Simon Schultheis, Senior Billing Manager

Simon Schultheis

Senior Billing Manager

Transguard Group

Location
United Arab Emirates
Education
Bachelor's degree, Controlling and Financial Management
Experience
14 years, 8 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :14 years, 8 Months

Senior Billing Manager at Transguard Group
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • August 2019 to May 2020

▪ Responsible for all billing activities of the company (AED 2.6 billion in sales, generated by 66, 926 employees) as an assurance/review function
▪ Reporting to the Finance Director
▪ Managing a team of 4 billing specialist (allocated to the different business units)
▪ Improvement of contract management, accurate and on time invoicing
▪ Report variations related to rates and billing against contracts to business units
▪ Ensure correct usage of billing parameters in Oracle and data integrity/control
▪ Responsible for providing financials and supporting information to the internal stakeholders
▪ Ensure all rates are commercially binding as per the contractual agreements
▪ Producing live billing KPI reports for all business units
▪ Review and expedite approvals for invoices
▪ Custodian of standardized and centralized billing operations
▪ Support in invoice preparation and ensure turnaround times are met within KPI’s
▪ Assisting in resolving invoice value disputes/discrepancies
▪ Financial modeling and reconciliations
▪ Manage and expand reporting possibilities in the IT system landscape
▪ ERP system: Oracle

Regional Financial Controller MEA at SIG Combibloc
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • August 2013 to July 2019

• Responsible for Financial Reporting and Internal Control for the Middle East and Africa region (EUR 374.0 million in sales, generated by 767 employees)
• Managing a team of two Controllers in the Middle East
• Steering and monitoring of overall Budgeting & Forecasting process for 5-year plan and quarterly Forecasts (CAPEX, raw material and capacity requirements, cost center planning, P&L and Balance Sheet) with TM1
• Stakeholder Management (Frequent meetings with Head of Functions and Department Heads in order to align and challenge their financial deliverables)
• Responsible for developing reports and presentations for Board Meetings
• Consolidation of four companies in COGNOS
• Monthly closing (Key figure Reporting, EBITDA bridges, commentary)
• Responsible for Overhead reporting and analysis of deviations
• Calculation of business cases and feasibility for investments (payback times)
• Product costing in SAP (monthly visits to factory in Saudi Arabia to review Product costing and standard costing for 5-year plan)
• Internal Control and Compliance (implementation and steering of ICOFR)
• Responsible for the preparation and evaluation of feasibility studies (e.g. market entries in North West Africa) for business/plant expansions

Achievements:
• Successful implementation of TM1 planning and budgeting software and reports on Business Intelligence Software QlikView (e.g. CAPEX reporting), leading to substantial time savings (appr. one month) during the budget process
• Successful roll-out of Internal Control framework (ICOFR) with a workflow solution (Sharepoint), ensuring that Internal Controls are performed on a regular basis through automated reminders/alerts to Control Owners

Financial Controller at Bayer Middle East FZE
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • September 2008 to September 2012

• Financial Controller for the Middle East and Africa region (EUR 417.0 million in sales, generated by 610 employees in 15 countries)
• Managing a team of two Business Controllers in the Middle East
• Providing a variety of Management information to the stakeholders (Internal customers, CFO etc.)
• Analysis of monthly and quarterly financials (turnover, EBITDA, receivables, provisions, cash-flow etc.)
• Collaborating with Corporate Headquarters in the validation of Budgets
• Participation in corporate audit verification activities
• Updating and maintaining budgets, forecasts and budget vs. actual reports
• Maintaining the controlling area in SAP R/3 system (cost centers, profit centers, allocation cycles)
• Managing the cost reporting tool for Bayer Middle East
• Review of current accounting processes and suggest improvements
• Review procurement reports with Procurement Manager

Achievements
• Facilitating the financial set-up during successful implementation of SAP R/3 (Establishing a cost controlling concept and customizing master data)
• Successful implementation of an automated Cost Reporting tool with a Business Intelligence software

Business Unit Controller at Supreme Foodservice AG
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • July 2007 to August 2008

• Business Unit Controller responsible for United Nations (African market including Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sudan)
• Managing five decentralized accountants in the African subsidiaries
• Overall financial guidance to the management, assuring that decisions are taken on a solid financial basis
• Process leadership for monthly closing of accounts
• Monthly reporting by country, including the profit & loss statement, balance sheet and capital employed
• Presentation of monthly results to Managing Director
• Project controlling and CAPEX reporting for market entry in Sudan
• Monthly visits of subsidiaries in Africa, improving financial procedures & training of local employees
• Implementing procedures and reconciliations within the Finance Team
• Ad-hoc reports (break-even analysis, cost analysis, income reconciliation)
• Facilitating the financial set-up for new customer contracts

Achievements
• Successful implementation of MS Axapta accounting software and automated monthly reporting, leading to substantial time savings
• Successful set up of financial framework and administrative procedures for new business contract in Sudan
• Implementation of new reporting packages, sent to subsidiaries leading to an improved business steering

Controller at Swisscom Mobile AG
  • Switzerland
  • November 2005 to June 2007

• Evaluation of forecasts and budgets on Profit Center level
• Revenue and cost controlling and ad-hoc analysis, monthly reporting and variance analysis
• Facilitating the implementation of a budgeting process based on reporting software Hyperion Essbass
• Steering of planning process for various Profit Centers within Technical Operations
• Creation and analysis of Profit Center reporting, discussing results with Profit Center managers
• Analysis of financing aspects in Business Development

Achievements
Analysis of IT related costs, leading to substantial savings (EUR 3.0 million) for the company

Project Controller at Faurecia Automotive GmbH & Co. KG
  • Germany
  • July 2005 to October 2005

- Facilitating the implementation of a Profit Center P&L structure for the monthly reporting to the headquarter
- Evaluation of monthly Key Performance Indicators
- Structuring ideas, feasibility studies and assigning tasks
- Successful implementation of a Profit Center P&L structure, leading to an increased transparency of Profit Center’s results

Internship at Kraft Foods R&D Inc.
  • Germany
  • September 2003 to March 2004

- Feasibility studies and implementation of a KPI-system
- Travel costs management and supporting the Finance Team in day-to-day business
- Management of Purchase Orders according to internal policies
- Structuring ideas, feasibility studies, assignment of tasks

Education

Bachelor's degree, Controlling and Financial Management
  • at Fontys University of Applied Sciences
  • June 2005

Bachelor of International Business Economics

Specialties & Skills

Software Implementation
Financial Forecasting
Financial Reporting
Financial Planning
SAP implementation
Business Warehouse
MS Powerpoint
Hyperion Essbass
SAP R/3
MS Word
MS Excel

Languages

German
Expert
English
Expert

Training and Certifications

SAP-Training Course (Training)
Training Institute:
Swisscom SAP Application Management
Date Attended:
May 2006
IFRS-Training Course (Swisscom Finance Training) (Training)
Training Institute:
QualiPartner AG
Date Attended:
May 2006
BRIDGE Workshop Europe Germany (Training)
Training Institute:
Bayer AG Headquarters
Date Attended:
November 2009
Hyperion Essbass-Training Course (Training)
Training Institute:
Swisscom Corporate Performance Management
Date Attended:
November 2005