Experience

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  Xcel Productivity Tools (XPT)

  • Matakana

  • Solutions Developer

    • Mar 2024 - Present
    • Matakana

    XPT delivers accounting reporting solutions that emphasise automation, flexibility and speed. I have been working with the Xero and MYOB accounting packages and have developed a solution that is much faster and infinitely flexible, with built-in visuals and designed specifically for automation and AI interrogation. The solution will work on any accounting package that enables transactions to be exported. It will enable me, and potentially the rest of my team, to be much more productive in all my future roles.

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  EcoChill

  • Acting Financial Controller

    • Dec 2023 - Mar 2024

    EcoChill is an engineering company that delivers innovative cooling technology and is focused on delivering low-carbon commercial and industrial refrigeration and solutions throughout New Zealand.Whilst overseeing EcoChill’s day-to-day financial operations, I supported a finance and administration team of five people, including an accounting contractor whom I guided through the balance sheet reconciliation process. A highlight in this role was using my Excel and VBA programming skills to lead a project to automate reporting using the MYOB for Excel interface to facilitate Excel quality reporting. This gave us the capability to drill down to transactions and automated exports for balance sheet reconciliations which meant that the Finance and Administration team could deliver a full set of balance sheet reconciliations much more easily.Other achievements included developing a new cashflow forecasting process using Excel and VBA programming, including the automation of the debtor forecasting function, and significantly reducing active accounts by conducting a complete review and reconciliation of the balance sheet. By closely examining the accounts and making hard decisions regarding writing off unknown elements to the P&L I reduced active accounts by ~33%.

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  Sesquian Ltd

  • Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

  • Senior Consultant

    • Oct 2023 - Dec 2023
    • Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

    Sesquian is a boutique consultancy that specialises in delivering the Jedox adaptable planning and performance management platform. Its team brings many years of international experience to bear on solving complex problems in the FP&A arena. I was responsible for completing the Jedox consultants’ training programme, and building hierarchies and developing reports for Sesquian customers.

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  Neighbourhood Construction

  • Auckland, New Zealand

  • Financial Controller

    • Apr 2021 - Aug 2023
    • Auckland, New Zealand

    The Neighbourhood Group consists of fourteen (nine active) New Zealand companies focused on large format residential developments. The main projects were a 701-home development in South Auckland and a ~1,300 home project in Warkworth.With a team of six finance staff, and as the face of the finance department, I was responsible for producing weekly reports and cash flow forecasts, developing and managing internal controls, policies and financial procedures, and maintaining effective relationships with internal and external partners, as well as driving the continuous improvement of financial reporting and processing systems across nine active entities. Initially, I was the only finance employee in the business. I used my recruitment, leadership and coaching skills to attract and select a group of six people and turn them into a team of professionals managing payroll, procurement, AP, transaction matching, approvals and reporting.In addition, by using my Excel and VBA skills, I designed and developed an automated reporting system which was capable of reporting and supporting automated queries across nine entities at the same time. This enabled the team to understand the performance of the consolidated companies and easily manage intercompany balances.Another highlight was using Excel and VBA to develop an automated reconciliations process, which saved the team time by enabling them to automatically import transactions for each company and control asset, liability and equity positions across the group.Also, by importing the .csv outputs of BioTime, the time and attendance system, I integrated the time and attendance system with Excel reporting. This enabled building team leaders to match hours worked with tasks performed and homes constructed.

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  Heartland Bank LTD

  • Auckland, New Zealand

  • Senior Group Accountant

    • May 2019 - Jul 2020
    • Auckland, New Zealand

    Proudly New Zealand operated and managed, Heartland Bank is part of an innovative and award-winning financial services group which focuses on offering specialist products to customers in the household, business and rural sectors.Working closely with the Business Intelligence (BI) team, I was responsible for project managing, designing and delivering an upgraded monthly management reporting system. I also oversaw the production of financial statements for the Australian subsidiaries, and the ad hoc preparation of board papers for group financial statements.A key achievement was working with the Data Delivery team to design and deliver a fully automated monthly management accounting system that used SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), Excel and Visual Basic to create one template delivering all monthly accounting information for various combinations of business units and entities with one click. This included using my logic and influencing skills to pivot from BI to SSAS and develop a self-reconciling process which saved the finance team a significant amount of time.As well as this, my ability to understand complex spreadsheets and data reporting techniques and to work closely with people with different skillsets helped me to project manage the transfer of the RBNZ reporting system from spreadsheet to a database-driven, automated, reliable and well-documented process. This enabled Heartland to report accurately and quickly to the RBNZ with a high degree of confidence in both the data and the stability of the solution.

