London Area, United Kingdom
Strategic CFO working in partnership with the Board and Senior Management teams to affect transformation, promote controls and scale growth and profitability, within fast-paced sales environments. Strong knowledge and track-record of managing and collaborating with support infrastructure teams including finance, property, HR, Marketing and IT. Leads with a results-focused approach combined with positive engagement and team development. Driven by delivering quality and value-add through understanding, challenging and managing expectations coupled with the ability to present issues clearly in a logical and relatable way. Sector Experience Recruiting and Staff Industries, Professional Services, Consultancy, Business Services Key Skills Fundraising / M&A / Due Diligence / Scale & Growth Strategy / Cost Control / Support Infrastructure / Performance Development & Management / Change Management / Business Partnering / Planning & Analysis / Leadership / Investor and Stakeholder Management / Board Reporting / International Growth & Reporting / Group Consolidation / Budget Planning and Control Key Experiences: M&A – Participated in and ran company acquisitions and sale processes, due diligence and financial analysis, (P&L & cash flow modelling with sensitivity scenarios). Prepared information, presentations, and liaised and managed various external advisors during the processes. FUND RAISING – Refinanced banking facilities and secured new lending arrangements to support strategic growth plans. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION – Finance systems (Sage 50, 200 & X3, Xero, Dynamics). CRM (Dynamics, Bullhorn). Worked with IT and HR to ensure system compatibility to maximise efficiencies. GROWTH & SCALING – Built cohesive support functions, upskilled team members and developed high performance culture to support future growth. Implemented robust control and process environments to control costs across global geographies. Implemented new budgeting processes and bottom-up budget creation to identify strategic drivers and KPIs for sales and profit growth. CHANGE MANAGEMENT & RESTRUCTURING - Led the integration of two companies, addressing issues including culture, structure, employment contracts and IT systems. Ran and supported change management during periods of high growth and turnaround. Restructured teams for improved efficiency and cost savings. FINANCIAL REPORTING, PLANNING & ANALYSIS - Enhanced cash flow forecasting models, management accounts, and KPI tracking. Developed Board and Sales reports to identify key drivers of performance along with variance analysis.
Joined Focus Cloud – privately owned £25m turnover, international technology recruitment group specialising in Workday, SAP, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Dayforce and Life Science sectors. Initial focus was on preparing the company to acquire a specialist Microsoft recruiter, Cognitive Group, to complement the existing tech stack. Hired permanently in Dec-21 with responsibility for Finance, HR, Marketing, Legal and IT functions with an emphasis on structuring those teams to support significant sales growth for the future combined Group. • Completed the acquisition of Cognitive Group in August 2022 through a refinancing of the existing ID facility and additional loan with new lender. Managed the process, including liaising with legal and corporate advisers. Built funding model with various sales, P&L, BS and cash flow analysis and sensitivities. • Coordinated integration of the two companies across issues such as office space, employment contracts, IT systems etc • Introduced new budget process and business partnered with sales heads to build team budgets from the bottom up to identify the strategic drivers and KPIs of current and future sales and profit growth. • Redesigned performance measures and pay-outs for sales bonuses and incentives • Developed deal and GP tracker to monitor dips in performance and trigger processes to bring performance back in line with expectations. • Rolled out an EMI option scheme for Group employees, including valuation and HMRC approval. • Changed accounting and timesheet software for greater efficiency in producing management information and to provide a platform to scale growth within the finance function.
Joined Red Commence – PE backed £140m turnover, international technology recruitment group with offices in London, US, Germany and Switzerland. Headhunted by the CFO to assist with turnaround of the company. Helped achieve increases in working capital and profitability by focusing on raising standards, improved reporting and business partnering with Sales and Board Directors to provide insights and aid decision making. Success include o Rebuilt and transformed the finance team following a period of restructuring in the company. Removed underperformers, reallocated core activities to permanent members of staff, reduced temporary staff dependency and upskilled remaining team members. o Designed and implemented a new weekly cash flow forecast model, that was sent to the Group Board. o Designed and implemented new budgeting procedures and models to be able to produce detailed drivers and KPI’s (both financial and non-financial) for NFI and costs. o Re-designed and prepared management accounts and finance packs for the Group Board and Sales Directors o Introduced robust control and process environment to control costs across all geographies from staff expenses to capital expenditure. o Scoped the requirements and specifications for new finance software to increase the functionality, efficiency and capability of the finance team as well as increase the quality and speed of information to the business. o Developed lasting relationships with professional advisers and finance providers o Worked closely with CFO on key projects which included: • Refinancing banking facilities. • Redesigned and modelled executive bonus schemes and sales commission schemes. • Assisted CFO and company secretary in restructuring of PE investor loan notes and redemption of management loan notes. • Closure of nonprofitable offices in the UK and overseas.
Promoted to Finance Director in November 2014 with additional responsibility for HR, Property and IT teams.Successes in this time included: o Successfully secured new leases and project managed the fit out of new London and Manchester offices with a combined space of 24,000 sq ft and a c£1m refurbishment budget. o Overhauled commission and bonus schemes to ensure consistency across performance, roles and achievements against budget. o Introduced a new long-term share incentive scheme for the company Directors and NEDs in April 2015.
Joined Morgan Hunt - £90m turnover recruitment group with offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Moscow. o Upon joining, built a robust financial reporting and cash flow model, redesigned monthly management accounts and KPIs, and bank covenant and cash flow reports. Working closely with the Group FD instigated new month end procedures reducing the production time from 18 days to 8. o Created and implemented new budgeting and forecasting procedures and models providing sales directors with detailed information on divisional performance and thus increasing their accountability for their results. Additionally, worked collaboratively with all support departments to ensure resources were planned to support the sales growth required and to meet strategic objectives. o Prepared consolidated financial statements for the different group subsidiaries, including the UK public and private sector recruitment businesses and the Russian search business. o Worked closely with the CFO to develop a strong working relationship with the company’s bankers and assisted in the renegotiation of banking covenants in 2012 and 2013. Involved with securing a £1m overdraft in 2014. Personally, renewed and increased the credit terms and availability of the invoice discounting facility in March 2015. o Assisted CFO in preparing all due diligence responses in preparation for the sale of the Russian search business in July 2014.