Sr. Financial Controller
Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence-Nairobi (Kenya - Africa)
Total years of experience :32 years, 10 Months
Recently opened above said five-star property in Nairobi - Kenya (Oct.-2019) along with Finance Team Members of 15 & also set up Complete Financial & Other Operational Systems Like Sage Financial System / Opera-PMS / Micros - POS / Material Control-Inventory System as well as Sage 300-Payroll System etc. along with Implementation of SOPs as per RHG.
Spearheading responsibilities as a Senior Financial Controller (Pre-Opening) for the Luxury Five Star Property in Africa having 164 Rooms being managed by Campbell Gray Hospitality - London, UK along with a Team of 15 Staff Members
Shouldering end-to-end responsibility of the entire F & A function, the same including a wide gamut of aspects including financial reporting, internal control, cost optimization, revenue growth and profitability enhancement among others
Overseeing regulatory aspects, legal compliance, adherence to global CGH standards, competitive intelligence along with Budgeting as well as Variance Analysis
Responsible for maintaining optimal Insurance cover, handling MIS & periodic reporting, Cash Flow management, working capital management and driving cross-functional engagement
Handling close communication with third parties such as the internal auditors, external auditors, and local authorities, while ensuring periodic & timely completion of internal, statutory and external audits along with timely submission of AFS.
Providing training in hotels to enhance the financial skills of the Management Team as a whole in order to "coach" to both the Hotel Finance teams and non-Financial Managers
Maintaining Hotel’s financial management and accounting policies, systems and procedures in accordance with CGH Standards Operating Procedures and also ensuring that effective internal controls as well as financial systems are in place.
Implemented all Hotel Systems like Sun System along with Vision at Back Office, Protel-PMS at Front Office & Xn-POS at Point Of Sales and Sky-Jana Material Management System in the Store as well as Sky-Bayan HR Management & Payroll System.
I was also on special assignment as Pre-Opening Task Force member by CGH-UK for the Opening Of 5* Property in Manama-Bahrain from June 2108 to Feb 2019 in order to set up Finance Department along with Financial & Other Operational Systems Like Sun System / Protel-PMS / Xn-Protel POS / Sky-Jana as well as Sky-Bayan etc.
Accredited for effective management of the working capital and cash flow of the company by maximizing performance of the unit
through controls on inventory, credit & collection, disbursements, deposits and remittances etc.
* Liaised with banks in order to arrange for trade finance and to meet working capital requirements, while handling documentation
and banking relationships effectively
* Monitored very closely receivable & payable accounts, enforced strict control on credit limits and monitored legal cases pertaining
to Finance & Accounts function
* Ensured effective internal controls are in place and ensure full compliance with generally accepted accounting practices,
international financial reporting standards and applicable regulatory laws and rules for financial and tax reporting
* Thoroughly reviewed all audit issues & queries related to both Internal as well as External Audit to ensure accuracy and moreover
timely preparation as well as submission of AFS to Tax Authority
* Managed risk, including identifying, quantifying, controlling and flagging FX, market, credit, operational and political-risks and take
mitigating actions
* Played a vital role in effectively handling foreign exchange risk through planned hedging, thus resulting in savings of USD
0.306/0.550 million in the year
Property-253 Rooms/207 Acres)
* Led the process of reviewing complete purchase processes, control on cost mechanism, vendor evaluation, development of vendors, review on payments to vendors/sundry creditors, delivering reduction of inventory levels from USD 800 k in 2010 to USD 500k in 2011
* Instrumental in implementing internal control procedures to ensure adequate authorizations were obtained for all payments as
well as purchases which also resulted in Increase in cash/bank balance from USD 150k to USD 325k
* Reviewed complete process of F & B controls as well as the role of the F & B controller, resulting in significant improvements in
Food as well as Beverage Cost over the years
* Effectively reviewed complete golf operations, clearly understanding its overheads and its controls on overheads, resulting in its
contribution to hotel business
* Implemented Credit Control System including monthly aging analysis of Debtors which resulted in lower risk of bad debts and
better working capital management as well as reduction in Average Collection Period from 54 Days to 35 Days
* Streamlined Finance operations, delineated Roles & Responsibilities of each member and ensured that the credit policy is being
strictly adhered to and all outstanding debts are collected on or before time as well
* Performed a key role in up-gradation of Fidelio/Micros-POS/MC-Material Control/Sun System with complete re-structuring of
financial data in all said HMS systems as well
* Reviewed existing processes and implemented new ones to deliver reduction of EFTE’s (Equivalent Full Time Employees) from 570
in 2010 to 485 in 2011
Tasked to review existing Financial processes, implement policies & procedures, identify gaps, re-engineer reporting mechanism and ensure the entire function & methodology is strengthened, reliable and scalable in view of the growing operations
Played a key role in managing pre-opening activities, for 2 five star properties (181 & 275 Rooms) in Entebbe/Kampala - Uganda
Successfully monitored expenses for all units of the Group through generation of ‘Management Account’ reports, in turn enabling the Senior Leadership to undertake better business decisions and delivering annual savings of saving ~5%
Was held entirely responsible for finalizing and consolidating the Group accounts at the year-end including a backlog of 3 years (prior to 2004) Saved tax as well as further interest penalties to the tune of about 2% Per Month
Reviewed entire gamut of F & B controls, identified & addressed gaps including spoilage/ breakages/ pilferage and delivered savings of >2% on a monthly basis
Designed strategy & implemented effective internal control systems for vehicles’ and generators’ fuel consumption, in turn reducing pilferage and reducing fuel consumption by ~ 5% on a monthly basis
Liaised with the Banks for term loans as well as other short-term borrowings issues
Prepared audit schedules for all units and co-ordinated with external & internal auditors to ensure completion of Audits in a timely & fruitful manner, while overseeing submission of AFS to Tax Authority as well
Diversified Group in Manufacturing, Hospitality & Others etc.) Tanzania-East Africa as
Rank holder-16Th Rank
HRA - Human Resource Accounting
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