Experience

• 

  McDowall & Associates

  • Brisbane, Australia

  • Owner

    • Jun 2011 - Present
    • Brisbane, Australia

    Business Consultant McDowall & Associates

• 

  Eureka Street Pty Ltd

  • Brisbane, Australia

  • Financial Controller

    • Mar 2016 - Aug 2018
    • Brisbane, Australia

    Contract: Financial Controller and related services for 3 enterprises• Preparation of annual financial statements and supporting workpapers. Assist with Income Tax Returns preparation.• Reconciliation and preparation of financial reports, budgets, cost reports and cash forecasts on a monthly basis. Analysis and investigation of any anomalies and variances. • Overseeing all head office staff and mentoring the Accounts Dept.• Management of Finance, e.g. accuracy of daily banking, bank reconciliations for several accounts, approval of local payments, approval and processing of overseas payments, etc.• Provide strategic business direction and ongoing liaison with senior management regarding financial decisions, setting of objectives, etc.• Responsible for maintenance of general ledgers, processing of journals, chart of accounts, cost centre maintenance, etc.• Fixed Asset Register and Capex.• Inventory management, e.g. stocktakes, stock turns, obsolescence.• Investment Management, e.g. bank investments, property portfolios and investments.• HR and Payroll Management, e.g. weekly pay processing, payroll tax and deductions, super, workers comp.• Assist with IT management, e.g. servers, printers, etc. • Assist with management of Pronto ERP system administration, e.g. maintenance of special accounts, user access & roles, etc. • Ongoing setup, training and support to management and staff in range of ERP system areas, including inventory, sales, purchasing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, shipping, various analyses & reconciliations, etc.• Preparation of periodic govt. reports including BAS Returns, Annual Employment Returns, FBT, Statistical Returns.• Management of several projects, e.g. Update all accounting records; FBT audit; Cyclical stocktakes; establish cashflow forecast template; establish budget.

• 

  Egis

  • Brisbane, Australia

  • ERP Consultant/Systems Accountant

    • Aug 2015 - Feb 2016
    • Brisbane, Australia

    Project to implement MYOB EXO Job Costing System, Purchase Ordering System and related modules to meet business and financial requirements.

• 

  CPL (Cerebral Palsy League)

  • Brisbane

  • Financial & Systems Accountant

    • Mar 2015 - Jul 2015
    • Brisbane

    • The identification and resolution of issues in the EPICOR 9 ERP system. • Management of all aspects of senior financial accounting role, including general ledger maintenance, journals, capital expenditure management, monthly management reporting, board reporting, etc. Involved with management of Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Payroll, CRM, Fixed Assets, Purchases and Ordering.• Attended to month end processes including GST Returns, Stat Returns, etc. • Primary project was the reconciliation of all Balance Sheet accounts, the majority of which had not been analysed, reconciled or cleared for over 12 months. Achievements • Successfully reconciled the major General Ledger accounts. Completed the annual FBT Return. Identified data integrity issues in Epicor (Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable control accounts were out of balance)• Identified setup issues (Fixed Assets module not setup properly) and identified procurement process issues (Accounts Payable maintained in bank payment order, Purchase Order process not setup correctly and not being properly managed).

• 

  Sunstate Cement Ltd

  • Brisbane

  • Financial Controller, Systems Project Manager

    • Sep 2012 - Feb 2015
    • Brisbane

    • Setup, testing, training and implementation of PRONTO ERP system upgrade (Pronto X1 version 6.5 to 7.5). • Management of system administration function, including remapping of general ledger; maintenance of special accounts, user access & roles, etc. Liaison contact between company and Pronto.• Ongoing setup, training and support to management and staff in range of areas, including inventory, sales, purchasing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, shipping, rebates; various analyses & reconciliations, report writing, etc.• Also managed all aspects of senior financial accounting role for 9 months after previous incumbent resigned, including general ledger maintenance and reconciliation, journals, capital expenditure management, cash flows; monthly management and board reporting, etc. • Management of several projects, e.g. Rewrite Chart of Accounts; Project (Job) Costing; Cyclical Stock takes; Maintenance Management and Forecasting; etc.• Development of Business Intelligence reporting using COGNOS; Alert Intelligence, etc.

• 

  Kentor Gold

  • Brisbane, Australia

  • Systems Accountant

    • 2011 - 2012
    • Brisbane, Australia

    • Setup, testing, training and implementation of PRONTO ERP system (Pronto X1 version 6.4) into group of mining companies based in Brisbane & Perth with sites in WA, NT and Kyrgyzstan overseas.• Migration from MYOB to Pronto. Daily liaison with and support to numerous managers, staff and external service providers. Ongoing liaison with Scope Systems, a Pronto distributor who also provide support services. • Modules implemented include General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Banking, Budget/Cashflow, Inventory, Purchase Orders, Project Costing, Tenements, Plant Maintenance, Payroll, PRAS, Business Intelligence, Alert Intelligence, etc.• Ad-Hoc projects/activities included systems administration, manuals, internal controls and procedures, report writing, budgets, reconciliation of accounts, workflow, payroll authorities, GST, training, helpdesk, etc.

