Rephase

Post M&A Integration | Finance Transformation | Corporate and Team Restructuring | Finance Process Improvements and Realignment | Finance Teams Performance and Wellbeing

Principal Consultant

Principal Global Investors

•	Provided support of coaching and mentoring the finance team
•	Put in place process improvements and control tools in various areas of finance process ensuring smooth and efficient financial reporting
•	Key contributor to achieving solutions on challenging issues during an audit
•	Designed memos and control tools for distribution process (dividend, return of capital, other distributable reserves, conversion of share premium) to ensure compliance with the UK's Companies Act and IFRS
•	Responsible for a financial audit process of a group of UK companies

Consultant

Principal Real Estate Europe

•	Training and mentoring the development and growth of the finance resources
•	Assist with a transition process, and systems implementations

•	A key contributor to the acquisition of Internos Global Investors Group, by Principal Financial Group Plc, a US-based global financial investment management group listed on Nasdaq
•	Led financial integration phase (post acquisition) involving system migrations, group consolidation process, regulatory reporting, cross-borders reporting, and forecasting alignments
•	Led restructuring and reallocation of cross-borders finance resources, whilst managing diversity of cultures
•	Designed and implemented process efficiencies through technology, resulted in significant costs savings 
•	Designed and remodelled complex cross-borders transfer pricing models, ensuring compliance with EU Code of Conduct and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) guidelines
•	Responsible for group financial reporting, forecasting, corporate restructuring, consolidation, transfer pricing, system implementations, regulatory and statutory reporting, as well as managing risks, efficiencies and process improvement within those areas
•	Preparation of Group financial reports for Management Committee, Audit Committee, Supervisory Board, Board of Directors and external stakeholders
•	In-charge of group P&L and Cash Flow forecasting for a business with c. €4billion Assets Under Management, spread across 8 different jurisdictions
•	Managed internal audit from the US parent company and external (tax and financial) audits with the auditors in London, Frankfurt, Paris and Des Moines

Director - Corporate Controlling, Europe

•	Led the acquisition accounting of one of the biggest asset management business in Germany, which comprised of 9 funds holding 68 assets across 9 European countries with €1.6 billion AUM 
•	Led corporate restructuring of a pan-European structure prior to the sale of a group of companies, managing liquidations, sale and disposals, share transfers and valuations transactions 
•	Managed a complex corporate structure with 4 regulated entities across 3 different jurisdictions and 11 non-regulated entities spread across Europe and in the UK 
•	Designed and implemented transfer pricing model and became the main point of reference for a cost restructuring of the entire corporate structure
•	Designed multi-currency consolidation template and process ensuring data accuracy
•	Led and managed cross-borders finance team with diverse cultures and personalities, working together effectively in producing quality deliverables
•	Organised and presented an accounting workshop for all corporate accountants across Europe
•	Managed regulatory reporting to FCA in the UK, BAFIN in Germany and AMF in France

Head of Group Accounting

•	Responsible for consolidated (and single entity) management accounts and statutory accounts for corporate entities in the UK and Europe, the European fund’s service providers, asset-owning entities and holding companies across Europe
•	Improved consolidation process by putting in place systematic approach on all corporate entities’ closing process and designing a transparent intercompany matrix
•	Managed all intercompany agreements and transactions across pan-European Group

Senior Financial Controller

APN Property Group Limited

•	Acted as the main point of reference for a complex cost recoveries and recharges structure of the entire listed Fund, Syndicates and the Australian Group, and management fees calculations 
•	Designed and produced the first financial report and the first accounting and bookkeeping policies for the European funds’ service providers, both approved by the Board of Directors
•	In-charge of the accounting of complex transactions in the liquidation of the European corporate structure, also directly involved in the disposals of properties across Europe 
•	Led the administration of the London office during the restructuring and close down process

Group Accountant

Deloitte UK

Experienced in reporting standards under IFRS, UK and US GAAP and has led projects such as IFRS migration, Sarbanes Oxley 404 implementation, due diligence merger & acquisition

Audit Manager

Ernst & Young

Audit Senior

4 TIPS ON HOW TO RE-ENGAGE EMPLOYEES WHO ARE READY TO QUIT
(a follow up from a previous video - 5 SIGNS ON HOW TO IDENTIFY UNENGAGED EMPLOYEES - linked in the comment)

1. Demonstrate the impact of their work. (Let them see the bigger picture) 
👉🏽When your team can see the bigger picture and how they are contributing to it, they are more likely to invest in a successful outcome

2. Include them in projects or recruiting initiatives. (They’ll feel valued and important)
👉🏽When employees are being pulled into an important project or recruiting process with opportunities to offer feedback, they feel valued.

3. Lead them by inspiring them. (Get to know your team, share your story letting them know how you get to where you are) 
👉🏽If you want to be inspirational, you’ll have to start with getting to  know your team and what motivates them in the first place.

4. Remember they have life outside work. 
👉🏽Be mindful of how the time they spend at work detract from the time they spend away from it too.

Do these when you notice signs your employees are starting to disengage, which I talked about in my previous video.

What else do you think would work?

