Senior Financial Controller
United Real Estate
Total years of experience :20 years, 4 Months
Accomplishments:
• Head-hunted to support in exciting transformation, expansion and modernization of the Group, which is the region's most recognizable, valued and market-leading business.
• Managed the financials and led control for group of companies, under my leadership the company registered growth from US$ 90M in 2016 to US$ 260M in 2020 and improved the net profit from US$ 5M in 2016 to US$ 20M in 2020.
• Provided valuable resilient leadership in the COVID-19 Era, maintained adequate cash flow headroom to support the operation during the lockdown and pay out all dues (payable to payroll- 5000 Employees & vendors) on time.
• Instrumental in designing, developing and implementing Centre of Excellence for next-generation Global Shared Service for the construction and facility management companies operating in Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon, UAE and Oman, which led to improved finance and accounting department, procurement, HR and IT.
• Elected as a Key Corporate Member in numerous steering committees, charged with monitoring, evaluating and leading the performance of group companies.
• Member of the Committee, served as the trusted advisor to the CEO, Executive Directors, and Board Members on the financial aspects of planning and control.
• Subject Matter Expert in driving transformational change, implementing next-generation finance technology/ Oracle ERP Systems, re-engineering processes, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement to achieve productivity goals.
Responsibilities:
• Commanding development of all aspects of accounting, consolidations, financial internal controls, financial planning, and reporting. Establishing complete corporate finance architecture, creating a financial blueprint and aiding in achieving Group’s robust goals.
• Evolving the Financial Planning, Analysis and Reporting process to aid decision-making and alignment of strategy across the Group. Reviewing consolidation reports before presentation to the CEO and Board Members.
• Internal Controls Framework Expert - ensured that rigorous internal control is established and implemented.
• Known for bringing unrivalled analytic horsepower and strategic thinking to the business. Empowering decision-making by collating financial presentations and uncovering critical business insights that impact the day-to-day decisions of the Board of Directors and Executive Management.
• Liaising with the Group’s External Auditors for review and approval of draft financial statements for company multicurrency subsidiaries.
• Providing strategic advice on the commercial allocation of scarce capital resources under prudential constraints. Working capital management with a focus on improving the cash conversion cycle for the company through monitoring the billing/ collections processes and implementing appropriate collection policies/ procedures with control of cash payable.
• Implementing best practices in cash flow management and treasury management. Forecasting cash flow positions and ensuring that sufficient funds are available to meet ongoing operational and capital investment requirements.
• Planning, strategizing and developing the CAPEX schedule in light of expansion plans and cash availability. (One from the financial module functionally).
• Providing strategic recommendations on financial analysis and projections, cost identification and allocation, and revenue/expense analysis for high-end projects.
• Group’s Annual budget process owner, establishing annual financial budgets, yearly projections plan and monthly forecast. Analyzing monthly, and quarterly actual financial statements with projection budget comparative reports for deviations.
• Providing strategic recommendations to shareholders on optimal sources of intermediate and long-term financial requirements and executing the funding plan.
Joined the organization as Senior Accountant, moved on upward career trajectories, to merit multiple promotions to the position of Corporate Financial Controller
Designation Chronology:
• 2008 - 2016: Corporate Financial Controller
• 2006 - 2007: Corporate Chief Accountant
• 2004 - 2005: Senior Accountant - Account of Receivables and Subcontractors Section
Accomplishments:
• Superintended a dynamic Accounts Team responsible for consolidating the group of companies with multicurrency financials and 10 business lines, 33 thousand employees.
• Encouraged knowledge transfer in finance and operations leadership, and fostering an environment of innovation and continuous improvement to drive ongoing process efficiency.
• Served as Change-agent, led the transformation and improvement agenda, and orchestrated process improvement/ automation initiatives for sustainable growth.
• Partnered with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, E&Y UK, Sweden & Kuwait office for compliance due diligence and present fair enterprise value through forecast evaluation & analysis of company financial statements for IPO preparation.
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Responsibilities:
• Formulated and implemented financial strategies, objectives, policies and procedures with a primary focus on establishing internal controls, enforced regulatory compliance as well as optimal utilization of Group resources.
• Ensured financial systems and controls fully support the company's anticipated growth.
• Designing operation KPIs and discussing the same with operation than monitoring the development in quarterly basis.
• Managed long-term investments, working capital and cash flow using financial models with multiple scenarios.
• Ownership of maintaining adequate liquidity for working capital and enterprise growth. Lead operational working capital improvement engagements, set the strategy for the function, monitoring, operational decision making and influencing discussions.
• Trained, mentored and empowered team to be of high caliber, recognized and utilized throughout the business as value-added business partners.
• Providing best-in-class financial modeling solutions (Financial Models according to the UK code) to formulate company strategy including budgeting, and business plans to support assessment of business development and growth opportunities including acquisitions, and new business initiatives.
Previous Professional Experiences:
• 2000 - 2003: Accountant - Account receivables, Iffco Egypt
MBA in Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University, UK, Pursuing
Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Cairo University, May 2000