Professional Audit and Compliance Expert

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Akeem is a Chartered Accountant with over ten years’ experience, about six of which was with a big 4 accounting firm both in Nigeria and Ireland. Experienced professional skilled in financial statement audit and grant management having worked in the private and the development aid sectors, currently a Senior Finance Expert with GFA Consulting Group in Nigeria, a Fiduciary Agent for The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

With a strong ability to integrate within multicultural teams, a genuine and proven record of leading Audit and Accounting initiatives which consistently results to good reports, Strong communication and interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, result oriented, self-motivated and willingness to learn new things. Exceptional analytical and leadership skills with proven ability to make decisions independently and Computer Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and accounting and audit software such as QuickBooks, GAMx and CaseWare

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

Excellent Verbal and Written Communication Skills

Strong Analytical, Leadership and Interpersonal Skills

Result oriented, self-motivated and willingness to learn new things

Proficient in Microsoft Office tools (i.e MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint)

Team player with business acumen

Good listener and fast learner

Audit, Internal Control & Compliance Review

Accounting and Financial Reporting

System documentation, review & assessment/evaluation

Financial Management and System strengthening

Grants Management

Risk Analysis and Management

Budget tracking and monitoring

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Senior Finance Expert March 2017- Till date

GFA Consulting Group (Nigeria/Lagos)

Responsible for all Financial Management Oversight, Compliance, Assurance Provision, Grant Management, Institutional and Staff Capacity building on finance and accounting and Risk Management. My selected significant accomplishments include:

Carry out audit procedures using inquiry, observation, examination of evidence to ascertain existence of internal controls

Conduct test of controls to validate the design and operating effectiveness of existing internal controls.

Development and documentation of helpful recommendations to mitigate identified control weaknesses

Perform walkthroughs of transactions to aid in the assessment of internal controls.

Develop a risk assessment tool to profile risks and develop mitigating strategies for the identified risks and responsible to support all external and internal Audits

Develop and maintain business relationships with client staff and third parties

Understand and document business processes based on information gathered from interviews and observations using analytical skills.

Conduct variance analysis between budget versus actual expenditures and provided detailed explanations.

Principal Financial Management Consultant Jan 2013 – Feb 2017

DAI International (Nigeria/Lagos)

(Formerly GRID Consulting Ltd)

As a technical lead on Finance, I drove the financial management system of about four donor funded projects and Provided oversight function and technical support to the Grants Managers and Accountants on each project and ensuring the quality of their reports and timely submission.

My selected key achievements include:

Designed and implemented sound financial management system for sub grantees

Provided technical, financial and accounting advisory services to the sub grantees

Conducted risk management (including assessment and evaluation) on sub grantees

Provided oversight function on compliance reviews and reporting to donors and stakeholders

Supervised the month end closures and ensure the checklists are executed

Provided oversight function and technical support to the Grants Managers and Accountants

coordinated the design and implementation of sound financial management system for sub grantees

Audit Senior May 2012 – Dec 2012

Ernst & Young (Nigeria/Lagos)

As an audit team lead, I was responsible for the overall audit engagement planning, execution and wrap-up, specifically, the following are my selected significant accomplishments

Oversaw the work of staff associates to ensure they perform the audit work according to plan

Responsible for ensuring the quality and risk management procedures are followed on all audit engagements undertaken

Reviewed client deliverable and working papers to ensure they comply with EY quality standard

Prepared audit reports and communicate audit observations and management points and recommendations to senior management

Planned and prepared time budget for review and audit engagements for review and approval by the Partner

I ensured timely archiving of audit engagement files and interfaced with clients with audit updates

Audit Senior Jan 2012 – April 2012

Ernst & Young (Ireland/Dublin)

As an audit team lead, I was responsible for the overall audit engagement planning, execution and wrap-up, specifically, the following are my selected significant accomplishments

Prepared financial statements including all the required notes and management letter and engagement letter

Verified fixed assets, reviewed & validated fixed assets movement schedule prepared by the clients

Understood and documented clients’ entity level controls as well as its financial statement level risks in order to determine appropriate audit approach and strategy as well as developing audit programs.

Provided updates to the engagement manager and supported in preparing management letter

Audit Senior/Staff Associate August 2007 – Dec 2011

Ernst & Young (Nigeria/Lagos)

As a member of an audit team, I participated in various financial statement audit, internal control reviews and due diligence assignments, the following are my selected significant accomplishments-

Developed audit objectives, scopes and programs to evaluate the effectiveness of internal controls of audit clients’ operations

Understanding clients’ accounting processes and identifying the controls embedded in the process, evaluating the design of such controls and testing the operating effectiveness of the controls using walkthroughs and internal control analysis

Audited various captions such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory, revenue and expenses

Identification of business risks, documenting business processes and conducting preliminary assessments before designing audit programmes

Review of risk areas and compliance to operating standards of clients

EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND CERTIFICATIONS

Associate, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (CA) 2006

Master’s in business administration (Finance) 2010

Obafemi Awolowo University

Ile Ife, Nigeria

B.Sc. Economics 2005

University of Lagos

Lagos Nigeria

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