Group Financial Controller
Abu Issa Holding
Total years of experience :29 years, 1 Months
ABU ISSA HOLDING - GROUP: QATAR
Reporting to: Group Vice Chairman and Board of Directors.
Supervise: Team of 90 Finance Staff and 20 Inventory & Asset Control Staff.
Responsibilities:
Head and Control Group Finance Operations.
Streamlined business processes, front end revenue cycle and financial models to support long term strategic development.
Strengthen policies and procedures for billing, revenue generation, and for (receivables, cash, fixed assets, inventory) control and management.
Controlled budget related to procurement of merchandize, opex / capex and projects.
Managed Group insurances, negotiated best rates and coverage.
Identified, analyze and minimized business risks.
Lead business plan development and budgeting process.
Validated project feasibility and advised management based on its IRR.
Developed cost allocation mechanism between Group (Owned and Joint Ventures) within and across the region.
Developed cash forecast mechanism to manage funds for working capital and investments.
Developed and designed solutions along with functional IT consultant for ERP enhancement and MIS reporting.
Analzed MIS / BI Reports, Management Accounts, Consolidate Financials.
Liaised with External Auditors (Mid & Big4 firms) for audits and regulatory (tax filing) requirements.
Aligned with Corporate Mission and Vision, set departmental goals, objectives and framed KPI’s to measure achievements.
Resolved complex issues.
Assisted CFO and board in strategic decision making.
Negotiate and finalize contracts with landlords, insurance company, principal suppliers and service providers.
Conduct performance evaluation of staff half yearly.
Supervised centralized Payroll processing (of over 4, 500 employees across the region).
Selected Achievements:
•Instrumental in designing process for Stock Perpetual Cycle Count (for Retail Stores) from planning until final approval integrated with E-Business Suite (Oracle). Achieved Project Go-live within set timeline of 2 months. This reduced stock discrepancy from over 2% to below 0.50%.
•Designed process for Stock Perpetual Cycle Count and Periodical Count (for Distribution Centre’s) and integrated with WMS and E-Business Suite (Oracle). Achieved Project Go-live within set timeline. This reduced stock discrepancy from over 3% to below 0.75%.
•Designed and implemented Trade Receivables Credit Control Policy, approval, collection and follow up procedures. This improved collection cycle and reduced receivable holdings period by half.
•Designed and implemented in-house model (along with internal audit team)to assess the impact on financials related to IFRS 9, IFRS 15 and IFRS16. Which after few changes was accepted by the external auditors (Big 4), resulted in savings external implementation cost across the Group.
•Trained Finance team for growth, controls, succession and to provide efficient timely support to local and international operations. Instrumental in improving quality of service and reduced lead time by almost 40%.
•Successful in negotiation of Group Insurance policies, improved coverage and reduced premium by 15%.
•Optimized Group Cash Flows and reduced finance cost by 20% by adoption of cash pooling and implementation of cash forecasting Model.
•Reworked Cost Allocation mechanism.
•Reduced Cash Flow impacts of VAT on related cost charge in Tax Regulation Regions.
•Assisted CFO in re-structuring facilities with major local as well as International Banks. Facilities over QR 1 Billion with Long Term re-payment plan, at competitive rates and best covenants requirements.
•Successful in negotiation of professional service fees with consultants and auditors. Achieved savings over 25%.
•Headed system migration of operating units, from legacy ERP software to EBS Oracle.
•Headed VAT implementation for operating units in the region UAE, KSA, Bahrain, South Africa and Turkey.
AL FAHIM AVENUE - GROUP: DUBAI (UAE)
Council Committee
Reporting to the Board, Supervised the team of Finance, Administration, IT, Warehouse & Logistic departments.
Responsibilities:
Established Group and diversified business.
Planned investments, took strategic decisions for growth and expansion of various business ventures based on their feasibility study.
Supervised Group Finance Operations, shared service allocations, budgetary and credit controls.
Reviewed business policies, procedures and work flows from time to time.
Arranged long term project finance from local and international bankers at best terms.
Reviewed operational and financial performance of business managers and reported to Board on timely basis.
Set corporate mission and vision, corporate goals and objectives.
Identified, evaluated and managed to minimized business risks.
Resolved complex issues. Emphasized on team efforts. Quality service and customer satisfaction.
Tracked cash flows and Group financial planning.
Analyzed Group financial strengths, weaknesses and proposed timely corrective actions.
Explored opportunities for development and sustain growth. Economized the opex cost. Strived for maximum return on investments to stakeholders.
Negotiated and finalized distribution contracts, lease agreements, franchise agreements, business valuations and various business deals together with Group CEO on behalf of the stakeholders.
Conducted performance evaluation and set KPI’s for senior level executives.
Selected Achievements:
•Instrumental in diversification of Group business viz F & B, Medical consumables supply, Solar energy equipment trading, Textile distribution and Telecommunication, in addition to the core business of retail and distribution of Fashion Luxuries. This enhanced business growth by 50% year upon year. Led to improvise retail and distribution profitability in competitive market by optimizing opex cost.
•Developed high performance finance team to drive disciplined growth, strengthen controls, scale infrastructure development and to economize the cost.
•Lead implementation of Microsoft Dynamics ERP Financial (NAV), POS (Retail), SCM, HRMS Modules as main stakeholder.
•Successfully negotiated and finalized various Joint Venture and business deals.
•Optimized Group cash flows and reduced finance cost by 25%.
•Framed policy, procedures, KPI’s and business models, which enabled to reduce fixed overheads by 30%.
•Negotiated and finalized contracts with international brand Principals, landlords and various service providers.
AL FAHIM HOLDINGS - GROUP: MENA region and GCC Nov2000 - Dec 2009
Group deals in retail & distribution of Fashion Luxuries, F & B, Fragrance Manufacturing.
Retail Stores: Paris Gallery, Pari Gallery, Karisma, Watch Gallery and Mono brand Boutiques.
Financial Consultant - Retail & Dist: Qatar & Finance Director - Reg. Dist FZCO: UAE (May08- Dec 09)
Group Financial Controller - Retail and Distribution: UAE
- Group (Distribution Division
Dealing in distribution of HP Hardware and HP life saving medical equipments.
Finance and Admin Manager - Reported to Group FD, supervised team of 7 personnel.
Selected Achievements:
Instrumental in saving loss from export sale collections over USD 10 Millions by implementing customer credit control process, LC confirmations and insurance credit, just before US embargo on trade with Iran.
Detected loss of revenue from distribution of promotional season tickets during ODI Cricket Asia Cup Tournaments held at Sharjah Cricket Stadium during 1997, thereafter created a unique control process for overall ticket sales, collections, promotional passes, entry, exit, re-entry and saved revenue loss
Dealing in furniture trading, interior design (turnkey projects) of villas and offices
Qualified Chartered Accountant
Secured 51st rank in the Merit List - received National Scholarship Certificate from Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development.