Pauline Lopez

• Lead financial operations, automation projects and controllership for regulated crypto and non-crypto entities.
• Oversee month-end close (reduced from 10 to 7 working days), reconciliations of crypto, fiat and non-crypto related accounts, intercompany accounting, own full profit & loss (P&L) and Balance Sheet (BS) reporting for all entities financial reporting, variance analysis, and VARA regulatory submissions.
• Prepare and maintain accounting policies and SOPs for Month-end Close (MEC) tasks, crypto, fiat and non-crypto processes, and finance impact on new product implementations, including financial due diligence on new suppliers and counterparties.
• Lead statutory audits, Proof of Reserves (POR) audits, and Client Money Account (CMA) audit with external auditors through to submission of reports to regulators.
• Partner with treasury, compliance, and operations teams on end-to-end crypto-fiat workflows and operational controls.
• Ensure compliance with UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) requirements including VAT, Corporate Tax & Transfer Pricing.
• Support strategic decision-making with Executive Management, Legal, Compliance and Tax through financial performance analysis, contractual and regulatory finance implication analysis, liquidation of legal entities financial implication and report Quarterly Board pack to executive leadership. Manage intercompany loan structures and capital injections from Parent entity to support group liquidity and funding requirements.
• Recovered USD 40M past due intercompany balances, started crypto liquidation, and fiat revenue sweeping process, that significantly improved liquidity and working capital across entities.

• Manages Operational Accounting (OPEX) teams from the UK, FR, MENA, BE and NL.
• Responsible for technical accounting and controllership of Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss accounts in OPEX Corporate Accounting and in subsidiaries within Souq and Amazon.
• Ownership of the monthly, quarterly, and annual closing of the books while implementing and maintaining adequate mechanisms and forums for reviews, decision making and escalations with business partners and Senior Management.
• Analyzes profitability and variance analysis against budgets and previous balances on MoM, QoQ, and YoY with global Accounting, Finance, local business partners and Senior Management.
• Leads projects and evaluates technical financial considerations relating to new business activities for global expansions and system automations to drive global standardization, develop best practices and controllership on reporting to stakeholders, including business, tax and legal.
• Oversees all aspects of local financial reporting and related audit compliance.
• Trains, influences and articulates accounting / finance terminology to the non-finance community.

• Managed finance teams and legal entities across UAE, Jordan, Czech Republic, Malta, Bahrain, and BVI entities.
• Owned monthly close, group financial reporting, variance analysis, and management reporting for senior leadership.
• Directed financial reporting to VARA, responding directly to regulator queries and financial assessments.
• Led statutory audits, Proof-of-Reserves (POR) audits and Client Money Account (CMA) audit for all entities.
• Drove process automation and standardization across GL, reporting, and reconciliations, including financial due diligence on new suppliers and counterparties.
• Managed intercompany structures, working capital management, and financial aspects of subsidiary liquidations.
• Ensured full IFRS compliance, internal controls, and audit-ready financial infrastructure.

Industry: Transportation and Logistics, Payment Gateway, E-commerce / Retail, Start-up business
• Finalizes the set of Chart of Accounts in the books, reporting formats/ templates/ requirements, and the Accounting Policies and Procedures required for the entity.
• Prepares / reviews monthly financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, GL account analysis, cash / treasury management, cost controls, and identifies variance analysis against budgets and actuals.
• Provides Financial Model, Pricing Analysis, and Feasibility Analysis to GM / CEO (commercial finance) for their prospective clients.
• Support management’s decision making and offer a wide range of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in all areas of the business, including understanding the key drivers for resource management and accurate cost allocation.
• Ensures no revenue / sales leakage and stock controls through proper internal controls in processes and operational systems, verified at month-end through various reconciliations of different systems and advise proper accounting in the books.
• Guides operations team in understanding financial implications in the business.
• Reviews contracts of customers / suppliers to identify financial implications and advise the team.
• Handles the full accounting and commercial finance for Logistics and Payment Gateway entity.
• Prepare ad-hoc management reporting, including Board or Client presentations.

