Finance Controller & Director
Union Trading Company (UTC)
Total years of experience :23 years, 0 Months
• Manage the cash flow of the company keeping the short term & long term objectives by a healthy profit distribution & a well balanced working capital and ensuring adequate funds are available for investments.
• Achieving above by supporting retail team in periodical & onetime promotion strategies in retail stores & key accounts (Lulu/Sultan etc & Cooperatives) to expedite the cash flow & inventory burning.
•Support collection team on credit management & expediting collections. Achieved a negative provision requirement after pandemic through a successful collection effort by the team & in line with IFRS9.
• Drive operations to improve the inventory turnover and plan strategies to liquidate the aged inventory through promotions, supplier price support & other strategies to ensure the provisions are at an acceptable level.
• Drive the periodical performance review(financial & non financial) and support team in decision making against the established parameters & recommend corrective measures based on Activity Based Management & costing.
• Drive the budgetary controls in order to achieve the established objectives of the company.•
• Develop CAPEX projects, identification, and valuation of alternatives, in terms of profitability to ensure the company´s sustainability and growth and support management decision making process. Projects undertaken (Warehouse reduction by consolidation compared with 3PL feasibility, trucks owned vs rental, store openings).
• Analyze the market trends in order to anticipate business difficulties and develop solutions .
• Ensures coordination of the team in charge and develop synergies with all areas of the company.
• Influence on and develop partners in order to have a committed and united team with clearly defined goals responsibilities. Develop, train & coach accounting team to promote continuous learning culture.
•Control and monitor general accounting, and preparation of annual accounts in line with IFRS requirements. •Streamlined the external audit process to ensure that timely deliverables of financial statements are met with external regulators & internal stakeholders
Reporting:-
Heading Finance, collection, audit & IT department.
Team includes Chief Accountant, Sr Accountants, accountants, Credit Manager & cashiers (Around 20 accounting, collection & 4 IT staffs).
Reporting to CEO & BOD.
• Overall responsibility of entire finance department (Trading & Manufacturing business with 9 major product lines) and responsible for financials/ manufacturing costing in SAP system/reporting/budgeting and business carve in/carve out & controls.
• Responsible to monitor and lead internal control open points for timely closure with all the business functions.
• Timely closures of external/internal audit requirements.
• Supervising accounting team (Finance Analysts) to ensure timely closing and MIS reporting with relevant business information on the projections and variances.
• Maintain & lead SAP system modifications as per the business & accounting requirement (IFRS 16 & IFRS 15).
• Leading the project to implement Hyperion budgeting tool (Oracle) interfacing with SAP.
• Managing a team of 15 accountants including 3 qualified accountants (CA/CMA) and responsible for entire team’s training & coaching to enhance the skills and knowledge.
• Coaching the team for cross training and back up planning.
Controlling, Accounting, Audit & Compliance
• Has an oversight role to make sure all business divisions work in accordance with UTC policies & procedures and company comply with all local laws and regulations.
• Establish, maintain, and coordinate the implementation of accounting and control procedures.
• Monitor and review accounting and related system reports for accuracy and completeness.
• Managing audit with PWC & Deloitte for local audit and tax requirement and ACA review with controller’s group.
• Monthly reviews with team on variances and root cause before RL2 promotion.
• Review the Segregation of Duties to ensure there are mitigating controls if any conflicts exist. Review and update Approval matrixes in SAP.
• Advice & Approve any process change required in SAP by ensuring controls are robust.
• Risk assessment for the entity’s business through RAS tool.
• Review and monitoring of sox (Surbanes- Oxley Act) testing and timely closing of all e-sox tickets (if any).
• Annual stock count process & conducting cycle audits & review and approval as per UTC Policies.
• Participate in yearly credit review along with CFO & business units.
• Good working knowledge in US GAAP & IFRS accounting standards.
• Monitoring and to ensure mergers and Acquisition of business (carve in/ carve out) is reflected in accounting, reporting and proper control environments are in place.
Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) support
• Assisting CFO in budgeting/planning and forecast. Handled forecast & reporting for a period of around 6 months during the absence of CFO.
• Variance analysis to bridge forecast/budget with actuals and explain the gaps with mitigation plans.
• Supporting in preparation of business impact analysis for disaster recovery plan with IT.
Finance Transformation using Accenture Outsourced Shared Service- ME- Middle East
• Responsible to manage and implement for ME Accenture support for AP & reconciliations in Arms & black line tool.
• Streamlined and implemented a standardized process for AP (Accounts Payable) for the region (4 countries 7 entities) to leverage the benefit of automation and robotics.
Oversee and manage the daily and periodical accounting & control the finance for the accuracy and report the Financials for Kuwait (BS, P&L cash flow).
•Responsible to liaison with external & internal auditors for financial auditing and tax reporting.
•Overall responsibility for all reporting and controlling requirements for Kuwait, for proper consolidation of results and for a comprehensive communication to secure consistent accounting and reporting of the Kuwait & Business Units.
•Preparation & Reporting of Budgets & Forecasts for Kuwait portfolio & Business units based on Operational inputs and analyze the variances.
•Manage the issuance, reduction, recovery and cancellation of bonds and bank guarantees. Maintaining relation with bank to ensure smooth support.
•Ensure accurate foreign exchange coverage throughout the project life: request hedges for selling price and sourcing items at project start, track status of hedge position during execution, coordinate with treasury for any requests on roll-over or early settlement based on cash movements as per the company policy.
•Check, control and monitor movements in SAP and instruct corrective actions if necessary.
•Manage and closely forecast cash movements and recommend actions to be taken to improve net working capital for Alstom Kuwait.
•Support risk and opportunity valuation. Ensure total consistency of assessment and appropriate booking for any shared risk / opportunity for Kuwait portfolio.
•Ensure that all financial processes & instructions and internal controls, including DOA (Delegation of Authority), are implemented, robust and compliant
• Spearheading the development and implementation of financial policies, systems, procedures and guidelines to ensure smooth cash flow, streamline budgets, establish stringent procurement and expense guidelines.
• Devising/ implementing all aspects of financial analysis and reporting, including but not limited to project/ organizational budgeting, to optimize company’s cash flows, MIS reporting, managing investments and working capital requirements. Proposing financial strategies with emphasis on contractual obligations, financial management, systems and procedures to maximize profit and control cost.
• Drafting contracts in consultation with the lawyers and CEO.
• Monitoring/ managing banking relationships, including credit lines to obtain finance for timely completion of projects.
• Negotiating with suppliers for favorable purchase/ supply terms. Organizing and submitting L/C, bank guarantees and other requisite documents.
• Leading the finance team for financing, costing, accounting and MIS reporting for various company projects. Evaluate their performance, providing professional guidance to improve performance
• Lead a team of core professionals in coordinating the overall financial operations, in the country and directing financial activities in achieving short term and long term strategic objectives for fining dining restaurants like Japanese (Yo Sushi), Italian (Pizzeria), Burgers (GBK), Steaks (Relais De L’entrecote) & Fresh Ice creams (Morellis) from Europe & ME.
• Established recipe costing in the system with the support of chef/operations for all the concepts with theoretical cost and weekly variance analysis with actuals to do the corrective actions.
• Preparation and submission of CAPEX budget for upcoming restaurants based on the inputs from country operations and management. Used capital budgeting tools like discounted payback method.
• Managed all facets of investments and working capital requirements, reported funds insufficiency and advised management on optimal utilization of financial structures to increase ROI
• Performed all general accounting functions, including general ledger, cash/ bank book, journal entries and month-end closing.
• Participated in the initial phase of SAP Implementation in ABB Kuwait.