Mahmood Ahmad
Senior Finance Professional
Abu Dhabi
Summary of Career
1. Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Management Accountant(CMA) and Qualified Finance Leader with 17+ Years of international work experience within the domains of Financial Planning, IFRS Reporting, Strategic Management and Business Process Transformation which address today’s business challenges and needs.
2. Expert level experience of building, managing and leading the end-to-end Finance function which includes AR, AP, GL, Budgeting, Treasury and Cost Control.
3. Successful track record of leading multiple high profile projects that resulted in significant cost reduction, business growth, shareholder’s wealth maximization and process optimization.
4. Extensive experience of managing the requirements of internal stakeholders (Senior Management, Board of Directors & Audit Committee) as well as external stakeholders (Banks, Auditors, Regulators etc.)
5. Successfully managing a multi-cultural team of 50+ staff.
6. Expert level user of ERP and MS-Office Package (Trainer).
7. Possess a unique blend of Finance, Supply Chain & IT related qualifications which have enabled me to provide value added services to the business including assistance in ERP implementation and Supply Chain Optimization programs
8. Experience in diversified Business like Construction, Real Estate, Facility Management, Hospitality, Catering, Hospitals, Tasheel, Interior Designing, Security Services etc
9. Possess Excellent Communication, Problem Solving and analytical skills
10. Hands on working experience in SAP, Business one, Opera, Fidelio, Micros etc
Experience as Accounting Manager
The Residency Hotel
01 April 2003
16 March 2006
? Managed and led a team responsible for running the accounts department and preparing monthly and quarterly Financial Reports.
? Budgeting and Forecasting
? Using my financial & IT knowledge; designed and implemented an in-house Payroll Management System
? Based on exceptional performance; promoted from Accountant to Manager Accounts after 2 year of joining.
? Awarded with Manager of the Year.
Experience as Credit Manager
Al Khaleej Group of Hotels
16 April 2006
11 July 2007
? Maintained very good relations with Front office for daily collection of folios and resolving disputes of wrong credit invoices
? Managed to resolve all client queries within 1 day with coordination of Front Office Manager and Income Auditor
? Responsible for maintaining the debtor’s ledger with regular review of the aged accounts
? Monitor the AR ledger on a daily basis, If any discrepancies found then corrective measures to be taken after co-ordinating with the PMS vendor.
? Responsible for Complete Company’s Outstanding and follow-ups
? Assisted Financial Controller to close and prepare monthly financial statements and audit reports.
? Reduced the monthly closing & reporting time up-to 25% by providing key contributions toward automation of reporting process.
? Review the Guest Ledger High Balance report daily and reporting discrepancies, ensuring check-in / check-out procedures are followed.
? Monitor credit limits of all outstanding accounts
? Responsible for all credit applications approvals by using (PD, LGD ratio) etc.
? Responsible to grant Credit to any client by following standard procedure of Trade References, Owner’s Guarantee, Credit Check with Credit Rating Agency (if any), apply credit limits etc
Achievements
? Successfully reduced aging from 1.6 Million AED to 0.5 Million AED within 6 months by timely follow-ups with clients and resolving pending invoice related issues and SOA reconciliations.
? Successfully maintained the average of aging below ½ million over the year.
? Successfully introduced and implemented Credit Policy
? Introduced and implemented Customer rating (Red, Yellow Green Zone) etc
Experience as Assistant Financial Controller
City Tower Group of Hotels
01 July 2007
20 November 2008
? Prepared financial reports, developed budgets and performed variance analysis in accordance with business plan.
? Compiled periodic financial reporting packages for senior management.
? Worked closely with internal audits to ensure regulatory compliance and operational efficiency/accuracy.
? Reduced monthly closing cycle by three days with identification and recommendation of enhanced closing procedures.
? Provide full and accurate forecasting and budgeting proposals within the hotel, in consultation with the Group Director of Finance.
? Responsible to ensure the achievement of all financial targets within the hotel, in consultation with the GDF.
? Responsible to provide timely and accurate financial statements
? Ensuring all financial regulations are met, through the maintenance of adequate systems of internal control
? Training and development of local Finance staff and ensuring accurate succession planning
? Built the financial awareness of local management teams
Experience as Financial Controller
Milton Hotel
01 December 2008
30 June 2010
Role
? Designed Internal Reporting System required by Department and General Manager
? Directed financial management functions including development of monthly/quarterly financial statements, financial forecasts and budgets.
