Financial Controller (acting Finance Director)
Dubai Safari Park (project of Meraas and Dubai Municipality)
Total years of experience :15 years, 8 Months
Serving as Financial Controller, reporting directly to the General Manager of Dubai Safari Park. This park/zoo is owned by Dubai Municipality, set up as a new corporate establishment operated by Meraas Group, Dubai and Parques Reunidos, Spain. Key responsibilities include:
- Manage cash flow and funds utilization, with reporting to internal stakeholders for strategic decision-making.
- Develop and manage relationships with, and expectations of, external stakeholders (suppliers, operators etc).
- Lead the successful implementation of key ISs including Oracle, ADACO (inventory) and VGS (ticketing).
- Design and implement financial policies & procedures and assist other departments with policy-making.
- Setup and manage monthly reporting cycle and develop templates for reconciliations and reports.
- Line manager for a team of six support staff, responsible for their coaching & development.
Served as Finance Manager - Financial Accounting in the Middle East & Africa central finance team, reporting to the Head of Finance, MEA region. Key responsibilities and tasks are listed below:
- Produced MEA region monthly management accounts and analysis for executive management and group parent.
- Presented monthly results and analysis of support functions to senior executives for monitoring & decision-making.
- Prepared monthly presentations & analysis of financial results for senior leadership team of MEA region.
- Directed successful maintenance of accounting records, monthly GL close, reconciliations and analysis.
- Led budgeting process for support sectors and consolidated & analyzed divisional budgets for MEA business.
- Main point of contact for IFRSs and core accounting matters, including review and implementation.
- Coordinator and team lead for internal and external audits of ME statutory entities & MEA group.
- Team lead for financial statements, statutory filings and government/bank surveys for 17 legal entities across ME.
- Financial Controller role for KSA, Bahrain and Kuwait, reporting to country Managing Directors.
- Financial Controller role for ME IS/IT sector, assisting head of IT services locally and in the UK.
- Improved time and accuracy of regular & ad hoc reporting to shared services facilities in UK and Canada.
- Coordination with group finance & tax teams on internal reporting, audit, tax, IFRSs and related matters.
- Responsible for coaching & development of a team of six support staff, including two senior accountants.
- Introduced improvements to ME-wide processes around staff charge-out rates update and reconciliation.
- Successfully implemented IFRS15 across MEA projects, including users training materials, reconciliations etc.
- Led design & implementation of recharge model for sharing costs of central services to ME entities.
- Designed & implemented Excel-based balance sheet reconciliation models, using Macros.
- Consistently rated “High performer, exceeding expectations” in last two annual appraisal cycles, with ‘Independent’, ‘Handling work pressure’ and ‘Flexibility’ recognized as my key strengths.
- Recognized among divisional finance teams as the go-to person for HFM/JDE/Excel issues.
- Performing statutory and special purpose audits,
- Examination and analysis of financial statements,
- Managing teams of up to 6 persons,
- Consolidation accounting,
- Practical application of relevant IFRSs and resolution of accounting and technical matters within agreed reporting timelines,
- Understanding business processes and providing professional advice thereby to add value,
- Identifying and discussing key improvement areas within the client’s business processes,
- Drafting communications with management, attending meetings and discussing and resolving accounting and technical issues arising.
Major projects included:
- Istithmar World Holdings LLC - A diversified corporate group, owned by Dubai World Corporation, having subsidiaries and investments over the globe, and serving in numerous industries mainly real estate, port operations, trading goods, hospitality and other consumer-oriented services.
As part of head office audit team, I was involved in:
o Audits of group reporting packages of business units/subsidiaries, consolidation at three group-consolidation levels, including accounting for business combinations, disposals, impairment etc. This involved extensive knowledge of IFRSs and their practical application to real business scenarios;
o Correspondence with teams and reporting to parent audit teams and client’s management;
o Reviewing various sets of financial statements under various frameworks (IFRSs, special purpose etc);
o Testing valuation models for assessment of impairment of assets and for fair valued investments.
Apart from head office audit above, major subsidiaries audited within this group as job incharge included:
Imdaad LLC: Leading provider of integrated facilities management solutions in the UAE.
Tejari World Group: A group, providing online portals for B2B and B2C services.
Palm Utilities Group: A group dedicated to provide chilled water services to various residential and corporate societies / localities in Dubai.
Brokerage World Solutions (MALTA) Limited Group: provides insurance brokerage services, through subsidiaries and branches in Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain and Netherlands.
- Gulf Greetings Group - Exclusive seller of Hallmark greeting cards in the Middle East region, having more than 70 retail outlets and wholesale distribution warehouses in Middle East. It also sells products under brand shop “Toystore” throughout Middle East.
- Man Diesel & Turbo Middle East - Part of global MAN group, one of the world's leading Groups in Engine & Marine Systems, Turbomachinery, Power Plants and After sales services.
- Unity Resources Group - A group with parent in Singapore, main operational head office in Dubai and operating through various subsidiaries and affiliates around the globe providing advanced level security services in war-hit areas/zones.
- Aluminium and Light Industries Company Ltd - One of the largest curtain walling group of companies in the Middle East, known for premium quality aluminium glazed walling.
Audit of various quoted/listed companies and other organisations, including manufacturing concerns, financial sector, non-profit organisations etc
Associate member, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. Received awards and scholarship for first position at teaching institute level in preparatory exams. Received Award for second position in the Presentation Skills Training Course competition, involving training courses on reading, writing and presentation skills, group presentations, interviewing techniques, brainstorming sessions etc.
First Position in the local Board of education (Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Lahore, Pakistan) receiving Gold Medal and scholarship from Government of Pakistan and Roll of Honor from Government College University. Received Student of the Year Award 2008 by Economics Society of Government College University (best college of Pakistan). Awarded with medal by Kangroo International Mathematics Contest, Australia.