Neha Saxena, Financial Planning and Analysis Specialist

Neha Saxena

Financial Planning and Analysis Specialist

Transguard Group

Location
United Arab Emirates - Dubai
Education
Master's degree, CFA
Experience
14 years, 9 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :14 years, 9 Months

Financial Planning and Analysis Specialist at Transguard Group
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • My current job since August 2018

Monthly Financial Closing and Reporting
• Analysis and presentation of monthly reporting packs by line of business and support functions
• Providing variance analysis commentary on the drivers for Revenue and Net Contribution movements against prior month, budget and YTD by Business unit
• Contract wise profitability analysis for all lines of business against prior month, budget and sold financials
• Preparing entries for central allocations such as office rent, insurance, gratuity and corporate overheads
• Reporting key financial metrics to the Board and preparing supporting reports for major shareholders

Planning System implementation and management
• Lead project manager for the implementation of Adaptive Insights (AI)- a cloud-based planning system involving complex model set up and evaluating/writing formulae for all Business Units
• Training other FP&A managers on AI system and being the key trouble-shooter for any issues faced thereof
• Chief administrator responsible for creating new models, editing existing models, hierarchy management, contracts and accounts set up
• Aligning and redesigning reports for extraction through AI tool OfficeConnect for excel
• Established Management Dashboards using AI Discovery and enabling Business Heads on use of the dashboards for performance monitoring

Monthly Rolling Forecast and Annual Planning and Budgeting
• Responsible for running the monthly forecast and annual budget processes
• Commenting on key variances and preparing waterfall bridge to explain the same
• Supporting the management in running central allocation models
• Ensuring timeliness and completeness of input from Business Units

Balanced Scorecard Audit and reporting
• Analysis of key metrices behind targets for Transguard Group as a whole and Finance department in particular on a monthly basis
• Responsible for ensuring the all annual department and individual Scorecards are collated and audited by nominated representatives
• Collating the findings and providing feedback for corrections wherever needed

Manager-FP&A at Gulf Finance
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • May 2014 to February 2017

Financial Analysis:
• Financial, Business and Product performance monitoring and analysis
• Preparation of presentations to the management, the Board, Risk and Audit Committees on a weekly, monthly and Quarterly basis
• Collaborate with Senior Management in maintaining and updating the Company Strategy document annually in line with business and financial trends observed and expected
• Instituted the Product Performance deck to highlight individual product metrics and provide analysis on financial and non-financial metrics
• Implemented the Balanced Scorecard to track company-wide financial and operational efficiency
• Developing and maintaining excel based databases of financials, business and other key data
• Develop new analyses by pre-empting the needs of the management and review the MI decks to improve the quality of information
Budgeting and Forecasting:
• Preparing the Annual Budget on the lowest planning levels by product and department
• Closely liaise with senior management and department heads to get inputs on Operating expenses expectations, capacity models and sales forecasts
• Maintaining the Rolling Operating Plan and reforecasting to the Board at the mid- year point to reassess ending position by year end
• Gap analysis of actuals to forecast and between versions of forecasts
• Preparing Five year forecasts for prospective investors and the Board
Financial Modelling:
• Preparing return on investment models to assess profitability on new products and promotional campaigns.
• Providing feedback to Product Development team on new product proposals related to pricing and incentives
Business Performance Monitoring:
• Competitor mapping every quarter with regards pricing of products and financials on key reporting lines and metrics
• Implemented the monthly sales dashboard to capture key business metrics and analysis efficacy of teams in generating new business
• Focus on Customer analysis to enable management to grow the customer base, while retaining and cross selling to existing customers
• Preparing weekly League tables and presenting data in the sales meetings to the CEO and sales managers
• Tracking turnaround time and business decline rates and other ad hoc analysis to help key sales managers assess operational efficiency
• Calculate Incentives in line with policies set by management in absence of HR Performance analyst and recommend/implement changes to incentive policy as the need arises

Finance Manager at Royal Bank of Scotland
  • India - Delhi
  • August 2011 to January 2014

Performance Measurement and Related Analytics:
•Analysing, investigating and explaining key movements and trends in major P&L and Balance Sheet lines.
•Preparation of monthly financial metrics and key business drivers specific to different products.
•Reviewing processes and suggesting/ implementing improvements & changes to current procedures.
•Develop new reports as per specifications from business heads that support decision making and planning.
•Liaise and cultivate a network with the Country Finance, Divisional Finance and Group Finance to secure inputs feeding into various management reports and to participate in regular feedback sessions to strengthen the quality of engagement and analysis.

 Weekly/Monthly Flash Process:
•Assist in preparing weekly/monthly financial estimates for various products in International Banking.
•Liaise with Business Control and Country Finance teams in preparing the estimates.

