Manager Financial

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A qualified finance professional with extensive experience in managerial positions with professional services organizations, primarily within the consulting, engineering, project management & construction supervision industries. Employers include Louis Berger, WorleyParsons, Parsons and Fluor. “Big 4” public accounting background (E&Y). Highly adaptable with strong cultural sensitivity gained from international assignment locations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and North and South America. Governance experience with listed multinationals, standalone JVs and private entities. Strong I.T. credentials, systems implementation and business/acquisition integration experience.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonhemming

EXPERIENCE

2015–2016

Chief Financial Officer– International

Louis Berger International, Paris, France and London, England

Louis Berger is a leading engineering, consulting and construction services company headquartered in New Jersey, USA and employing over 6000 staff with total annual revenues of over $900 million. The organization is currently reorganizing into two main global divisions: Louis Berger US and Louis Berger International, the latter is currently relocating their headquarters from Paris, France to Richmond, England, employing 2500+ staff worldwide in over 60 territories.

Strategic partner to the President – International, the position of Chief Financial Officer – International oversees a team of over 80 finance professionals.

Introduced one common financial operating structure organized into six reporting units: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and The Middle East plus the International Design Centre in Spain. Previously regional finance operations were reporting individually to the USA.

Participating in entity restructuring activities to bring the International operating companies under a common parent company ownership and consolidation structure.

Relocating the International HQ Finance operations from Paris, France to London, England.

Member of a strategic team outsourcing significant portions of the finance, HR and IT activities to a 3rd party provider to bring control and consistency to the worldwide operations.

Supports International’s commercial activities and participates in proposal and bid reviews.

Ultimate responsibility for International’s local statutory and tax compliances, management reporting, financial planning and analysis, project accounting, payroll and treasury functions.

Key liaison with internal audit function reviewing results of site visits and internal controls testing.

2012–2015

Location Financial Officer– North America West (USA and Canada 2014-2015)

USA Location (2013-2014), USA Western Operations (2012-2013)

WorleyParsons, Greater Los Angeles Area, California, USA

Finance department responsibilities over offices in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Florida in the USA employing over 2200 staff, and offices in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada employing over 800 staff. Combined annual revenues of up to USD 1 billion.

Oversaw 5 North American divisional and geographical restructures in less than 3 years

Strategic partner to the Location Manager supporting the region’s commercial activities.

Overall project accounting responsibility for all projects and joint ventures including compliance with revenue and profit recognition, contingency and reserve policies.

Ensured timely and accurate billings and collections, managing treasury risks of the location.

Participate in Bid/No Bid decisions and pricing reviews of complex projects and opportunities.

Responsible for delivering consistent, accurate and timely management information to all key stakeholders for decision-making purposes including forecasting and budgeting activities.

Recruitment, retention, coaching and training of up to 45 finance professionals in the region.

2011–2012

Regional Financial Officer – Latin America (LAM)

WorleyParsons, Santiago, Chile

WorleyParsons’ LAM Region comprises offices in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru & Mexico plus entities in Venezuela employing 1800 staff and revenues of USD 0.5 billion.

Established new Latin America regional head office in Santiago, Chile and transitioned financial responsibilities for Latin America from former Americas regional office in Houston, Texas.

Integration of Latin American acquisitions to the corporate timetable and reporting standards.

Participant in due diligence of additional equity purchase elevating Chile from a JV to a subsidiary.

Introduced standard financial reporting at the location level including Hyperion HFM and Planning, management reporting, plus introduction of Oracle Financials to Brazil operations.

Stabilised and improved quality of and trust in financial reporting for all Latin American locations.

2007–2011

Chief Financial Officer

WorleyParsons JV. Lagos, Nigeria

WorleyParsons JV has operations in Nigeria, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, employing up to 700 staff with annual revenues of up to USD 150 million. Finance team of 25.

Successfully implemented the AccPac/Sage accounting system in 2007/2008.

