Aarif Dhankwala

ALJ Enterprises was created in 2014 with commitment to further diversify the business of Abdul Latif Jameel Group which is a prominent player in automotive, financing, real-estate and energy sectors.

Currently Heading finance function for Group Head Office, directly reporting to Group CFO

Responsibility includes:

 Manage and supervise the operations of the Accounting, Budgeting & Cost Control, and ensure appropriate support is being provided to business enabling them to deliver their mandate.
 Consolidation of monthly financial results from all subsidiaries, review monthly flash reports and actual reports, lead preparation of Group Management packs including key financial analyses, performance commentary, and actionable insights.
 Monitor the progress of business plans and ensure they are implemented to achieve the desired outcomes.
 Oversee the analysis on budgets received from the various departments and prepare a consolidated budget.
 Monitor variances between budgeted and actual expenditures; and distribute monthly management pack to the respective directorate/department.
 Monitor cash flow and report major deviations from the cash flow projection.
 Review the annual accounts and liaise with external auditors.
 Oversee the financial statements review process for subsidiary companies.
 Ensure that the company complies with all the relevant financial and statutory requirements.
 Review feasibility studies for new business opportunities.

Abdul Latif Jameel Group was selected Global Service Provider for FedEx in Saudi Arabia as of January 2015

Heading finance function, responsible to establish the Accounts and Finance department, directly reporting to Group CFO and functionally to Managing Director.

Responsibility includes:

 Build and develop the local finance team.
 Develop financial policies, procedures & processes and ensure their effective implementation.
 Support the MD in the development of the business plan & corporate strategy.
 Responsible for establishing and maintaining a single and centralized Chart of Accounts to record all accounting allocations in order to maintain, classify and report the financial transactions of the company.

Heading finance function and key member of the management team, directly reporting to the Country General Manager and functionally to Finance Director- MEA.

Responsibility includes:

 Providing financial expertise in all aspects including the planning, control and reporting of the financial performance of the company as necessary to meet TNT group requirements.
 Manage financial processes to ensure compliance with all relevant legal and fiscal requirements.
 Evaluates financial risks to the business and builds the necessary ICFR controls to maintain the risks at an acceptable level.
 Manages the business planning/budgeting/forecast process, recording the financial plans and reporting of performance against those plans.
 Manage monthly closing process - review of accruals and analyzing actual v/s weekly estimate.
 Monthly business review - Actual vs budget/forecast & previous year variance analysis of revenue, overheads, cash flow, capex & working capital.
 Half yearly reporting - tax questionnaire, Letter of Representation (LOR), legal questionnaire, corporate structure chart, material contract register, claims & litigation report, risk register, underwriting information etc.
 Finalization of financial statement as per the audit requirement and manage relationship with external auditor.
 Annual zakat filing, monthly withholding tax and yearly PTT tax payments.
 Handling zakat queries on import related issues and payment to nonresident parties.
 Approval of vendor purchase orders in P2P & reducing the retrospective PO percentage.
 Approval of payment proposals and critical payments for domestic and overseas suppliers.
 Manage the Credit Control team in order to mitigate risk associated with customer credit and increase the inflow of cash available to the group by efficiently managing the collection of overdue invoices.
 Debtor’s management and controlling debtor’s Kpis (Cash Collection Week and Overdue debt 30 days %) as per the corporate policy.
 Collection analysis monthly vs targets.
 Control on Un-Invoiced custom duty outstanding.
 Cash flow management - to provide sufficient funds to support the activities of the business.
 Improve working capital.
 Maintains sound financial relationships with customers, vendors, employees, bankers and other stakeholders.
 Responsible for fixed assets management.
 Bank correspondences and managing bank guarantees

Reporting to Financial Controller Responsibility includes:

Producing the weekly estimated results and other KPIs to enable the management team to monitor actual performance vs budget/forecast.

Compare the actual monthly results with the weekly estimate results and explains the variances.

Produces the quarterly forecast and annual budget from the operational business plans.

Compares the budget and estimated results to the actual financial results and explains the variances.

Yearly accurate Cost modelling exercise for MTP credits.

Timely preparation of capex.

Monitoring capital expenditure against approved budget.

Preparing management report as per the company requirement.

Responsible for supervising the overall accounting activities (GL, AP, AR, FA, Payroll) and provide approvals on their transactions based on delegated level of authority

Ensure maintenance of supplier’s database/contracts & ensure rate charged by suppliers and payments are as per terms of contract.

Send confirmations to the suppliers on a regular basis and reconcile the difference, if any.

Ensure Intercompany charges are charged out on a timely manner as per policy & ensure that the intercompany balances with other group companies are confirmed and differences are investigated and resolved.

