Finance Controller
Eyewa Limited
Total years of experience :14 years, 9 Months
a. Accounting, Compliance, Taxation & Audit
i) Ensure books of accounts are updated in line with the applicable IFRS.
ii) Monthly consolidation of finance statements.
iii) Managing quality control over financial transactions and reporting.
iv) Develop and maintain accounting policies and procedures to ensure accurate and timely financial reporting.
v) Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements and management reports.
vi) Ensure monthly GL reconciliations & detailed Balance Sheet review.
vii) VAT compliance & filing VAT return in UAE, Saudi & Bahrain on respective VAT portals.
viii) Liase with external auditors & ensure smooth roll-out of year end audit procedures & timely issuance of final audited financial statements. (Managed PWC & Grant Thornton)
ix) Lead all accounting operations, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, and tax compliance.
x) Application of transfer margin principles on related party transactions.
b. ERP implementation
i) Lead the ERP implementation project for switch in systems from Quickbooks to Microsoft 365.
ii) Key decision-maker from vendor selection to finalizing the solution design document & other phases.
c. Setting up and Leading the Eyewa Finance Team
i) Recruitment of talent. Taking interviews & finalizing roles as required.
ii) Key point of contact with other stake-holders across business & geographies to ensure smooth functioning.
iii) Conduct appraisals & suggest merit increases, promotions etc.
d. Major Achievements
i) Lead finance team through business growth from c.$17m to $50m revenue in < 24 months across 7 different corporate entities across 5 countries.
ii) Implementation of ERP (Microsoft 365) across all entities.
iii) Awarded Eyewa Dashing Debutante of the Year Award.
a. P&L Management, Review & Management Reporting
i) End to end country & channel-wise P&L Management ensuring fairness of margins, overheads & accruals.
ii) Review, rectify & confirm monthly Revenue & Gross Profit margin issues, and verify rebate entries.
iii) Prepare monthly flash & MIS report with business insights.
iv) Variance GAP Analysis Actuals vs Budget & Forecast; analysing reasons.
v) Provide monthly & YTD channel, customer & category-wise performance updates to Business Channel Heads.
vi) Calculation of monthly Business KPIs, Channel KPIs for e.g.: Retail store-wise KPIs.
vii) Balance Sheet review. GL & accruals management.
b. Daily & Weekly Responsibilities
i) Main focal point for financial insight across the sales and marketing team.
ii) Promotions Analysis. Commercial feasibility studies at item & category level.
iii) Investment analysis for providing advertising & marketing support. Calculation of margin impact.
iv) Weekly monitoring of revenue & margins, providing a mid-month overview to CFO & Business Heads.
c. Strategy Planning
i) Providing support to Business for pricing decisions & product portfolio management; calculating Revenue & Gross Profit impact on price revision; required break-even volume uplift.
ii) Build store-wise P&L models to support rent negotiations (turnover rent & MAG) for retail stores.
iii) Developing value chain & price tree models. (Supplier/ Brand-facing & Internal Business facing)
iv) Fully responsible for driving budget & forecast cycle.
v) Work closely with business heads for accurate budgeting & forecasting revenue, margins & overheads. (includes Head of Retail, Head of On Trade, Head of Northern Emirates, Head of Le Clos, Head of Diplomatic)
vi) Deliver business case and what-if analysis scenarios to understand business performance. 5 Year Outlook Plan.
vii) Calculation of payback period, break-even for new businesses/shops.
viii) Provide quarterly store-wise Revenue targets for Retail & Key Account Manager targets for other businesses.
ix) Prepare Board Pack for Board meetings & other presentations for Management meetings.
x) Ensuring standardization in reporting & process implementation.
d. Major Achievements
i) Key point of co-ordination in launch of new e-commerce channel “Legal Home Delivery”.
ii) Steering the project of Automation of Daily Sales Report (DSRs) across all business units & Retail KPI report.
iii) Prepared business case for representation to Government for tax rate reconsiderations.
iv) Managed two due diligence projects in Singapore & UAE.
a) Driving internal audits (planned or unplanned) independently with minimal supervision.
b) Executed risk-based audits to review and identify financial and operational risks for companies from varied industry.
c) Detailed process reviews to find control gaps and enhancing key internal controls.
d) Drafting of Standard Operating Procedures Manual.
e) Financial Due Diligence and valuation of business.
f) Planned & implemented Retail Store Audits & Stock Audits.
• Major Clients managed independently:
a) Apparel Group
b) Lals Group of Companies
c) Barjeel Geojit Financial Services
d) Krishna International FZCO
e) TAG Middle East FZE
f) City Pharmacy Company
a) Handled Concurrent Audits for major banks in India.
b) Conducted internal audit under the supervision of Deputy Manager for clients spread across varied industry.
c) Conducted SOX Audit independently for a leading bank in India.
d) Detailed process reviews to find control gaps and enhancing key internal controls.
e) Drafting of Standard Operating Procedures Manual.
f) Carried out Stock Audits.
• Major Clients managed independently:
a) Tata Steel
b) Capgemini Technology Services India Limited
c) ICICI Bank Limited
d) JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company Private Limited
e) Royal Bank of Scotland
• Was a part of Internal Audit Team of Listed Companies like Alicon Castalloy Limited and Chemetall-Rai India Limited Covered areas like procure to pay, revenue recognition, freight and industry specific areas for e.g.: die development