executive Chairman, Economists' Bookshop, market research firm MORI and Applied Intellectual Capital plc

Public sector: Member of Cabinet Office Central Policy Review Staff; Head of UK Government Accountancy Service; Non-Executive Director of the Bank of England; member of the 'Cadbury Committee'; member, steering committee for review of the United Nations' oversight and governance 

Other roles: President, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Academic career: lecturer at University of Leeds; Professor of Accounting and Financial Control, and Founder Director of the Executive MBA programme, London Business School 

Education: studied at Balliol College, University of Oxford and University of Vienna "Given the financial crisis, it seems to me quite reasonable that there should be a reappraisal of how far regulation should go. I can see why a number of aspects of regulation have been introduced. It would have been surprising if they hadn't been."

Better regulation Likierman emphasises that he is in favour of better regulation rather than more regulation.

"The key issue is whether the response is proportionate and the industry can operate for the benefit of all its stakeholders into the future," he says. "One of the dangers is that in the desire to what seems like getting revenge for some of the things that went on in the financial crisis, there's then an over-reaction, but I recognise that simply going on as before, without a change in attitudes and behaviour, isn't acceptable."

In its attempts to prevent another economic crisis, the industry needs to look forward as well as back, he urges. "I would want to make sure that we weren't just addressing the issues of the last crisis, but anticipating what might happen next time. History tells us that in general, crises do occur frequently and have done for the last 250 years, but they rarely take the same course each time."

Emphasis on ethics Likierman is also keen to ensure the next generation of business leaders know how to manage regulation and approach ethical issues.

"At London Business School we see it as an essential part of their role in management in the future," emphasises Likierman, who has lectured on the school's Masters, open executive and company executive programmes. "Dealing with ethical issues is part of our core curriculum and a compulsory part of our MBA. We taught and discussed these principles for many years before the latest economic crisis - I ran an elective for the MBA in 1986 on business ethics - so this is not something new to us.

"What we want to do is give people a framework for understanding the ethical aspects of the decisions they take. This arises typically in a decision on whether one does business with a country that has a repressive regime."

Learning to lead Identifying future leaders, however, can prove tricky. Are leaders born or are they made? Likierman reckons great leaders are both.

"It is a combination of people's own personal qualities and what they learn," he says. "There are some general concepts of leadership which we hope we can give people so they have a better chance of succeeding. We also can help them by giving them examples of great leadership."

Likierman's five tips for successful leadership
1. A successful leader is successful in relative, not absolute, terms. That means measuring against stated objectives.

2. Be prepared to adapt to different situations. The challenges managers face may, for example, vary greatly from one country or region to the next.

3. When attempting to learn from crises, anticipating what might happen next is as important as focusing on what has happened.

4. Consider the ethical aspects of the decisions you take, and whether you are comfortable with the decisions you make from an ethical viewpoint.

5. Don't confuse success with luck. It is easy to make a great deal in a booming market, but successful leadership is managing through the slump as well as the boom.
The ability to adapt to different situations is paramount for any leader, he reckons. "The only certainty about the world in which we operate is that it is not constant; things change all the time, so the context in which people have to manage changes all the time," says Likierman, who notes that there are currently 106 countries represented on campus at London Business School. "We try and give people a framework so they can operate not just in many different countries but also in very different circumstances."

Qualified success Likierman is keen to give students at London Business School the opportunity to enjoy careers as varied as his has been.

In the private sector, he worked as a management accountant with Tootal, ran a textile plant in Germany, and started and then sold his own successful company selling business books.

In the public sector, he spent ten years as one of the Managing Directors of the UK Treasury and was Head of the UK Government Accountancy Service, during which time he led the project to change the basis of government planning, control and reporting.

"I've been very fortunate to work in both the public and private sectors," says Likierman. "I've also worked in the UK and abroad. One of the reasons I could do so is that I had an accounting qualification that enabled me to move between different organisations and sectors."

If Likierman has achieved much in his career, then he is in good company at London Business School. Many of the school's alumni of more than 39,000 ex-students are leaders in their fields.

Among them is Cyrus Mistry, Chairman of Tata Motors, which owns Jaguar Land Rover. "It is London Business School's 50th anniversary and one of the graduates from our first degree programme was Sir John Egan, who rescued Jaguar in the 1970s. So the Jaguar story neatly frames the school's history," jokes Likierman.

Home comforts He is clearly at home at London Business School. "I like being here and I'm privileged that I have a house which is part of the school - it's a 100-metre walk to work," says Likierman from his office overlooking Regent's Park. "And I think London is an absolutely fabulous city."

Out of hours, Likierman loves spending time with his family, although work is never far away. "Grandchildren are definitely my passion, but one of the disadvantages of being an academic is that you've always got work to do. I do a bit of academic work on performance measurement in my spare time.

"Because I've worked in the area of performance, I'm very interested in it. I lecture on the subject and write to get the ideas published. But being Dean is a full-time job."

That job currently involves achieving the ambitious goal he set last year of raising £100m for the school by 2018 - a target the school is already well on the way to reaching.

Fundraising is a key part of a role that Likierman says requires him to "act as a chief executive" at a school whose vision is to have a profound impact on the way the world does business. You sense that having a Dean with such a wealth of experience of the working world will help the school realise that vision.