Partner
Hockley Chartered Certified Accountants and Business Advisors, UK
Total years of experience :25 years, 9 Months
● Builds highly effective relationships with business starters, providing robust advice and support in relation to company structure which included working with sole traders, partnerships, limited liability partnerships and limited companies
● Uses wealth of financial management experience to prepare business plans, cash flow projections, budgets and trading forecasts, implement financial recording systems and deliver profitability enhancing accounting solutions
● Liaises with small and medium sized companies, playing a pivotal role in transforming their financial processes and implementing robust controls, covering all areas from bookkeeping to annual tax returns
● Manages all bookkeeping, VAT, payroll and accounting procedures on behalf of clients
● Successfully manages complex business issues covering numerous areas including profitability, cost control and stock valuation through to resolution and utilises taxation knowledge to deliver extensive advice and support
● Oversees all additional accounting activities including accounts preparation, accounting record maintenance, financial statement preparation, system analysis and risk management
• Direct and oversee all aspects of the Finance & Accounting functions of the organization.
• Reporting directly to the local CEO and to Group CFO and International Head of Finance.
• Successfully implemented the SOX (Sarbanes & Oxley) recommended internal controls. Process & procedures.
• Ensuring the compliance of SOX recommendations.
• Composing and evaluating Annual Budgets & Revenues with Periodic Controls, followed by Variance Analysis and Comparison of Actual Results with Defined Budgets, while ensuring compliance with the Business Strategies.
• Remodeling the drafting of Financial Reports for the Regional Finance Director, along with monthly basis to provide prompt and accurate Business Overview
• Reviewing, evaluating and approving new Bids, in terms of project feasibility and investment return.
• Sketching, designing, and initiating the Strategic & Long-Term Business Plans Procedures.
• Ensuring that the country tax regulation is strictly followed and the periodical tax declarations are timely prepared.
• Reporting to Local CEO, UK group finance Director.
• Exploring and reporting on factors influencing Business Performance, while contemporaneously conducting Reviews & Evaluations for Cost-Reduction Opportunities for consistently charting a Rising Business Curve facilitating Company Services.
• Tracking the Finance Team activities, thereby conducting Training & Performance Reviews periodically for sustenance of a Skilled & Motivated Team.
• Composing and evaluating Annual Budgets & Revenues with Periodic Controls, followed by Variance Analysis and Comparison of Actual Results with Defined Budgets, while ensuring compliance with the Business Strategies.
• Remodeling the drafting of Financial Reports for the Regional Finance Director, along with monthly basis to provide prompt and accurate Business Overview.
• Manage processes for financial forecasting, budgets and consolidation and reporting to head office.
• Participate the preparation of the monthly CEO reports to head office (UK).
Highlights.
• Demonstrated strong working experience and proficiently managed overall responsibility of finance and administration of entire Saudi and Lebanon region.
• Played a pivotal role in formulation of budget, analyzed and presented accurate financial data/reports along with vital recommendations to accelerate the company’s pace in achieving its financial objectives.
Key Responsibilities.
• Administering complete finance & accounts operations and cost accounting role like- AR, AP, GL, forecasting, budgeting, preparing and analyzing financial statements, cash flows, and maintaining a comprehensive database in the automated accounting systems.
• Proficiently working on stiff deadlines and assessing, modifying and certifying all profit & loss statements, balance sheet, ratio analysis, cash flow, capital budget statements, and ensuring their conformance to all regulatory and legal policies, company’s adopted procedures & guidelines and GAAP.
• Preparing weekly/monthly/quarterly/interim and year end reports like status reports, turnover/cost reports, performance reports, and various other analytical reports for top management review.
• Devising and forecasting budgets for various business activities, scrutinizing business processes, preparing budget vs. actual reports, identifying variations reporting the same to management along with strategic solutions to rectify deviations.
• Communicating effectively with various tax authorities, calculating, organizing, and filing for various taxes on time, reviewing tax returns prepared by staff and make recommendations regarding accuracy and tax savings opportunities.
• Liaising largely with banks and other financial institutions, organizing various statements required by them time to time, maintaining and balancing bank reconciliation statements.
• Facilitating in smooth execution of annual/quarterly audits of the company books and various departmental ledgers and coordinating with external auditor to perform the audit duties, ensuring that the audit recommendations & conclusions are effectively implemented.
• Offering strategic inputs in formulation of new and development of existing procedures, systems, products to ensure maximum revenue generation and minimizing expenditure.
• Working in collaboration with team members and ensuring that every team member is able to manage their workload and meet targets/deadlines as set down. Orienting, training, delegating, scheduling, coaching, counseling, & disciplining new employees recruited and providing vital inputs to seniors on issue resolution.