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🌱I help businesses transform their finance functions, realign their finance teams, reducing costs and staff turnover 
📨 DM me to see if I can help
🔔 Follow for more tips 

#teamrestructuring #teamrealignment #financetransformation #wellbeinginfinance #postmergerintegration

Zatul Yusoh

Fractional CFO | Finance Teams Transformation and Certified Post M&A Integration Consultant

🎯 WHAT TO DO AFTER DAY 1 (Tips for a quick month-end reporting)

...a follow-up from the previous post - IMPACTFUL STEPS YOU CAN DO BEFORE YOUR NEXT MONTH-END – linked in the comment

☝🏽 Remember you have produced a flash report at the end of Day 1

So,

⚠ STOP ALL ADJUSTMENTS TO THE MONTH-END REPORT, until review of the flash report is completed.
👉🏽 Record any adjustment found in ‘Overs and Unders’ schedule (post about this is linked in the comment)
👉🏽 Assess NET P&L impact of the late adjustments the above schedule, and adjust ONLY if they are very material
👉🏽 Often, you’ll find net adjustments is below materiality, in which case, you can adjust them in the following month

⚠ STOP VARIANCE REPORTING BY ACCOUNT CODES
👉🏽 Variance analysis should be at a higher level e.g. category level
👉🏽 Establish rules e.g. report variances for more than 10% of budget and over £xx,xxx amount
👉🏽 Small variances are not going to move any needles!

⚠ STOP MONTHLY RE-FOREASTING of the year-end forecast
👉🏽 It delays the month-end results
👉🏽 Monthly variances can be good in one month and bad the next month, it is a cycle
👉🏽 If you change your forecast each month, the management/board know whatever number you’ve told them is wrong, as you’ll change it the next month
⭐ Reforecast should only occur 4 times a year, unless the business is in a volatile sector

🔥 Do the steps suggested in the previous post before month-end; 
🔥 and the above 3 rules on Day 2-3, see how quick you can report your financial results 😎 

Let me know in the comments any feedback 👇🏽 

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🌱 I help businesses level-up their finance teams’ performance 
📨 DM me to see if I can help
🔔 Follow for more tips

#postmergerintegration #teamrestructuring #accountingissues #financetransformation #corporaterestructuring #monthend


SIMPLE COSTS SAVINGS TIPS IN 3 ACQUISITION SCENARIOS for private investors or SMEs (Small or medium-sized enterprises)

Costs “leakage” caused by operational inefficiencies…
 
📍SCENARIO 1: Merging two businesses into one.
🚀Make sure the corporate shell of the leaving business is fully dissolved, otherwise you will continuously incur administrative costs.
🚀Have a look at the teams in each department, often there’ll be redundant roles. Merge these roles into one, you’ll save people costs by up to 50%.
 
📍SCENARIO 2: BUYING / INVESTING IN A SUBSIDIARY
🚀Put these companies in the same tax and VAT group. You can improve working capital by not having to pay indirect taxes for intercompany transactions. You may also use tax reliefs available for related companies.
 
📍SCENARIO 3: BUYING / INVESTING IN A GROUP OF COMPANIES
🚀Look into the group structure. Often, companies were set-up for a purpose that is no longer relevant today. So, it is worth looking into restructuring this aiming for an effective structure, in order to maximise dividends going up to the owners.
 
These are just simple ones. There are so many post-merger integration initiatives you can consider, avoiding business “bleeding” costs in the long run.😅
 
⚠️The above advice may vary subject to tax and local regulations, compliance with accounting standards, and details of the companies’ situation and their stakeholders.

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🌱 I help businesses transform their finance functions, post-merger 
📨 DM me to see if I can help
🔔 Follow for more tips

#postmergerintegration 
#teamrestructuring 
#accountingissues 
#financetransformation #corporaterestructuring

☝🏽 On average, there are 22 working days a month 

🤓 Say, a finance team takes 9 days to report

😎 Left with only 13 days for everything else (i.e. the future stuff – system/process improvements and implementations, forecast and budget)

🔥 That’s a 40% reduction

❗ Every day spent on producing month-end reports is a day less spent on analysis and projects

Just saying…


👉🏽 Next post: IMPACTFUL STEPS YOU CAN DO BEFORE YOUR NEXT MONTH END

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🌱 I help businesses level-up their finance teams’ performance 
📨 DM me to see if I can help
🔔 Follow for more tips

#postmergerintegration #teamrestructuring #accountingissues #financetransformation #corporaterestructuring


Finance function: 5 BAD HABITS (🔥WITH EXAMPLES)

1.	‘Detail is good’
🔥Having a large chart of accounts with 200+ account codes for the P&L

2.	Slow month-ends
🔥Overseeing a slow month-end reporting process as finance teams pursue the ‘perfect’ number.

3.	Slow year ends
🔥Most of the finance team’s time in the first quarter being spent endlessly adjusting the month 12 number.

4.	Spreadsheet epidemic
🔥A spreadsheet for everything, and most certainly multiple versions of the truth.

5.	Generating unread reports
🔥Too much details in a report made it lost its primary focus and valuable message.

Care to share anything else you found?

