Assistant Manager- Operational Controls
Engineer's Office (of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum)
Total years of experience :17 years, 2 Months
Governance Function
• Assessing, analyzing, and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of governance, financial and operational control processes and providing recommendations to improve operations.
• Co- Development of Delegation of Authority (DOA) matrix and defining the limits of authority for various decision points across the organization.
• Co-Development, review and articulation of Committee Charters, Policies & Procedures with an aim to assess adequacy and appropriateness of controls and where applicable, benchmarking against leading practices and in line with the Governance Framework.
Helped enhance the Governance framework by developing the DOAs and Policies & Procedure manuals for;
- Finance and Accounting
- Project Handover
- Human Resources
- Procurement
- Supply Framework
- Vendor Performance Evaluation & Blocking
- Vendor Performance Evaluation
- Credit Card Usage
• Assessment of new proposals / initiatives undertaken by the organization and advising senior management on the potential risks within the proposed process along with mitigating controls related to these initiatives.
• Development of key procurement templates, and contracts (amendments/ modifications in coordination with the legal team)
• Providing opinion on various ad-hoc requests raised by senior management / department directors.
Compliance Function
• Carrying out real time review of transactions prior to the approval of CEO office upon request by Executive Directors.
• Carrying out Compliance assessments for identifying Governance compliance & regulatory issues/ risks.
• Identification of current and potential control and performance gaps relating to processes, people and systems.
• Recommendation of remedial actions for issues identified.
• Submission of all deliverables, including monthly dashboard etc for compliance activities to Senior Management as per agreed timelines.
Fraud Investigation (FIDS)
Involved in a fraud investigation assignment of Standard Chartered, a leading multinational bank. The assignment involved;
•Working on specific agreed upon procedures in identifying relevant documents as agreed with the management of the bank.
•Reporting of findings and liaising with the bank’s lawyers to reach a suitable conclusion.
Audit & Assurance-
CLIENT RESPOSIBILITIES-
•Management of full audit process - from planning of audit engagements, assessment if business and audit risks to field work as well as preparation of conclusion documents.
•Liaison with clients at the planning, execution and the conclusion stages of the audit. Reviewing of financial and non financial compliance with legal and financial reporting frameworks.
•Ensuring all client deliverables are prepared on a timely basis to a high technical standard and presentational quality (including draft financial statements, management letters and recommendations, business review memorandums and other client communications).
•Assisting clients in the preparation and presentation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and local statute and in reporting of financial and accounting information to their Head Offices.
•Assisting clients in reporting of financial and accounting information to their foreign group companies in accordance with requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
•Evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of, and adherence to, control processes to ensure ongoing safeguarding of corporate, policies, procedure, controls and assets.
•Coaching and mentoring less experienced professionals. Reviewing work of junior members in a thorough and timely manner.
•Ensuring that the engagement manager and partner are informed about important issues on a timely basis.
Risk Advisory Services (RAS)
Involved as part of the team responsible for the first time SOX 404 (Sarbanes Oxley Act) implementation required by the SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) Internal Control guidelines of an international commercial bank in Pakistan. The assignment involved:
• Determination and documentation of As-Is processes and internal controls involved in the data gathering, organization and dissemination of process flows.
•Evaluation of existing operating controls based on COSO framework.
•Identification of gaps in existing controls, the relevant risk, linking with relevant financial statement assertion and recommendation given to comply with the PCAOB Standard No. 2.
•Responsible for specific areas which included documentation and capturing of process flows, benchmarking and preparing the GAP report.
Audit & Assurance
•Involved in the audit of a diversified portfolio of audit clients which included multinational banks and other small entities.
•Ensuring that sufficient audit evidence is gathered and correctly documented to support the audit opinion, in accordance with the firm’s standards and audit methodology, engagement objectives, client history and planned audit approach.
•Participated in various training programs which included Business ethics, Client excellence service, Audit fundamentals, Communication skills and IT skills.
-Qulified from the Institute of ACCA- 2006 (UK) - Gained cedit on prior learning fom ICAE&W (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales- 2010 (UK) Cuently in the pocess of woking towards the certification