Ensure accurate Asset class and timely booking of Fixed Assets invoices in SAP.

Maintain Fixed Asset tagging for all the assets capitalized & execute the depreciation run on a monthly basis.

Perform month-end closing process, including review of GL entries, scrutinizing the ledger, preparing accruals based on trend, charged off prepayments and other closing journals as necessary.

Prepare Balance sheet file and cross link the Trial Balance with the supporting schedules.

Update the mapping of SAP account to Arabic accounts and provide data to the Arabic accountant on a regular basis.

Reconcile the statutory books with the management reporting and liaise with the auditors for audit of accounts.

Provide an accurate payroll & make additions/changes for new entrants, revisions in salary, deleting leavers, updating overtime, checking commissions claim, prepare reconciliation with previous month and journalize the payroll related transaction on a monthly basis

Ensure that the bank reconciliation for all banks are done before the month end and there are no old items in bank reconciliation.

Ensure control on iqama related advances and Receipt Vouchers Books.

Compute withholding tax on a monthly basis.

Statutory Audit & Limited Review of corporate clients, nature of work done & exposure obtained:-

Kotak Mahindra Primus Ltd & Ford Credit Kotak Mahindra Ltd :- Review of whole sale advance, Loss on repossessed vehicle, Loss on closed cases, potential loss, skip cases, unapplied remittance, amortization of dealers commission, administrative and other expenses.

LIC Housing Finance Ltd:- NPA provisioning as per NHB norms, default testing and scrutiny of administrative and other expenses

Capita Mastek BPO Limited: - Review of Income as per the terms of Letter of Intent, review of payroll, scrutiny of fixed Assets and investments.

Statutory Audits of corporate clients
Active involvement in corporate audits in all stages of audit viz. Planning, Fieldwork & Completion. Implemented the risk based audit approach strictly complying with the requirements of the Accounting Standards & Standard Auditing Practices issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Tax Audits of corporate clients
Active involvement in tax audits u/s 44 AB of the Income Tax Act.1961 strictly complying with the guidance note issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Corporate Limited Reviews
Active involvement in limited review assignments of corporate clients.

List of major clients serviced, areas covered & exposure obtained

Canbank Mutual Fund (Canliquid/CangiltPgs/CanTriple):- Review of purchase & sales of investment, units repurchase and sale, verification of NAV, valuation of investment, interest accrual, management fees, compliance with the SEBI Regulations.

Hindustan Construction Company Limited :- List of sites audited -Saurastra Branch Canal /Bandra - Worli Sea Link Project/ Malad IIIA Water supply :- Review of contracts & subcontracts, scrutiny of purchases of building materials, scrutiny of RA bills with reference to BOQs, scrutiny of internal controls on stocks & valuation, payroll scrutiny, review of costing system, scrutiny loans & investments.

AFL Private Limited: - Accounting & operational review of courier business, logistics business and clearing & forwarding business.

Ravalgaon Sugar Farm Limited: - Scrutiny of purchases & sales, valuation of inventory - raw materials, WIP & Finished goods. Accounting of fixed assets, & investments.

Apnaloan.com :- Scrutiny of sales i.e. commission earned from sourcing of home loan, personal loans, credit cards, scrutiny of investments, debtors & creditors.

Borax Morarji Limited:-Scrutiny of purchases & sales, valuation of inventory - raw materials, WIP & finished goods. Accounting of fixed assets & investments.

Responsibility includes:

Checking of purchase invoices with purchase orders, GRN, contracts for rate charged and other terms.

Checking discount and rebates allowed as per terms.

Passing debit notes for F.F.A. rebate/short receipt.

Releasing payment on due date.

Checking edit list of purchase register for party code, party name, address, broker code, tax code, product, quantity, rate, amount etc.

Scrutiny of sundry creditor’s ledger.

Checking of sales invoices of RBD Palm, Crude Palm, Refined Soya, Refined Sunflower etc. regarding quantity and rate with sales contract and delivery challan.

Giving party code and bill wise breakup for collection received from customers.

Checking edit list of sales register for party code, party name, address, broker code, tax code, product, quantity, rate, amount etc.

Passing debit note whenever required for interest for bounced cheques and interest on account of delay payment.

Scrutiny of debtor’s ledger and identifying doubtful debts, if any.

Reconciliation of debtor’s statement of accounts.

Brokerage bill checking, booking and releasing payments as per agreed terms.

Review of sales tax/ C.S.T. summary month wise for sales tax payment.

Bank reconciliation statement.

Finalisation of Accounts- preparing various schedule eg: deposit received, outstanding liability, prepaid, interest paid, demurrage accrual etc.

Statutory and Tax Audits of corporate clients
Corporate Limited Reviews at K.S.Aiyar & Co. Chartered Accountants