Pauline Lopez

• Led financial operations, automation projects, and controllership for regulated crypto and non
crypto entities.
• Oversaw month-end close (reduced from 10 to 7 working days), reconciliations of crypto, fiat, and
non-crypto accounts, intercompany accounting, and owned full P&L and Balance Sheet reporting
across all entities, including variance analysis and VARA regulatory submissions.
• Prepared and maintained accounting policies and SOPs for month-end close, crypto/fiat/non-crypto
processes, and finance impact assessments on new product implementations, including financial
due diligence on new suppliers and counterparties.
• Led statutory audits, Proof of Reserves (POR) audits, and Client Money Account (CMA) audits with
external auditors through to submission of reports to regulators.
• Partnered with treasury, compliance, and operations teams on end-to-end crypto-fiat workflows
and operational controls.
• Ensured compliance with UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) requirements, including VAT,
Corporate Tax, and Transfer Pricing.
• Supported strategic decision-making with Executive Management, Legal, Compliance, and Tax
through financial performance analysis, contractual and regulatory finance implication analysis,
and legal entity liquidation assessments; reported Quarterly Board packs to executive leadership.
Managed intercompany loan structures and capital injections from parent entity to support group
liquidity and funding requirements.
• Recovered USD 40M in past-due intercompany balances, executed crypto asset liquidation to
support group fundraising and liquidity requirements, and led the fiat revenue sweeping process
that significantly improved liquidity and working capital across entities.

• 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 — primary finance
point of contact for regulatory engagement.
• Led statutory audits, Proof-of-Reserves (POR) audits, and Client Money Account (CMA) audits for
all entities.
• Reconciled crypto custody positions against Fireblocks and BitGo platforms to support Proof-of
Reserves and Client Money Account audit evidence and regulatory submissions.
• 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 the financial aspects of
subsidiary liquidations.
• Ensured full IFRS compliance, internal controls, and audit-ready financial infrastructure across a
6-jurisdiction entity structure.

• 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.

• Built the finance function from zero for a fast-growing e-commerce start-up: established the Chart
of Accounts, accounting policies, and reporting frameworks; owned month-end close, budgeting,
forecasting, treasury, cost control, and KPI reporting.
• Delivered financial modelling, profitability analysis, unit economics, and variance analysis (MoM,
QoQ, YoY), identifying cost reduction opportunities across operations and reporting directly to the
CEO/GM to support strategic and commercial decisions.
• Ensured revenue integrity and system reconciliations across logistics and payment gateway
entities.

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).

Fuels, Aviation, Foodservice, Catering, Logistics & Retail (Multinational)
• Led a finance team of up to 10 members managing global group-wide financial reporting, treasury
oversight, audit coordination, and variance analysis.
• Finance lead for assessment of new contracts, including credit controls and operational readiness.
• Developed process maps, SOPs, and internal control matrices across multinational operations.

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.