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🌱 I help businesses transform their finance functions 
📨 DM me to see if I can help
🔔 Follow for more tips

#postmergerintergration #accountingissues #financetransformation #corporaterestructuring #teamrestructuring

🔥Feeling lazy? We all do at times…

Sharing 3 WAYS HOW TO CURE LAZINESS that work for me EVERY time :

1. Break the goals into daily tasks

2. Develop habits and systems

3. Understand that our mood should not dictate our work

If you have any other tips that work, drop them in the comment below 👇 

#selfdevelopment #teamperformance #wellbeinginfinance #mindset #financetransformation

🔥 Do you know the priorities of team restructuring? NOT the intangibles like trust, morale, commitment, loyalty and such.

These are the BY-PRODUCTS.

👉🏽 Shoot for the operational improvements that are most urgently needed. 

🎯 Focus on stuff that heads straight to the bottom line. The HARD RESULTS instead of soft issues, the PROBLEMS not the symptoms.

Stake out specific targets. Aim for a very few – but ambitious – goals. Those that you can measure.

Moral, trust, loyalty and commitments, work stress – these are very important attitudinal components. They are all count, for sure. Collectively they carry enough punch to make or break your team.

But you need to see them as SYMPTOMS – like fever, headache or nausea. And instead of popping pills or slapping bad-aids, you should focus on fighting the CAUSE of those aches and pains.

Get rid of the root problems and see how the unpleasant symptoms disappear.

That’s a good medicine…and good management.

This is what I learned from Price Pritchett’s advice.

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 🌱 I help businesses realign their finance functions, post-merger 
 📨 DM me to see if I can help
 🔔 Follow for more tips

#postmergerintegration #teamrestructuring #accountingissues #financetransformation #corporaterestructuring

IMPACTFUL STEPS YOU CAN DO BEFORE YOUR NEXT MONTH END

🚀 Establish reporting rules within the finance team

🚀 Catch all adjustments in an ‘Overs and Unders’ schedule (linked for this post in the comment)

🚀 Avoid huge wave of accounts payables invoices at month-end

🚀 Early closing of the accounts payable ledger

🚀 Close accruals before the accounts payable cut-off

🚀 Set materiality rules for accruals

🚀 Avoid intercompany adjustments

🚀 Early closing-off of accounts receivable

🚀 Early capital expenditure cut-off

🚀 Early inventory cut-off

🚀 Critical time: From 5pm last day to 5pm first working day – regroup to discuss status

🚀 End of day 1 – produce a flash report


👉🏽 Next post on month-end tips: WHAT TO DO AFTER DAY 1

Let me know if you want me to delve into any of the above individually. I can do that in future posts.

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🌱 I help businesses level-up their finance teams’ performance 
📨 DM me to see if I can help
🔔 Follow for more tips

#postmergerintegration #teamrestructuring #accountingissues #financetransformation #corporaterestructuring #monthend


3 TIPS ON HOW TO STABILISE YOUR ORGANISATION POST-MERGER

(a follow up from a previous post - how a merger shakes an organisation - linked in comment below)

1.   Plan out a WELL-CONCEIVED AND PROFESSIONALLY GUIDED integration strategy
✅ Make sure that both the substance and timing of your integration plan are expertly aligned; and
✅ All in key management positions are aligned in supporting the strategy

2.   Get the BACKING OF MANAGERS AND EXECUTIVES or get rid of them
▶ You can’t afford to go forward struggling to deal (daily/weekly) with overt opposition or subtle sabotage
▶ It is hard enough with everybody pulling together, and when people are pulling in different directions the chances for success grow slim

3.   FINE TUNING AND REDIRECTING your strategy are inevitable as the merger proceeds
☑ You have to show some flexibility because you learn as you go, circumstances keep changing and priorities shift

Integration process needs to be carefully structured ad systematically managed in order to restabilise the firm. 

That’s how you protect productivity, preserve client base, and position the organisation for future success.

I learned this from Price Pritchett’s advice.

What's your experience?

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 🌱 I help businesses transform their finance functions, post-merger 
📨 DM me to see if I can help
 🔔 Follow for more tips
 
#postmergerintegration #teamrestructuring #accountingissues #financetransformation #corporaterestructuring


A merger always shakes things up in organisations. Rocking the boat. Sometimes it sinks…

Management's job is to keep things steady during this turbulent time, so the company stays on course.

There's no escaping the disruption, given these underlying issues:

1. Split loyalties
2. Inner disputes 
3. Reluctance to adapt 
4. Struggles for control
5. Communication snags
6. Elevated staff turnover 
7. Employment uncertainty
8. Fuzzy reporting hierarchies
9. Ambiguous roles and duties
10. Modifications to policies and procedures

The best you can hope for is to minimise the disruption, navigate through it as smoothly as possible and get through the treacherous water as quickly as you can.

How? I will share some tips in the next post.

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🌱 I help businesses transform their finance functions, post-merger 
📨 DM me to see if I can help
🔔 Follow for more tips

#postmergerintegration #teamrestructuring #accountingissues #financetransformation #corporaterestructuring

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