• Maintaining a strong working knowledge of accounting standards and policies, marketplaces, including regulatory trends, competitor strategies, product/services involved, general economic conditions, and other relevant information to maintain and upgrade service standards to the company.
Highlights.
• Proficiently handled 4 branches, proactively involved in streamlining business process wherever necessary and presented strategic inputs for the same to Local CEO (KSA) and Regional CFO (UAE).
Key Responsibilities.
• Directed and controlled recording, reporting, reconciling and summarization of financial information and financial reporting and validated conformance to GAAP, corporate policies, procedures and other internal controls.
• Formulated, implemented and promoted strategic accounting solutions and identified significant indicators for assigned regions to fine tune generic and regional business components.
• Offered strategic recommendations in aligning financial policies, systems procedures and guidelines, to entail a comfortable cash flow, ensured budget compliance, and controlled operational expenses.
• Scrutinized KPI’s and analyzed trends which involved implementing financial index of acceptable performance and comparison of actual results to assigned budget along with rectification measures.
• Generated various MIS reports, computed key financial indicative ratios and other financial information for strategic analysis and interpretation by top management on regular basis.
• Mediated extensively with external and internal auditors to monitor and evaluate accounting and related system for accuracy and completeness and fostered implementation and maintenance of internal financial controls and procedures.
• Performed employee evaluation process, provided strong and technical accounting support to juniors/team members, counseled employees and fostered operational discipline, involved in recruitment process and other personnel decisions.
• Guided other departments and resolved their discrepancies by researching and interpreting accounting policy, applied observations and recommendations to operational issues.
Highlights.
• Merited promotion by demonstration of exceptional performance in formulation and implementation of turnkey collection and payment policies and proactively established various initiatives that resulted in operational efficiency of around 30% - 40%.
Key Responsibilities.
• Catalyzed a driving force to brace up business performance, instrumental in implementing financial and governance strategies, budgeting, negotiating and forecasting, and protected company’s value while maintaining confidentiality.
• Recorded and reported all the financial transactions, effectively in appropriate systems, generated financial and income statements, general ledger, balance sheets, and computed cash flow statements, profit and loss, daily/monthly/quarterly/annual reports/budgets for the company.
• Warranted accuracy, completeness, and conformance of all financial statements/reports job costing and bills, on monthly basis, to reporting and procedural standards, and documented various business transactions on daily basis.
• Fostered a rigid financial control environment, ensured expenditure control by verifying variance in estimated budget and actual and presented vital recommendations thereof.
• Assisted in preparation and coordination of the audit process and established implementation and maintenance of internal financial controls and procedures, resolved accounting discrepancies faced by various departments, auditors, bankers, management etc.
• Conducted and established a rigorous follow-up mechanism of audit conclusions to ensure the audit recommendations are incorporated and are in line with the standards set by the company.
Key Responsibilities.
• Administered all aspects of accounting functions like preparation of financial statements along with postings to and maintenance of general ledgers, analyzed the veracity of transactions recorded across various books of accounts maintained.
• Managed month-end/year end closing processes, verified cost sheet, exercised cost controls, and certified that all activities are reported and recorded in conformance to GAAP.
• Computed and generated business performance reports to forecast budgets and, along with these factors, conducted research and analysis of the market, economic conditions to make judicious investments for the company.
• Managed and facilitated filing of tax returns, made recommendations regarding accuracy and tax savings opportunities by researching reviewing, interpreting, and implementing new or revised laws.
• Assisted in preparation & coordination of the audit process & established implementation & maintenance of internal financial controls & procedures.
Key Responsibilities
• Computed, verified and consolidated monthly/quarterly/annual financial statements of 8 affiliate companies along with the holding company and analytically reviewed and certified their accuracy.
• Fostered an environment of internal control by assisting senior management in review of business functions, conducted budget vs. actual variance analysis and presented solutions for rectification.
• Monitored the investment portfolio with an aim to maximize ROI, generated accurate cash flow statements and facilitated in cash forecasts that ensured optimum liquidity.
• Arranged all the documents/facts/files required by the internal/external auditor and diligently assisted in effective implementation of audit conclusions.
Other Professional Experiences
• May 1998 - August 1998, Audit Manager, Simon Erskine and Co., London.
• August 1996 - February 1998, Senior Auditor, Porter Gee and Co., London.
• May 1990 - July 1992, Assistant Accountant, Al Qadeer and Co., London.
Completed the final Exams of Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. After finishing the required three years of practical field experience I become a fully Qualified member of UK's Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA). Then after the completion of further five years I become a Fellow Member of ACCA.