Profile
Chartered Accountant with 10 years post qualification experience in financial reporting under IFRS, Planning and Analysis, project management and M&A transactions in Big 4 firms and multibillion dollar turnover multinational companies.
Core Competencies
• Financial reporting under IFRS and management reporting by subsidiaries
• Budgetary controls, FP&A, financial modelling and data analytics
• Technical accounting of specialist IFRS areas like Financial instruments, foreign currency, Business combinations, Employee Benefits, Complex consolidations, Leasing etc.
• Preparation of annual reports under IFRS and Statutory reporting under local GAAPs
• Transactions project management including IFRS conversions
• Internal controls, SOX testing and internal Auditing
• Excellent project management skills
• Attention to detail as well ability to take a high level view of various aspects of the projects
• Expert user of Microsoft office, SAP, Unison and Hyperion
Career Experience
GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC – GSK HQ Brentford, London–
January 2012 to date
July 2014 to Date –Regional Finance Manager – Emerging Markets Asia Pacific (EMAP)
Currently on secondment I am acting as right hand man for EMAP & Europe Financial Controller. EMAP Pharma region has revenue of more than £5bn. My responsibilities include:
• Performing monthly, quarterly and yearly close accurately
• Reviewing performance results of 9 EMAP area against plan
• Explain areas and regional results to various stakeholders including VP regional finance, Director Corporate Reporting and drafting the quarterly briefings for Investor relations team
• Prepare, track and monitor budget for regional HQ commercial team (£25m) by partnering with the commercial team including identifying savings
• Provide input in preparation of regional plan for next 3 years and quarterly latest estimates
• Performing impairment review of various intangible assets within the region including performing valuation of intangible assets based on sales projections
• Coordinating SOX review for the region including owning various internal control processes for HQ finance function and coordinating regional SOX audit by PwC
• Acting as a bridge between local finance teams and Corporate Development teams on various M&A transactions for the region.
Jan 2012 to June 2014 – Corporate Finance MA&D Manager-
Part of a small team, I reported to Director Corporate Finance M&A. Team’s remit included all external merger, acquisition and divestments as well as internal restructuring transactions to ensure the integrity of Group’s consolidated result is maintained. We perform following roles on each such project:
• Reviewing proposal by Corporate Development team and provide finance input, coordinate input from Global Tax and Corporate Treasury on the proposal before it is submitted to CET for approval
• Develop group reporting strategy for newly acquired entities, divestments and restructurings in a way that is optimum from Tax perspective
• Review legal agreements during the deal negotiation stages of the transactions
• Assist project leads in identifying and delivering synergies committed for the deals
• Ensure GSK’s internal Fusion methodology of integrating new businesses into GSK world is updated and followed effectively on each Transaction
• Develop and present guidance and train local companies affected by global deals
• Provide advice to GSK subsidiaries on technical accounting matters
• Support Finance integration leads with group reporting aspects of each transaction
• Ensure all controls around Transactions are operating effectively
• Review group reporting submission resulting from Transactions until they become business as usual which is when they are handed over to central group consolidation team
Highlights: Successfully performed above activities on following deals during 2 and half years in the team:
• Global Divestment of consumer brands worth £1bn
• Acquisition of a US pharmaceutical group worth $3.6bn
• Global divestment of pharmaceutical brands worth £700m
• Global divestment drinks business worth £1.35bn
SERCO GROUP PLC – Group Treasury Accountant
December 2010 to October 2011
I was responsible for accounting, reporting and budgeting of all treasury activities. I performed mark to market valuation, accounting and reporting of financial instruments, planning of interest expense, provide analysis of finance revenue and costs against budgets and forecasts, identifying hedging opportunities and provide guidance to the business to achieve hedge accounting, liaising with corporate banks in relation to financing and liaise with statutory auditors and achieve audit sign off.
Highlights: After joining the company on 13th December 2010, I prepared hedge documentation for transactions that had occurred since my predecessor had left (3 months ago) and prepared year end financial statements treasury related notes and achieved audit sign off without any significant issues.
