She trained as a local authority accountant before moving into consultancy in 1989, initially with Coopers & Lybrand, where she was responsible for developing and managing the firm's local government consultancy work in Scotland.  She is an active member of CIPFA and was closely involved with recent developments in costing and accounting for Best Value, including writing “Fair Shares?”: Guidance on the apportionment of overheads in accordance with CIPFA’s Best Value Accounting Code of Practice.

Paula is also the chairman of Turning Point Scotland.