 Budgeting and Forecast Process:
•Working with Country & Product Managers to create and review quarterly forecasts and annual financial plans, including reporting & analysis to explain changes against given baselines.
•Developing, implementing and maintaining the budget, forecasting and financial analysis processes in collaboration with the extended teams based out of Hong Kong/Singapore.

 Month End Reporting activities:
•Support monthly reporting of Markets and International Banking performance to Country CFOs in the APAC region.
•Assist in key month end activities which provides oversight of completeness and accuracy of underlying management information
•Support various teams with key Management reporting as appropriate
•Reviewing financials on a daily basis during the month-end period and reporting issues to finance management, comparing Actual to plan/forecast/prior period to ensure correct month-end close & investigating unusual postings and/or escalating with Countries.
•Working as part of a diverse team spread across the APAC region. Interact with a wide range of people and exposure to Regional/Global Finance Owners.

 Managerial Responsibilities:
•Supervise, engage and mentor a team of four people in providing comprehensive and timely management reports.
•Drive process improvements and help establish LEAN methodologies to work processes to garner efficiencies and rationalize existing work flow.
•Hold regular meetings with team members to provide company vide/process related updates and provide feedback on individual performance in regular one o one sessions.
•Facilitate/organize trainings and knowledge sharing sessions to enhance information of team members.
•Management of work flow and ensuring effective succession planning for critical tasks within the team.
•Ensure Standard Operating Procedures are maintained for all critical reports and are regularly updated to control associated risk.

Assistant Manager at HSBC Global Resourcing
  • India - Delhi
  • July 2010 to August 2011

 Prepare monthly and quarterly management information accurately and timely in line with GMB meetings, aimed at facilitating and improving management decision.
 Provide commentaries for the quarterly Chairman’s Schedules.
 Provide analytical support to senior business analysts and perform validation checks for results and commentaries.
 Generate audit back up for IMS, Interim Report and Annual Report.
 Prepare manuals and train colleagues in use of new reports, procedures or systems.
 Design, evaluate and recommend changes of forms and reports.

Finance Executive at HSBC Global Resourcing
  • India - Delhi
  • August 2008 to June 2010

Finance Executive-Group MI Analysis
HSBC Global Resourcing, NCR
Aug 01, 2008-to date
 Part of the pilot batch of the newly established Global Finance Operations (GFO), HSBC Group, NCR and the first team to migrate the Group MI process from HSBC headquarters in London, UK.
 Ensure the delivery of weekly, monthly and quarterly management information accurately and timely in line with GMB meetings, aimed at facilitating and improving management decision.
 Provide analytical support to senior business analysts and perform validation checks for results and commentaries.
 Generate audit back up for the Quarterly IMS, Interim Report and Annual Report.

Senior Financial Analyst at Copal Research India Pvt. Ltd.
  • India
  • August 2007 to March 2008

 Accurately and efficiently maintain spreadsheets and databases needed for monitoring and analyzing the financial condition of corporations of the International Bank (‘the Client’).
 Quarterly and/or annual preparation of watchlists to reflect the most current information, maintain current collateral composition, SRO ratings, and outlook for the corporation and its industry.
 Complete special projects undertaken to meet the overall goals and objectives of the Credit Department. These special projects often require the ability to create ad hoc reports and narrative analyses using in-house financial databases and external data sources, such as SROs, government organizations, and private research organizations.
 Prepare other Data Sorts and reports as directed by the AVP/Credit Research Manager.
 Familiarity with research software such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Thompson, Capital Line, Factiva, One Source.

Education

Master's degree, CFA
  • at Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India
  • August 2007
Diploma, Associate Financial Planner- Retirement Planning
  • at Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB)
  • March 2007
Diploma, Associate Financial Planner- Investment Planning
  • at Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB)
  • January 2007
Diploma, Derivatives Market (Dealers) Module
  • at NSE's Certification in Financial Markets
  • November 2006
Diploma, Commodities Market Module
  • at NSE's Certification in Financial Markets
  • November 2006
Diploma, AMFI- Mutual Fund (Advisors) Module
  • at Association of Mutual Funds of India
  • October 2006
Bachelor's degree, Economics
  • at Sri Venkateswara College
  • June 2002

successfully completed 3 year BA (honours) Economics from Sri Venkateswara College, an esteemed institution of the renowned Delhi University, India. Major subject was economincs. subsidiary subjects included maths, political science & english. I was an active participant in the activities of the Economics Association especially the annual economics festival Bliss Point.

Specialties & Skills

Improving
Management
Economics
Financial Markets
Financial Planning
MS Excel
MS Powerpoint
MS Outlook
Adaptive Insights
Hyperion Enterprise and Essbase
Oracle EBS, OBIEE and Discovery

Languages

English
Expert
Hindi
Expert
Russian
Beginner
German
Intermediate

Memberships

ICFAI
  • CFA
  • August 2007

Hobbies

  • Meditation, Yoga, Reading