Industry: Exhibitions, Event Services, Food & Beverage, Hospitality, Facilities and Venues Management.
• Leads, identifies and monitors Process Improvements Initiatives involving end-to-end automations to streamline the Finance processes and approvals or enhance service capability to business units.
• Provides advice to Finance team, Outsourcing team and other Business Units in terms of Finance policies and procedure, authority matrix interpretation, internal controls implementation, proper application of accounting standards, and provides training to finance and non-finance staffs
• Monitor the effectiveness of finance policies and procedure and report on noncompliance to Department Heads.
• Performs benchmarking exercise and team productivity to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the process while ensuring proper internal controls.
• Reviews the monthly BOD / CEO Flash Report against the books to ensure consistency and accuracy of the report before submission.
• Assess and monitors Finance and Outsourcing Team’s Service Level Agreements (SLA) and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to measure performance of all sections.
• Regular monitoring of Departmental Performance Contract and updates the CFO on its status
• Finance Champion on Operational Excellence Projects of the organization.
• Adhoc reporting as instructed by the Chief Finance Officer (CFO).

Industry: Fuels, Aviation, Transportation, Foodservice, Catering, Technical Services, Retail, Logistics, Food, Multinational Corp.
• Coordinates with external auditors during their audit and review final draft of audited financial statements of each Supreme entity to ensure all required disclosures and adjustments has been captured, matching with the system’s trial balance, and statutory deadlines are met.
• Monthly reviews trial balance, accounts reconciliations, financial ratio analysis, variance analysis of budgets and actuals, P&L and Balance Sheet to ensure timeliness and accuracy on Financial and Management Reports.
• Leads Finance process improvement initiatives and serves as Finance Champion on organizational initiatives to improve process and internal controls, specially on sales and stocks / inventory.
• Identifies risk and assess controls weaknesses on Finance processes or systems, identifies financial impact on the issues noted, recommend process improvements to Director of Finance, and advise on the implementation procedure of the proposed controls to mitigate risk/s identified;
• Participates on the mobilization plan of newly won Customer contracts, performs credit controls and represents as Finance Accounting POC. Ensures all Finance set-ups are done and information is disseminated to required Finance team within the time frame. Provides guidance on necessary accounting entries to be passed and come-up with process documentation and SOPs to be followed across the Group.
• Managed certified and noncertified accountants to ensure compliance in finance and company’s policies and procedure on processing accounting operations with efficiency and reporting financial statements (P/L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flows) with accuracy.
• Prepare and reviews Finance process maps and IC matrices, including approval matrix.
• Coordinates with group tax and / or legal team on all finance related issues involving legal and government tax.

Industries of Audit clients: Oil and Gas, Construction, Real Estate Developer, Trading / Retail, Manufacturing, IT Developer and Distributor, Aircraft services, Gold.
• Perform audit fieldwork based on International Standards in Auditing (ISA) and to verify whether the company’s accounts are free from material or significant error or fraud and accounts are recorded based on International Accounting Standards (IAS);
• Prepare stand-alone and/or consolidated financial statements (Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cash Flows) with its notes to FS based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS);
• Prepare and review reporting packs to be submitted to/ or received by the Group Auditor for consolidation / combination of balances to be indicated in the Group’s financials; provide yearly variance analysis of balances in both balance sheet and income statement accounts;
• Test client’s internal controls, discuss to management and propose improvements
• Review the working papers of audit staff and supervise the entire audit group to ensure proper audit and delivery of required reports within the timeframe;

Industries of Audit clients: Real Estate Developer, Educational Institution, Insurance Companies, Trading / Retail, Manufacturing, Radio Broadcasting and Religious Institution.
• Check fairness of the accounts in accordance with the prevailing international auditing standards.
• Recommend internal control to management based on audit;
• Propose proper adjusting journal entries and prepare working Trial Balance, Audited Financial Statements, Notes to Financial Statements (FS), Income Tax and VAT Returns, and discuss to management the highlights of their financial statements.

Accounting Supervisor (outsource)
Industries of Accounting clients: Advertising, Real Estate Developer, Call center agencies, Credit card agencies, Trading / Retail, Manufacturing, Multimedia Companies, and Sole Proprietorships.
• Assist in the preparation of financial projections for planned projects and budgets for the business;
• Attend Board Meetings and assist clients on the discussion of the financial highlights and variance analysis on budgets against actuals.
• Participate in management decision-making with accounting implications;
• Supervise and review reports and financials as done by accounting staffs.
• Prepares and reviews tax remittances (VAT, Corporate Tax, Employee’s Withholding Tax) of various clients from monthly reporting to annual submission to government authorities.