Director, Finance - West & Central Africa
OMD
Total years of experience :20 years, 2 Months
This is a WACA Group affiliated to OMD worldwide, with HQ in New York. The company is a marketing communications outfit with focus on brand management through effective media planning and buying. Staff strength is 200. Group billing of N17.25b or USD108m per annum in 2012. 2008 billing was N8b or USD 37.5m - increase of over 185%.
Full responsibility for the design and execution of mediaReach OMD’s Finance & Administration strategy throughout West and Central Africa including accounting, financial reporting, strategy, planning, administration, legal and HR.
A UK based Consultancy firm offering financial controllership services to companies in commerce and industry
This is a group of companies. 30 Million Pounds Turnover, 125 employees/subcontractors
Data Explorers Limited, owned by Bowmark Capital LLP, is an independent specialist provider of services to the securities lending and asset management sector of the world economy. The company provides the global securities industry with analysis, monitoring and decision support tools. Responsibilities:
• Redesigned the group consolidation reporting package to ensure fast delivery,
• Prepared monthly group management accounts with detailed P&L, Balance sheet, Cash Flow, Debtors/Creditors Analysis, other KPI reporting, variance analysis/commentaries and Board pack, carried out monthly balance sheet reconciliation
• Day to day management of working capital for the 12 companies in the group - cashflow forecasting, managing DSOs for debtors and creditors, invoicing and credit control, managing interbank transfers and adequate funding of all bank account, managing payment to suppliers
• Restructured and aligned internal control and finance systems for all companies in the group - designing authority limits, control procedures to deal with sales, purchases, cash & bank/credit cards, capital expenditure management, and HR/Payroll
• Overseeing a very complex year end process that included
Hive-up operations for six subsidiary companies,
Computation of intercompany recharges,
Computation of group corporation tax,
Preparing IFRS statutory accounts for seven companies and Group and liaising with KPMG in the audit of the companies
This is a group of companies. 25 Million Pounds Turnover, 250 employees/subcontractors
HVMS is a hi-tech power engineering contracting company building power stations and maintenance of high voltage. The company has accounts with blue-chip organizations like EDF Group, Siemens, Mitie Group, Carrilion, Laing O’ Rouke, Lehman Brothers, HSBC, Global Switch/Hitzinger, various NHS Trusts etc. Responsibilities and Achievements:
• Responsible for all aspects of Financial Reporting, Statutory Reporting, Planning, Project Management, Treasury and IT functions within the Group, reporting to the Managing Director and the board.
• Preparation of monthly group management accounts with detailed P&L, Balance sheet, Cash Flow, Debtors/Creditors Analysis, efficiency KPIs, variance analysis/commentaries, industry analysis and benchmarking within 3 days of the end of each month
• Preparation of statutory accounts and audit file for the three companies and group and liaised with HWCA for the annual audit.
• Preparation of annual business plans and medium term plans for the all units, P&L centres, cost centres and departments. Consolidating this into a detailed companywide budget document. Preparing updated profit forecasts annually in April, July and October.
• Day to day management of working capital for the group including periodic cashflow forecasting, managing DSOs for debtors and creditors, invoicing and credit control, and payment to suppliers. Point of contact with all banks.
• Management of Capital Expenditure - planning, acquisition, and financing. Evaluating capital expenditure proposals through such indicators Payback periods, discounted cash flow, internal rate of return etc. Providing analyses to aid buy or lease decision making process.
• Directly involved in Project Management by providing quote preparation support and continuous project reviews - worked extensively with Project Managers (mostly Engineers and Technicians) in ensuring that all projects are delivered within the recommended return on investments and with positive cashflow.
• Management of Internal control systems in the company - Reviewing all existing processes and procedures within the company and making recommendations for improvements. Developing new procedures to mitigate risk and ensure profitability. Reengineered and aligned acquired companies' internal control systems with that of the group.
• Directly and actively involved in all stages leading to the acquisition and effective alignment of two companies. Leading the acquisition team in carrying out financial and operational due diligence on all target acquisition companies. Leading in reengineering the acquired companies' internal control systems and putting in place the group management reporting structures.
• Successful implementation of a new integrated Project Management and Financial Accounting and Payroll system for the entire group - starting from sourcing for various options of packages to use, evaluating each option in terms of costs and operational efficiencies, presenting recommendations and financing options to the board for approval to actual implementation, designing new structures/reports/charts, data migration from old to new systems and coordinating training & rollout.
• Developed and implemented a robust internal control and reporting system that coped with the over 600% business growth (organic and by acquisition) since between 2005 and 2008.
This UK Company is a market leader in the Hire of Plant, Machinery and Equipment to the Construction Industry.
Responsibilities:
• Was Senior Manager in charge of all Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, and Treasury Functions within the Company reporting to the Managing Director
• Preparing monthly management accounts and year-end statutory accounts
• Managing day-to-day accounting functions; preparing and maintaining all accounting records; payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, reconciliation of cash and bank accounts
• Processing receipts and payments; developing projections for cash flow and annual operations budget
• Developing and refining the internal accounting policies and procedures
• Ensuring the completion of VAT, PAYE, CIS and other statutory returns on a timely basis.
• Liaising with the external auditors and Inland Revenue re: taxation matters
This is a leading Chartered Certified Accountants firm. I worked as Senior Consultant and Group Head - Business Advisory section of this London firm.
Responsibilities:
• My primary role was to act as a Management Accounting Specialist to various businesses.
• Producing yearly statutory accounts
• Appraising the business of clients, designing and implementing appropriate accounting/budgeting systems that are effective in providing periodic information about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) while safeguarding and strengthening internal control, and ensuring the systems are simply to understand by the operators.
• Documenting Internal Control Procedures and designed Management Reporting Packs.
This is a Nigerian subsidiary company to Liquigas, Italy. The company markets Gas (LPG) to domestic and industrial users. The company is also a leading player in FMCG in Nigeria through Nidotrade Limited. I reported directly to the Managing Director and the board. I was responsible for all aspects of financial, management accounting and IT functions.
Achievements are listed below:
• Designed and ensured the implementation of a standard operating manual for all the activities in the company, including administration, human resources, accounting/finance, sales/marketing, operations/purchasing and aspects of technical.
• Led the computerisation project of the company's financial system with the installation of Daceasy (Sage) Accounting Package and the use of a local area network system (LAN) using Windows NT. Also ensured all HR activities were computerised. I was involved with it training for company personnel. This ensured a timely production of reports that made decision-making process 20% more efficient.
• Created and ran the purchasing section that later developed into a full department, to eliminate wastes and bottlenecks in the procurement of the materials, equipment and tools for the company. This lead to a cost reduction of 10% of the total operating costs of the business.
• Was at various times charged with additional responsibilities, including overseeing the sales/marketing function for three years (1996 - 1999) with an outstanding improvement in company sales of 70%. Was a member of the following standing committees - Price review, cost reduction, salary review, insurance and litigation management, recruitment/selection of key personnel, competitive strategy, collective bargaining, tenders, safety and security matters