Summary
Overview
Work history
Education
Skills
Accomplishments
Languages
Work availability
Quote
Timeline
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Riddhish Desai

Riddhish Desai

Al Wasl, Dubai,UAE

Summary

Adaptable and motivated communicator committed to improving financial controls, processes and procedures. Builds positive working relationships organisation-wide to communicate financial requirements. Mentors department managers in budget forecasting and cost-reduction measures. Dedicated Finance Business Partner with 15+ years of experience. Demonstrated history of meeting company goals and promoting best practices. Thrives under pressure and adapts to challenges with ingenuity and resilience.

Overview

16
16
years of professional experience

Work history

Finance Controller

Henkel
Dubai, UAE
09.2014 - 09.2023
  • Played a key role in the forecast and planning cycles, collaborating with Finance and cross-functional teams to deliver reliable projections and provide insights into trends, opportunities, and risks.
  • Managed monthly and quarterly forecasting processes, including modelling, scenario analysis, and clear articulation of the Sales, EBIT, and cash flow roadmap compared to previous forecasts, plans, and the prior year, along with the key business drivers.
  • Proactively identified and mitigated risks to monthly, quarterly, and annual forecasts, in consultation with the Finance and wider business team.
  • Engaged with business units to analyze variances from prior forecasts, plans, and the previous year, providing insightful analysis on revenue, cost of sales, and cash flows.
  • Acted as the analytical engine of the company, providing insights, and supporting optimal business decision-making.
  • Built and maintained reports, dashboards, and predictive analytics to provide visibility into the business and financial impact of strategic decisions, such as pricing, new product introduction, and cost reduction initiatives.
  • Prepared standard templates for business units to submit various requirements and provided guidance in their preparation and submission.
  • Assisted operational leaders with value-added ad hoc projects, including supply chain optimization, capital allocation, and operational efficiency improvements.
  • Improved the group's financial performance through strategic financial planning and development.
  • Monitored and enforced operational and internal control procedures, maintaining a strong internal financial control environment.
  • Processed monthly Financial Adjustment transactions, including provisions, expenses, and reversals.
  • Implemented robust internal controls to guarantee compliance with IFRS and IAS standards, enabling accurate recording, measurement, and presentation of financial.
  • Completed statutory and regulatory reporting requirements within defined deadlines.
  • Created board presentations to clearly articulate financial strategy.
  • Consolidated capital management, cash flow analysis and reconciliations statements.
  • Prepared audit schedules, collaborating with external auditing to verify compliance with all regulations.
  • Examined financial reports, analysing and resolving data discrepancies to reduce expenses.

Internal Auditor

Eros Group
Dubai
03.2012 - 08.2014
  • Coached internal audit team to achieve targets and fulfil deadlines.
  • Reported on control deficiencies to management and made recommendations to mitigate risk and add value.
  • Undertook continuous monitoring to drive improvements.
  • Determined ways to cut costs and improve productivity.
  • Updated senior leaders regularly, reporting significant internal control issues.
  • Issued targeted follow-ups to improve company processes.
  • Drew up annual Internal Audit Plan based on key risks and strategies.
  • Shaped internal audit strategy and methodology to meet company goals.
  • Devised and implemented internal audit policies and procedures in line with local and international best practices.
  • Managed end-to-end audit process from scoping to fieldwork and report writing.

Audit Assistant

CA Avinash Utgikar
India
02.2008 - 02.2011
  • Audit Finalized of Corporate, Individual, Firm & Trust. Experience of Direct & Indirect Taxation (Income tax, Corporate Tax, VAT, Service Tax etc.)

Education

Bachelor of Business Administration -

BRCM College of Business Administration
India
2003 - 2005

Cost Accountants -

Institute of Cost Accountants of India
India
2005 - 2008

Certified Management Accountant (CMA) -

Institute of Management Accountants
US
2014 - 2014

Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) -

Institute of Internal Auditor
US
2023 - 2023

Project Management Professionals (PMP) -

Project Management Institute
US
2023 - 2023

Skills

  • Financial leadership
  • Financial Analysis & Reporting
  • Revenue growth
  • Project budgeting
  • Finance Control & Compliance
  • Cash flow management
  • FP&A and IFRS Standards
  • Variance Management
  • Management Reporting & MIS
  • M&A Valuation & Integration
  • Business Analytics & Transformation
  • Process Improvements
  • Corporate Strategy Planning
  • Financial Modeling
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Product Costing & Pricing
  • Intercompany Transfer Pricing
  • Business Case Preparation
  • Budgeting & Forecast
  • Business Partnership
  • Stakeholder Management
  • People Management
  • Organization Building
  • Logical reasoning
  • Attention to Detail
  • Advanced critical thinking
  • Optimizing and performance tuning
  • Problem Solving
  • SAP, Oracle & SQL
  • Microsoft Office Application (ie SharePoint, Excel, Power Point, Power Query, Power BI etc)
  • MIS Reporting & Dynamic Dashboard
  • Best practices and standards

Accomplishments

  • SAP Implementation Project
  • Operational Efficiency Enhancement: Spearheaded process optimization initiatives that bolstered operational efficiency by 15 %. These initiatives included profitability review projects, receivable management strategies to reduce overdue amounts, product costing analysis to improve variance, Lean Management, Average selling price (ASP) analysis, and Bonus Level Agreement (BLA) contract reviews.
  • Business Expansion Project: Spearheaded a project that involved a thorough review of existing business workflows, aiming to enhance business growth. This initiative led to a 9% increase in Overseas Sales Growth (OSG) and an 11% reduction in operational costs. The project’s success was marked by significant improvements in both the top-line and bottom-line, as well as an enhanced customer experience.
  • iGovern Initiative: Led the re-engineering of the Supply Chain (SC) process for IMEA site under the iGovern initiative. The objective was to streamline the compliance process, which was successfully achieved and resulted in effective results. This initiative led to our site securing the "Effective Result" in SC Corporate Audit for Turkey (TR) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regions.

Languages

English
Advanced
Hindi
Native
Gujarati
Native

Work availability

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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Quote

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Tenzin Gyatso, Fourteenth Dalai Lama

Timeline

Finance Controller

Henkel
09.2014 - 09.2023

Internal Auditor

Eros Group
03.2012 - 08.2014

Audit Assistant

CA Avinash Utgikar
02.2008 - 02.2011

Bachelor of Business Administration -

BRCM College of Business Administration
2003 - 2005

Cost Accountants -

Institute of Cost Accountants of India
2005 - 2008

Certified Management Accountant (CMA) -

Institute of Management Accountants
2014 - 2014

Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) -

Institute of Internal Auditor
2023 - 2023

Project Management Professionals (PMP) -

Project Management Institute
2023 - 2023

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Riddhish Desai