Group Finance Director

• Mar 2023 - Present

Group Finance Director

• Mar 2022 - Jan 2023

Key responsibilities • Manage and train UK and US finance teams (9 staff) and manage outsourced support in US • Review monthly management accounts and prepare board-pack for Execs and PE owner (Inflexion) • Support M&A activities, providing feasibility analysis and due diligence on prospective acquisitions • Ownership of group budget and reforecasting, providing scenario planning and strategic insight • Key member of senior leadership team, contributing to decision-making of the wider business • Lead 3-year planning process, collaborating with department heads to provide fully supported plan for board approval, and for presentation to the bank in order to increase debt facility • Head of Treasury, managing hedging positions, invoice financing, and transfer-pricing Key achievements: • Supported the acquisition of US business at a reduced price through analysis and modelling of live data, and confirming the long-term viability of the acquisition during turbulent trading results • Rebuilt forecast model to allow for rapid sensitivity analysis and incorporation of new acquisitions • Improved monthly MI reporting to include departmental dashboards and insightful KPI analysis • Identified new areas for improvement within financial controls function, and rolled out new systems ADP payroll, SAP concur and Medius accounts payable to provide faster and more accurate work • Identified inefficiencies within the finance team and recruited and restructured team to improve department performance and morale, promoting internally and supporting personal development • Negotiated improved terms with Paypal, Stripe and Shopify platform transaction fees saving £100ks • Provided modelling support to commercial team and contributed to decision to sell via Amazon 3PL • Delivered 3-year plan on time and with buy-in from wider business, to provide roadmap to 4x revenue • Created and maintained robust cashflow forecast model, providing confidence for investment plans Show less

Group Financial Controller

• May 2021 - Feb 2022

Key responsibilities • Manage, recruit and train FP&A and Financial Controls teams (6 staff) to serve growing business. • Lead annual budget process, and quarterly forecasting, collaborating with department heads. • Present monthly management accounts to CFO and FD, providing variance and KPI analysis. • Prepare Exec summary and Management Info. pack for circulation to C-suite and department heads. • Provide improvements and bring fresh thinking to underperforming processes and reporting. Key Achievements: • Completely revamped monthly management accounts to provide detailed variance analysis and KPI reporting on a product-by-product basis, and introducing the ability to report contribution margin. • Restructured departmental responsibilities to produce a best practice finance function. • Produced quarterly forecasts to high degree of accuracy, and 2022 budget with flexible drivers. • Streamlined processes to allow reduced team to provide the same deliverables as predecessors within very tight 4-day reporting deadline, whilst also producing new reports and better insights. • Adapted reporting abilities for new owner’s constantly changing requirements due to public listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Show less

Deputy Financial Controller

• Oct 2019 - May 2021

• Work closely with the senior team to deliver a best-in-class finance function for processes, people and systems • Lead and manage an accounts team – shifted team mindset from data input to a more inquisitive value-adding finance function - increased employee satisfaction feedback by 37% within 12 months • Train the remote shared service centre team in Macedonia to drive a consistently high level of performance • Prepare monthly group reporting for Private Equity investors and CFO • Provide commercial and analytical input alongside financial reporting • Proposed and implemented in-house preparation of group financial statements (previously prepared by PwC) • Prepared group accounts previously completed by PwC and managed the audit for the £75 million revenue international group to have them signed 3 months earlier than the prior year. • Prepare financial statements for 15 UK entities and submit all filing requirements for foreign entities • Account for new acquisitions and manage systems integration and migration to Oracle Netsuite • Transferred the group consolidation from Excel to automated production in Netsuite (Oracle ERP system), reducing the month-end process by 2 days • Introduced balance sheet reconciliations, and identified a 6-figure sum of unsupported balances to clear. • Lead the evaluation and adoption of new accounting standards to ensure group-wide compliance to external regulations Show less

Group Financial Controller

• Jan 2018 - Sep 2019

Key member of a lean Group Finance team facilitating achievement of 300% revenue expansion and aggressive EBIDTA targets in the nascent sub-Saharan Africa home solar industry Collaborated with the Group Finance Director on budgeting and forecasting Delivered timely reporting and finance expertise during a year that saw group revenue increase from $14 million to $44 million, and the opening of three new companies (Ivory Coast, Benin and Nigeria) Prepared year end financials for Fenix USA and Fenix Kenya, and oversaw year end audits Recognised and implemented opportunities in operating expenses that helped the business hit ambitious year one EBITDA targets set by new owners • Created inventory tracking system that successfully allowed inventory orders to suppliers in China to be traced to final delivery in Africa, enabling reconciliation to funding requests • Recruited and built an effective global finance team to replace costly external providers whilst meeting the evolving needs of the group • Designed schedules to track budget versus actuals, including revenue adjusted metrics • Prepared, analysed and presented consolidated monthly financials for senior management • Assisted Product team with pricing models to arrive at optimal product margins • Completed accounting and financial systems setup for new companies, and advised on best practice • Managed Group transition to new ERP system (SAP Business One) and ensured ROI through end user training • Eradicated payroll errors and designed a robust payroll tracking system to accommodate 100% staff increase Show less

Group Reporting Manager

• Oct 2015 - Oct 2017

• Prepared consolidated financial statements under IFRS for PE backed £500 million revenue group, and management of the group audit process from planning to sign-off • Prepared consolidated monthly management accounts for group comprising 70+ companies globally • Provided analytical review of the numbers for the investors and CFO • Accounted for acquisition of new companies, including scrutiny of financials of acquired companies, intangible asset assessment and accounting for earn-out clauses • Monitor group working capital position and identify threats and opportunities for the business • Managed head office accountancy team of 3, and nurtured staff professional development • Instrumental in the improvement of the month end reporting process from 3 week to 2 week turnaround, through identifying efficiencies and advancing best practice throughout the group • Preparation and audit coordination of both year-end financial statements and acquisition financial statements within first 5 months, ensuring sign-off within tight deadlines • Accounted for and assimilated 7 key acquisitions within first year, identifying issues affecting purchase price, and preparing accounting papers on complex intangibles • Business partnering with divisional accountants, advising on technical accounting issues, implementing and enforcing group procedures, whilst cultivating good working relationships • Management of UK and international financial statements submissions, tax returns, iXBRL and all other corporate filings • Co-ordinated work on SAO submission, Worldwide debt cap, and manage all communication with HMRC Show less

Finance Manager

• Feb 2012 - Oct 2015

• Designed and implemented a new month-end variance analysis report for the EMEA group consolidated accounts from scratch, including commentary on all aspects of the P&L • Analytical review of EMEA region performance, and revenue reconciliation (turnover +$100 million) • Produced projections and forecasts for 5 Commercial teams and monitored event and marketing spend – reduced overspend previously 15% and 30% in prior years • Managed accounts staff in London and Johannesburg offices • Corporate and management accounting for 4 international companies (South Africa, Spain, Germany and France) accounting including VAT, corporation tax and internal month end reporting • Setup of 2 new companies in Spain and South Africa, including all management accounting, AP and control environment, payroll service, corporate card programmes, bank accounts and corporate compliance Show less

Auditor

• Dec 2008 - Jan 2012

• Planned and undertook analytical review, control based and substantive audit, setting budgets, identification of risk issues to both UK GAAP and occasional IFRS reporting standards and attendance at closure meetings • Audit experience across a wide range of industries, with experience of companies with up to £80 million turnover • Drafted audit findings reports, summarised control weaknesses and problems found within the audit, and making adjustment to the accounts and preparation of management letter • Selected to undertake a 3-month secondment to the tax department (personal tax returns and corporation tax) Show less