• 

  Intercolonial Boring Co

  • Brisbane, Australia

  • Group Financial Controller

    • 2006 - 2011
    • Brisbane, Australia

    • All financial, I.T. (PRONTO ERP) and company secretarial affairs of the Group• Overall financial control of group operations, assist with the setting of strategic direction, setting of policies, review of results, etc.• All accounting, financing, payroll, administration and information technology procedures.• Management of a team of 9, comprising accountants, assistant accountants, I.T. personnel and clerical staff with indirect links to 7 other office administrators at various locations. • Supervision of the processing, collation and reporting of all monthly, periodic and annual financial information, including consolidations, BAS, FBT and other tax compliance filings in multiple state, local and some international jurisdictions.• Compliance with IFRS and other accounting and reporting standards and requirements.• Monthly management reporting, quarterly reporting to bankers, preparation of annual accounts for 25 companies, including consolidations and assistance with income tax preparations.• Budgets, daily cash management and treasury, cashflow forecasting & control. • Liaison with and advice to managers, supervisors and staff in various departments and branches throughout Australia, New Zealand and in France. Departments included National & Regional Sales, Central Management, Export, Finance, I.T., Manufacturing (Assembly), Warehouse & Distribution, Injection Moulding, Roto Moulding, Production Overheads, Quality Engineering, R&D and Training.• Liaison with numerous stakeholders, including audit/accounting firms in Australia, New Zealand and France, several bank and financial institutions, Insurers, Tax Authorities, Govt. Departments, solicitors, directors, shareholders, etc.• Manage and/or assist with ad-hoc projects as and where required.

• 

  NZ Rockshops

  • Auckland

  • Group Financial Manager

    • 2005 - 2006
    • Auckland

    Industry: Importing, warehousing, distribution and retail of musical instruments throughout N.Z.Managed entire accounting & administrative function.Group comprised 5 companies, 17 branches, 155 staff.Led team comprising Office Manager, Accounts Payable Clerks (2), Cashbook Clerk, Sales/Financing Clerk, Payroll Clerk  Revised, introduced and vastly improved the group’s systems and procedures (EXONET) Completed arrear statutory consolidated and individual annual financial statements for the group for 2 year period within a tight timeframe and brought all current reporting and records up to date. Management during Inland Revenue tax audit Reconciliation of all arrear general ledger accounts Trained & developed a productive and efficient central accounting team

• 

  Placemakers Group

  • Taupo, New Zealand

  • Financial Manager

    • 2004 - 2005
    • Taupo, New Zealand

    Management of financial, accounting & admin function for a joint venture operation. Managed a team of 4. Used group in house ERP solution called ACE.

• 

  MGA Chartered Accountants

  • Auckland, New Zealand

  • Business Services Manager

    • 2000 - 2003
    • Auckland, New Zealand

    Management of Compliance Team of 7 accountants. - Preparation of Statutory Financial Statements, taxation services, liaison with clients, business services, valuations and ad-hoc projects. Used MYOB AO (Accountants Office) Software

• 

  Applied Logic Ltd

  • Auckland, New Zealand

  • Financial Controller

    • 1997 - 1999
    • Auckland, New Zealand

    Management of financial, accounting, tax, secretarial and administrative activities of two companies. 1 person reporting. Used REALTIME ERP system.

• 

  Precision Accounting CC

  • South Africa

  • Professional Public Accountant

    • 1987 - 1996
    • South Africa

    Sole proprietor of own professional accounting practice, providing a range of accounting, tax and allied services to a variety of business clients. Staff of 8.Registered practicing member in good standing of the Institute of Commercial and Financial Accountants of South Africa from 1987 to 1997.

• 

  Unitrans Ltd

  • South Africa

  • Group Internal Auditor

    • 1987 - 1989
    • South Africa

    Established and managed the internal audit function within this large group of companies. 1 person reporting.

• 

  Prangleys & Co (Chartered Accountants)

  • South Africa

  • Senior Auditor

    • 1986 - 1987
    • South Africa

    Conducted various external audits of companies and other forms of enterprise.Responsible for preparing various financial statements, attending to tax matters and providing various accounting and allied services. Audit team of 3. Used Solution 6.

• 

  C.G. Smith (Sugar) Ltd

  • South Africa

  • Internal Auditor

    • 1983 - 1986
    • South Africa

    Assisted in establishing and managing the internal audit function within the group.

• 

  Ciskei Development Bank

  • South Africa

  • Management Accountant

    • 1982 - 1983
    • South Africa

    Budgets, cash flows and product costing. Review of loan applications. Introduction, development and control of accounting systems & procedures for diverse industries.

• 

  Creamer, Rae & Co (Chartered Accountants)

  • South Africa

  • Auditor

    • 1977 - 1982
    • South Africa

    Audits of various enterprises, including major publicly listed companies. Successfully completed a five-year term of articles of clerkship where I learnt the basic practical skills of accounting, auditing and tax.