Freelance Financial Analyst
Omnia Ventures, Al Hashemi & Sons
Total years of experience :9 years, 4 Months
- Create 10+ financial reports per month and support all areas of responsibility within a 5-person team.
- Assist in drafting, reviewing, and implementing the financial budget and monitor actual performance against targets.
- Analyse, examine, and interpret 150+ records per month; compile financial information; and reconcile reports and financial data.
- Review the controls and processes in place, highlight any issues, and recommend potential improvements.
- Involved on fact-based investigations; quality assessment over key functions such as the AML policy and program, Compliance and Fraud; and other Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) of Banking and Financial Institution (FI) clients.
- Responsible over the entire scope of projects including drafting proposals and engagement letters, budgeting, liaising with the clients, collating all findings and observations, and drafting reports and deliverables.
- The fact-based investigations of alleged fraud included investigations into the internal controls, specific accounts and relevant transactions with the aim of uncovering the potential existence of fraud and abuse of the clients’ systems.
- Performed full quality review and assessment over the clients’ AML policies and procedures and the Compliance function in line with the relevant laws and regulations, with the objective of identifying potential gaps, and recommending improvements based on industry best practice.
- Planning and execution of audit fieldwork and statutory reporting across a portfolio of clients.
- Project management of all aspects of the audit including agreeing audit timelines, team briefings, and supervision and delivery of audit work.
- Budgeting and monitoring the financial performance of projects, focusing on optimising profitability.
- Identifying, researching and helping resolve complex audit issues.
- Reporting to audit managers and partners on all salient points arising from audits.
- Working on audit tenders and working as part of the relevant independence team on these tenders.
- Reviewing, analysing and categorising global engagement records in sentinel.
- Contacting partners globally for engagement information.
Worked with clients operating in the Banking and Financial Services sector, with the following responsibilities:
- Engaged in financial (statutory) audits, compliance audits, and agreed-upon procedures with respect to Anti-Money Laundering, Prudential Information Reporting, and Public Disclosures.
- Performed the entire audit fieldwork, in compliance with Ernst & Young Global Audit Methodology GAM), the International Standards on Auditing and rules of regulatory bodies.
- Applied knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) throughout the course of the audit engagements.
- Performed procedures pertaining to the Treasury, Credit, and other significant areas of the clients' operations.
- Assisted clients in the preparation of their financial statements in accordance with the IFRS and directives of the respective regulatory authorities.
- Drafted management letter points, along with recommendations on internal control weaknesses identified and other matters, that were escalated and discussed with the client's management.
- Performed AML compliance audits which ensured that the clients’ AML policies and procedures are in line with the relevant laws and regulations.
- Reviewed and assessed the Customer Due Diligence (CDD), including Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedures undertaken by the clients during onboarding and monitoring of existing customers.
- Reviewed security risk triggers captured by the clients’ Transaction Monitoring (TM) and Sanctions Screening systems.
- Reviewed various local and cross-border transactions to assess the checks and procedures performed by the clients prior to authorizing the transactions.
- Inspected Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) communicated by the respective departments, and all correspondence between the clients’ compliance department and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
- Delegate, supervise, and review the tasks assigned to junior staff members to ensure that the quality of the work is consistently improved and is in line with Ernst & Young GAM.
- Preparation of budgets for the respective engagements through effective resource allocation and management, ensuring all relevant planning procedures are completed appropriately prior to commencing the engagements.
- Liaise with the clients throughout the audit engagements to ensure all relevant deliverables are obtained in a timely manner prior to closing the project.
I was involved in various projects within the Financial Services sector with the following responsibilities:
- Conducted an assessment and analysis on the operational performance of a major Saudi retail bank, as part of an operational transformation project streamlined across the bank’s major products.
- Liaised with the client's management to get a thorough understanding of the operational procedures and process flow of the respective products.
- Performed GAP analysis on the current-state operations of the client and identified potential areas of improvement and non-value adding activities to be documented and presented to the client as recommendation points.
- Mapped out the process flows of the products based on the current-state understanding of the client's policies and procedures, and the future-state roadmap through the GAP analysis performed and discussions with the client's management.
- Performed Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) and other research and analysis on the client's customers as part of servicing and progressing the client's Anti-Money Laundering process and procedures in accordance with local regulations and in-line with industry best practice.
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- Conducted financial audits, compliance audits, and agreed-upon procedures of clients within the Commercial and Industrial Sector.
- Performed analytical procedures to detect any unusual movements in the financial statement for inquiry and further investigation.
- Analyzed and assessed the effectiveness of the clients' internal controls and identified deficiencies (if any)to be communicated and discussed with the clients' management.
- Proposed adjusting journal entries (if any) - based on audit findings - to client to ensure accounts were maintained appropriately in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
- Documented audit procedures and cross referenced to respective work papers in line with the firm’s methodology.
- Helped develop a business plan for a new school in Qatar.
- Conducted research and analysis on the Qatar education sector and key market competitors.
- Conducted a Financial statement analysis on the client’s annual reports.
- Extensive use of Microsoft Excel to conduct detailed financial analysis.
- Attended meetings with the client to discuss key aspects of the business plan.
- Assisted in development of a financial model and presentations for client workshops.
This certificate pertains to completion of all fundamental and professional level exam papers issued and organized by the ACCA professional body. I have successfully managed to complete and pass all the relevant papers with full completion achieved at January 2018. Please refer to the attachment for the full list of all the papers exempted and the papers passed with the respective marks I've gained, the grade I have entered is the average of the grades received for all the papers I attempted.
I was able to manage and organize my time between studies and improve my network by meeting new people as well as participating or attending various activites and workshops organized by the university. My activities and acheivements included: 1) Joining the Bangor Medieval Society and learning up on the history of England as well as being provided hands-on training. 2) Joining the Bangor Tennis club that held sessions twice a week to train and enhance student's tennis skills. 3) Joining the Bangor Table Tennis club which I thoroughly enjoyed since there was more hands-on experience and a chance for everyone to participate as well as it being one my favourite sports activities. 4) Participated in Volunteer activities conducted such as litter picking in certain locations of Bangor to help clean up and create a better environment as well as contribute positively to society. 5) Achieved the Bangor Employability Award (BEA), which is the result of recording all the activities, workshops, and my overall experience in Bangor on their website. The year I spent in Bangor gave me a whole different perspective and has helped enhance my team work, networking, debating and other skills that I can apply in my future career prospects.