Andre de Kock

Leading the Finance Team of more than 60 Finance Managers, Accountants and other Finance support staff for Kanoo Shipping. This include offices and staff in the UAE, Oman, Saudi, Bahrain, South Africa & India. I work alongside the CEO for Shipping and report to the Group CFO. My main responsibilities include the following:
- Monthly Excom reporting, quarterly board packs and presentation thereof
- Driving total business profitability with focus on revenue assurance, working capital management, cost savings, procurement - continuous engagement with all stakeholders
- Re-engineering and re-structuring of the entire Finance Department to achieve efficiencies and optimum service levels (staff, systems, departments, responsibilities)
- Annual budgets, quarterly forecasts and 5 Year plans
- Developing of Key Business Information dashboards/tools for daily tracking and pro-active management
- Working with CEO on expansion strategy into other geographical regions which involve the possibility of mergers, acquisitions and JV's - valuation, analysis, what if scenarios, due diligence
- Effective people management with focus on staff mentoring
- Directorships
S5 Agency World (London UK)
Kanoo Africa (Cape Town South Africa)
Kanoo India (Mumbai India)

Responsible for the Financial Management & Controlling of the Logistics Division (Bahrain, Saudi, UAE, Oman) for YBA Kanoo. I report to the EGM for Logistics as well as the Group Financial Controller. My main responsibilities include the following:
- Monthly management accounts for all countries/regions/activities/departments
- Reporting packs and monthly reviews with Business Unit Managers which include all relevant business KPI's
- Developing the above mentioned reporting templates and packs
- Creating a common platform for corrective business action and driving such actions through continuous follow up, updates, team involvement/interaction
- Driving total business profitability with focus on revenue assurance, cost savings, procurement - continuous engagement with all stakeholders
- Quarterly business reviews and presentation of Financials to Exco
- Annual budgets, quarterly forecasts and 5 Year plans
- Creating efficiencies by implementing new procedures or streamlining/changing current systems and/or procedures
- Developing of Key Business Information dashboards/tools for daily tracking and pro-active management
- Driving the cost optimization initiatives for the Division through engagement with all stakeholders, evaluating of new initiatives, measuring & monthly reporting
- Business analysis and costings - customer, activity, country, regional, projects
- Mergers/Acquisitions/JV's - valuation, analysis, synergy evaluation
- Effective people management with focus on staff mentoring
- Key Finance lead for the evaluation and implementation of ERP systems for both Finance and Operations
- Debtors/Creditors - contracts management, bad debts recovery, procurement, driving team and work efficiencies

RTT and it's subsidiary CourierIT are one of the largest privately owned Logistics Companies in South Africa. It has more than 30 branches locally, a fleet of more than 1 000 owned vehicles and employs in excess of 3 000 staff. My career progression at RTT have been from RTT Regional Finance Manager Cape (2 years) to Management Accountant RTT Head Office (3 years) to Financial/Procurement Manager RTT (4.5 years) to Financial Manager CourierIT (0.5 years). My main responsibilities included the following:
- Managing the centralized finance team as well as the regional/branch based finance employees which included Regional Finance Managers, Accountants, Bookkeepers and Supervisors
- Setting up and managing RTT Group Procurement - centralizing the procurement function for the Group - uniform processes, procedures and systems, limits of authority
- Key member of the Group M&A team working with Group CEO & COO on acquisition projects
- Identification of possible JV companies (spending time on site to evaluate and quantify synergy savings)
- Due diligence and company valuations
- Streamlining and refining month-end processes and procedures to ensure all month-end deadlines are met by the team. Manage to shorten the month-end and reporting process by 2 work days
- Monthly management accounts and reporting pack for RTT Group
- Developed standardized packs and reporting templates for all divisions and branches within the Group
- Centralization and automation of all financial and KPI data and the flow thereof to enhance efficiencies and confidence levels
- Managing the annual budgeting process for RTT, its divisions and branches (more than 100 P&L’s)
- Feasibility studies, costings, variance analysis, profitability improvement (developing specialized models for business use and measurement)
- Managing and driving annual Group Cost Saving Projects with Group COO (monthly measuring and reporting thereof)
- Member of Oracle implementation team

My career progression at MARS has been from Assistant Accountant to Supply Accountant (Snack Food & Food) to Business Planning Manager for the Food Division. Duties included the following:
- Operating Plans, Quarterly Business Reviews and
Period end submissions
- Variance Analysis - Actual vs Budget
- Monthly Management Pack & Presenting to Exco
- 5 Year P&L's
- Financial analysis on Brands, Categories, Products
and Sku's
- Feasibility studies on New products, assessing new
business opportunities
- Product costing
- SAP key user and member of implementation team - Providing support and training to other departments
- Liaising with external Auditors
- Ensure compliance with IFRS - US & South Africa

- Successful completion of Articles (3 years) as per SAICA (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants) requirements
- Drafting of Financial statements for (PTY) LTD’s, CC’s,
Trusts, Partnerships and Sole Proprietors.
- Completion of VAT returns.
- Auditing
- Personal Tax returns and investment portfolio
management.
- Payroll - Salaries and Wages
- Client Management accounts

- Project management
- Product optimization
- Process & Plant optimization
- Fault analysis
- Staff management

- Process optimization and development of the Gas
Purification Plant
- Project & Staff management
- Equipment design
- Fault analysis
- Product & Yield improvement
- Lecturing of N1-N3 Process Theory to Plant
Operators
Prizes & Awards received
- Learner Technician of the Year Production (1991)
- Top T3 Student (1991)