? Oversee general accounting functions, including AR/AP, account reconciliation and cash management.
? Design and submits management reports in a timely manner and also ensuring delivery deadlines
? Responsible for budget Functions of the company with particular focus on accomplishing targets, managing revenue and cost, standardizing processes and maintaining company profits
? Provide excellent leadership by differentiates top performers, fosters teamwork and also able to encourages work/life balance
? Designed the financial control policy and procedure of the company, set up system and established internal controls in the form of report generation and regular management reporting
Achievements
? Led the hotel Pre-Opening process by working directly with the investors and established the business from scratch including setting the financial & operational strategies and implementation of SOPs.
? In charge of ERP system implementation
? Designed and implemented computerized warehouse and finance system to ensure process adherence and early detection of procedural or functional problem and human errors
? Revenue generation Ideas given to management which increased monthly turnover of 200,000/- AED (Restaurant, Saloon, Parking etc)
? KPIs and SLAs system introduced in the hotel which resulted a controlled environment as per Hotel’s policy
? Achieved and exceeded goals including performance goals, budget goals, team goals, etc.
? Successfully implemented Monthly Closing system to present P&L and Management Reports to BOD by 3rd of each month
Experience as Assistant Director of Finance
Al Barakah Investment Holding
01 July 2010
23 November 2019
? Managing the end-to-end finance activities including periodic reporting to executive management.
? Overseeing & leading the preparation of Budgets, Forecasts, Treasury Management, Business Feasibilities and cash flows for new projects.
? Heading all New Projects of the company and prepare milestone data, resource planning and result measurements
? Reviewing closely Revenues and expenses streams by comparison with diligence standards, historical data and incidental data and to propose to BoD for best return on investments.
? Making sure to safeguard company’s assets by adding controls on assets movements / assets acquiring / usage / R&M etc
? Reviewing and submitting the monthly, quarterly and annual management & financial reports to Group CFO and BoD.
? Leading negotiations with Banks for borrowing & investment matters.
? Analyzing current processes (SOPs) and assisting to remove Non Added Value processes by using Lean Strategy
? Assisting Group CFO and Board of Directors in analyzing, developing and implementing the financial & operational strategies.
? Strategically analyzing of cost centers and advise to Management for best practices
? Conducting staff appraisals and staff development activities & trainings (IFRS, Advanced Excel, Leadership Skills etc.)
? Attract, lead, and develop FP&A analyst team to achieve high engagement, strong team and individual performance and depth of talent to meet Company’s growth plans
Key Achievements
? Led the team of Finance Process Flow designing project. The activity resulted in internal control enhancement; identification of non-value added processes and made the company process Lean.
? Led a special project directed towards the achievement of paperless environment. The project resulted in reduction in paper usage & printing by up-to 65% in various domains.
? Successfully headed the VAT Implementation Project across 16 group companies. The in-house VAT implementation also resulted in estimated cost saving of US Dollar 200,000/- by eliminating the need to hire an external consultant.
? Implemented short term incentives and retention bonuses for high performers, which resulted in increase in employee retention ratio by up to 25 % over the period of 3 years.
? Supported Procurement in revamping of tendering processes and saved an estimated AED 0.5M cost by re-negotiating with suppliers.
? Successfully lead the implementation of multiple cost saving Innovative ideas such as:
? AED 48K P.M Food Wastage Handling Cost Savings by implementing ORCA Technology
? AED 0.5M savings in changing disposable packing material
? AED 1.25M saving by identifying missing points form contractual obligations for DIC Housing Fees
? AED 150K annual saving in health insurance cost by re-negotiating with service provider w.r.t the history of staff visits to hospitals
? Estimated annual saving of AED 3 Million by changing the product procurement strategy (Reaching direct to the raw material source)
? Led the AED 1000 Million Financial Modelling project for Abu Dhabi Future Iconic Project – Al Qana
? Reduced monthly closing cycle by 3rd of each month with identification and recommendation of enhanced closing procedures.
? Winner of Employee of the year Award 2018
Master 31 May 2002
Master in Computer ScienceBachelor 31 May 2000
Bachelor of Commerce and AccountingOther 31 October 2019
Certified Public Accountant – CPAOther 31 October 2019
Certified Management Accountant - CMAOther 11 October 2017
Certified Supply Chain Analyst – CSCA