SYNGENTA AG – Group Financial Accountant
September 2008 to December 2010
I was the primary contact for providing the accounting and reporting guidance related to financial instruments and derivatives to Group Treasury, regional finance and individual subsidiaries around the world. My responsibilities mainly included project based work and some recurring reporting activities including reviewing most of the IFRS pronouncements issued by the IASB and drafting comment letters on behalf of Syngenta, performing valuation and purchase price allocation for acquisitions made by the Group, writing accounting issues notes and liaising with auditors (E&Y) for their concurrence, reviewing monthly and quarterly financial and tax reporting by the subsidiaries, preparation of relevant sections of the annual financial statements of the Group, conducting various IFRS related trainings for various sub-groups within Syngenta.
Highlights: Performed purchase price calculations for $36m business acquired in the US. I contributed towards the development of IFRS 9 through meetings with IASB. Drafted comment letters on draft IFRS for Leasing, Financial Instruments and Pensions. Conducted IFRS training for various audiences at 3 different occasions.
ERNST & YOUNG, UK – October 2005 To August 2008
(two roles at two different offices)
Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS) London – November 2006 to August 2008
Division: FAAS was created in 2005 to deal with mass IFRS conversion projects going on in EU listed companies. It specialises in advising large multinational companies on IFRS, UK, US and other major GAAPs accounting issues.
I worked as Executive (Assistant manager) on a variety of transactions with clients like Tesco, BT, Smith & Nephew plc, GE, Japan Tobacco and Mothercare. On these projects I provided assistance to clients in preparing IFRS financial statements, performed impact assessments of conversion to IFRS from other GAAPs, assisted clients in relation to the IFRS impact of potential M&A transactions and provided other specific accounting advice as required by the clients.
Highlights: I was one of the founding members of the Pakistan Desk at E&Y London, focussing on inbound IPOs from Pakistan. I played a key role in establishing this team and played a vital role of facilitating the communication with E&Y Pakistan, which at a later stage resulted in the flow of revenue to the UK firm from Pakistan IPOs.
Audit Services E&Y Manchester office – October 2005 to October 2006
My Role: During this period I worked with Manchester Office of the firm as Qualified Assurance Services Executive in their audit division. In this role I lead the audit teams for Statutory, group reporting and special purpose audits including SOX control testing from planning to completion, assessed business and audit risks, coordinated with professionals of various fields like legal, actuarial and IT experts and was involved in decision-making for resolution of critical reportable matters including interpretation of IFRS/IAS, on job training and coaching of the team members and their performance appraisal.
PWC PAKISTAN (Karachi office)
October 2000 To August 2005
In Pakistan PwC is represented by a local member firm named A.F. Ferguson & Co., which is the largest firm in the country by market share as well as revenue. I worked at various positions in their Audit division from joining in Oct 2000 as Audit Assistant to being promoted as Audit Supervising Senior in Dec 2004 when I passed my final exams. During my employment with the firm I worked on audits and other assignments involving subsidiaries of various global companies including Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline, Reckitt Benckiser, Toyota, Credit Agricole, Bank of Tokyo, DHL and IBM.
Highlights: Lead a delegation of trainees to attend All India CA students conference in India. Passed most of my CA exams in first attempt. Achieved 2 additional professional qualifications along with Chartered Accountancy.
Education & Professional Qualifications
• Chartered Accountant ACA – The institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan – 2004
• Certified Internal Auditor CIA – Institute of Internal Auditors, USA – 2003
• Corporate Secretary – Institute of Corporate Secretaries of Pakistan – 2005
• Bachelor of Commerce – Karachi University, Pakistan – 2000
Training/Courses
Attended various training courses so far with current and previous employers which included various interpersonal skills, personal development, project management and audit methodology courses, various IFRS updates/technical seminars and IASB conference in 2010.
IT Skills
Expert knowledge of MS Excel, Word and Power Point, Outlook and Lotus Notes. Extensive operational knowledge of Hyperion Enterprise systems, SAP and Unison.
Other Achievements
Exam question writer for The Institute of Internal Auditors, USA (IIA) and have written more than 70 approved exam questions so far. These questions are used by IIA in their official examinations conducted all over the world.