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  NPT (Now Asset Plus)

  • Financial Controller

    • Aug 2017 - Oct 2018

    Asset Plus is a NZX listed property company with a diverse property portfolio extended across retail, industrial and commercial buildings. For the year to 31 March 2018 Asset Plus had an annual income of $21m and assets of $170m.I was responsible for managing all finance and accounting operations, including coordinating and directing the preparation of the budget and financial forecasts and report variances, and developing and presenting interim (six monthly) annual financial statements and the annual report. I communicated with the operational managers of Asset Plus’s various buildings to negotiate and agree budget figures, and worked closely with the Audit and Risk Committee, particularly around dividend guidance, interim and annual reports and covenant reporting to the bank.In this role, I used my sound understanding of fundamental accounting principles, my ability to work long hours in a focused way and my excellent communication skills to work closely with the auditors and CEO and deliver fully audited interim financial statements to the NZX by the reporting deadline and only three months after starting the role. Fully audited annual financial statements were delivered within 60 days of the end of the financial year, which was a marked improvement on previous years.I also used my ability to review processes and look past legacy processes to identify only the key elements needed to overhaul the treasury management system. This improved efficiency of operation and authorisation.In addition, I used my ability to understand and explain accounting standards to successfully negotiate with the CFO and auditors and update a major element of the annual report. This presented a more realistic view of the company’s balance sheet. The management rights for NPT were sold to Augusta Capital in February 2018. The process was completed in October 2018 when I handed over Asset Plus’s financial systems and processes to the team at Augusta Capital.

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  SouthWest Energy

  • Member of the Board of Directors

    • May 2015 - Jun 2017

    SouthWest Energy is an Ethiopian oil and gas exploration and production company with production sharing agreements covering 46,000 square km. The company has had up to 70 full-time staff and offices in four countries.As a Member of the Board of Directors, I was responsible for the strategic direction and corporate governance of the company. In recognition of my performance, commitment, and contribution to the company as CFO, as well as my participation in board meetings, I was promoted to Director in May 2015.

  • Chief Financial Officer

    • Jun 2006 - Jun 2017

    After joining SouthWest Energy in 2006, I was based in London until 2009 when I returned to New Zealand to ensure I could perform the CFO role from Auckland on a trial basis. The trial worked well, and I performed the role remotely for a further eight years.

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  SHL

  • London, United Kingdom

  • Systems Accountant

    • Jan 2005 - Apr 2006
    • London, United Kingdom

    SHL is the world leader in psychometric testing, an objective assessment technique used to enable customers to achieve their personnel management and recruitment goals. Reporting to the System Architect, my main responsibility was to work between teams from SHL and the software consultants to design and develop the Sun Account package to meet SHL’s business needs. I was also accountable for developing templates and processes for data migration from legacy systems.

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  QuickerData Limited

  • London, United Kingdom

  • Developer / Designer (Owner)

    • Jan 2003 - Dec 2004
    • London, United Kingdom

    I was a Sun Account (Sun Systems by Systems Union) product developer, providing vastly improved reporting and communication and to help accounting teams improve their productivity. Responsibilities included designing and developing all tools, reporting systems, and communication systems using a combination of Excel, Visual Basic, and SQL Server.

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  Gissings Pensions Ltd

  • London, United Kingdom

  • Systems Consultant

    • 2003 - 2004
    • London, United Kingdom

    Gissings provided pension and human resource solutions to a range of mostly FTSE 100 companies in the United Kingdom. The pension industry in the UK is complex and Gissings supplied high quality, extremely technical advice and services ranging from full management of customers’ plans, to detailed technical advice for specific issues.

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  Transport for London (Street Management)

  • London, United Kingdom

  • Systems Manager/Systems Accountant

    • 2000 - 2003
    • London, United Kingdom

    Transport for London is operator of 580 km of London's most important roads with a 150-member accounting team controlling a then £350m budget using the Sun Account Software (Sun Systems by Systems Union). Reporting to the Financial Controller, my responsibilities included delivering management and financial reporting systems to strict deadlines whilst maintaining transactional data integrity and reconciling all system interfaces. I also prepared all Sun Account data for migration to SAP and provided system support and training for all accounting staff for Sun Account and Vision whilst leading a high performing three-member systems accounting team.