Muhammad Fares

Accomplishments:
• Played a key role in executing the partial sale of equity to interested investors and coordinated with an external consultancy firm for designing a complete profile.
• Completed, transformed and streamlined all processes for accounting, finance, administration, HR, and operations departments.

Responsibilities:
• Transforming departmental processes, establishing new policies and procedures, and introducing the concept of cost center analysis.
• Delivering end-to-end financial oversight, budgets, and governance. Providing solid, quantitative, strategic financial information by streamlining financial accounting policies, regulations, and documentation cycles.
• Establishing a strong framework of internal controls; analyzing monthly Budget vs. Actual performance. Setting financial policies to support optimization of revenue and profit growth beyond breakeven point.
• Devising strong systems and processes in line with business needs and overseeing factors critical for sound financial solidity.
• Providing strong support to management in ensuring the financial domain of the organization is organized, well structured, defined, and complies with all regulatory requirements and generally expected internal controls.

Accomplishments:
• Spearheaded core functions like financial planning, analysis, budgeting, formulation of monthly consolidated financial statements for all entities along with detailed working schedules encompassing Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Cash Flow Statements, Cash Management and Financial Ratios (KPIs) to help execute growth plans.

Responsibilities:
• Prepared and presented quarterly board of directors’ meetings, while governing an environment of internal control in addition to periodic reporting of Sales Analysis (actual vs budget vs previous periods).
• Tracked all key business and monetary issues of accounting operations including daily payables, receivables, monthly reconciliations, and treasury operations in Cash/Credit.
• Reviewed and verified total comprehensive income statements, balance sheets, ratios analysis, cash flow statement, and ensured their conformance to all company’s specified financial and operational guidelines/policies.
• Proffered oversight in distributing dividends to shareholders, tracked collection of bills sent to banks and monitored currency difference of exchange in all entities in a manner that is in the best interest of the company’s standard practices.
• Mediated extensively with various entities including lawyer firm to draft legal documents (General Assembly, Trade circular, BoD minutes of meeting) and with external auditors to prepare the audited consolidated financial statements.
• Provided vital inputs and financial support to ensure the fulfillment of Company’s Obligations to execute ongoing business activities and ensured the maintenance of sound cash flow and optimal liquidity.
• Executed month-end, quarter-end, and fiscal year-end obligations of the company like the closing of all books of accounts, ledgers, financial statements, while auditing all intercompany accounts balances between entities with strict adherence to stiff deadlines.
• Built and managed high-performing accounting teams - hire qualified candidates and managing these teams to their highest performance, reaching the organization's established goals.

Accomplishments:
• Coordinated financial strategic planning, analysis, and reporting activities for the Group and its operating units, analyzed monthly operations highlighting financial performance and operational statistics.
• Prepared/presented business analyses for management, sales, and margin reports for further monthly comparison of real vs. budgeted positions with explanations for deviations.

Key Responsibilities - Tax:
• Compiled accurate monthly & quarterly tax declarations in liaison with various divisions' finance managers and thoroughly reviewed various consolidated periodical tax declarations.
• Generated monthly closing of tax accounts balances and completed all formalities of “General Authority of Zakat & Tax” requests.
• Supported tax report preparation, completion, review, and submission of returns and respond to inquiries within the filing deadlines and in compliance with local laws and policies.
• Ensured compliance with regulatory, statutory, and reporting requirements in addition to follow-up to avoid faulty tax declarations and prevent penalties.

Key Responsibilities - Finance:
• Developed and analyzed financial information to facilitate the organization’s management can make well-informed decisions, leading to future stability, growth, and profitability.
• Presented financial data and analysis that is both insightful and actionable, managing the timely development of budget projections for the strategic business planning process and providing run reports for the Executive Team, as requested.
• Maintained monthly spend review process in addition to analyzing margin and operating expenses by market channels to achieve its desired gross profit margins.
• Created meaningful and concise output from a broad spectrum of sales & collection data specific to associated Categories, Divisions, Branches, and Brands for implementing financial measures and controls.
• Initiated and developed daily analysis of actual sales vs target by SKU by branch.
Ensuring accurate and timely reporting of financial and physical stock information through excel and flowcharts presentations.

Accomplishments & Responsibilities:
• Handled the full life cycle of accounts payable, including day-to-day operations relating to receiving goods for international shipments, consolidation of financial statements about AP, and financial reporting.
• Set invoices up for payment, prepared aging payable reports, and processed account payable checks.
• Monitored cash payments, expenses recording, and petty cash reconciliation including the analysis associated with these accounts.
• Ensured all vendor payables were made on time and compiled prepaid expense schedule, advance to vendors, AP-GL reconciliation, Stock Variation, and Assets Depreciation on monthly basis.
• Managed banking relationships and liaised with banks to ensure that credit lines are respected and letters of credit, guarantees, and IDCs applications in addition to settlements are dealt with efficiently.
• Drafted banks’ transfer letters, ATFP, and subsidized loans required documents and provided clear insight into financial condition to assist high quality and agile decision making.
• Spearheaded a team of AP staff (Locally & internationally) and aided in the preparation of monthly/yearly management reports, accompanying schedules, worksheets, and narratives, including Budget vs. Actual variance reports, and provided follow-up and documentation of significant variances.
• Administered accounts payable data and reports, and evaluated suppliers’ reconciliations status, and sub-contractors’ payment terms.

Key Responsibilities:
• Analyzed, tabulated and communicated business figures in order to provide information on the overall corporate financial position for monitoring business progress and take corrective action necessary to achieve business plan.
• Effectively managed AP, GL, vouchers of local vendors and cash management with requisite documents/ approvals as per standard policies and procedures.
• Drove cost reduction / optimization projects by proposing holistic approach in the preparation of the annual budget in terms of costing, margin, trade loaders, etc.
• Recorded all fixed assets, calculated accumulated depreciation and accompanying working schedules, preparing and booking monthly accruals for 4 affiliated companies, holding 10, 000+ items as assets.
• Administered day-to-day accounting functions like general ledger accounts, allocation of expenses and vital adjustments to prepaid and accrual accounts, etc.
• Closely monitored that the relevant data, facts and figures are accurately and effectively incorporated in the monthly financial statements and supervising complete reconciliations on monthly basis.
• Monitored in coordination with the finance department the actual spend versus budget on a monthly basis and prepared various reports with compilation of suppliers’ expenses, brands expenditure and other operating expenses.