Stabilised and accelerated monthly reporting and established confidence in the financial results.

Improved cash flow forecasting which highlighted a $12mm shortfall in cash availability in 2007.

Successfully lobbied for injection of capital funding via parent company loans and bank overdraft facilities, which were subsequently repaid by 2010.

Prepared cash flow, IRR and NPV forecasting for the construction of a $20m 11-story office tower in Lagos for the Company’s regional headquarters. Construction commenced in 2010.

Enhancements throughout the Finance policies and procedures raised the WP Internal Audit rating from unsatisfactory to satisfactory within first year in the region.

Brought 3 years of overdue external audits and Nigerian statutory and tax filings up to date.

2005–2007

Acting Chief Financial Officer

DAL Group. Khartoum, Sudan

DAL Group is a large private group of companies operating in the food & beverage, vehicle dealership, engineering and construction sectors. International brands include licensed bottler and distributor for Coca-Cola, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi and Caterpillar Equipment.

Engaged as deputy to the CFO. Took over the full duties of the CFO position in an acting capacity for over a year following the departure of the existing CFO.

Primarily charged with bringing various autonomous businesses with the same ownership into a corporate reporting structure, with the ultimate aim of an IPO and stock exchange flotation.

Promoted common ERP systems among the group companies.

Establishment and rollout of common accounting policies and procedures for the group.

Transition of banking relationships from an entity to a group level with corporate facility limits.

2004–2005

Assistant Vice President for Finance, Treasury and Procurement

Manulife Financial Services. Tokyo, Japan

Manulife are one of the leading insurance and financial investment companies in North America. Their Japanese operations employed over 600 staff.

Delivered the first post-acquisition costing study of the Japanese operations. This document established the cost base of the entire operation to enable products to be priced accurately.

Oversaw the procurement function and drove savings initiatives through vendor renegotiations.

Translated the financial reporting between Japanese, Canadian and USA GAAP.

2001–2004

Vice President – Business Planning and Finance South Asia Middle East & Africa

MasterCard International Limited. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

MasterCard are one of the leading global providers of payment solutions. At the time of employment the company was privately owned by the major banks and progressing towards an IPO.

Relocated the regional finance function from mainland Europe to the Middle East. Recruited a new regional finance team from scratch.

Oversaw the first geographical re-alignment in MasterCard’s history when South Asia was transferred from Asia Pacific to merge with Middle East & Africa. Conducted a major pricing review to bring the disparate pricing policies of the two geographies into one pricing structure for the new region and successfully obtained board of directors’ approval to adopt the new pricing.

Presented financial content at all regional board meetings. Board members were appointed from the owning banks within the region.

Oversaw the calculation and approval of discount deals in return for volume and card commitments with our major banking customers.

1998–2001

Business/Finance Manager – Middle East and Far East Regions

Parsons International Limited. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Parsons International Limited was an international umbrella company responsible for the Infrastructure and Energy & Chemicals sectors (the latter now WorleyParsons) of Parsons Corp.

Actively involved in the day to day running of the business as part of regional management.

Reviewed all proposals, contracts and subcontracts.

Department Manager for Finance and IT including responsibility for payroll, treasury and control over 12 regional bank accounts, accounts payable, billing, receivables and collection, client claims negotiations, project controls, financial statements and tax filing, MIS, budgeting and forecasting, policies and procedures, internal and external audit liaison and all regional books of account.

Successful regional implementation of the corporate ERP system.

Oversaw outsourcing of information technology services for the region.

1989–1998

1997–1998

1993–1996

1989–1993

Fluor Corporation

Camberley, UK (Head of Financial Systems – Y2K mitigation projects)

Haarlem, The Netherlands (Financial Planning & Analysis Manager EMEA Region)

Johannesburg, South Africa (Seconded to HR + Finance Co-ordinator)

1984-1989

Ernst & Young. Johannesburg, South Africa

Public Accounting & External Auditor

VOLUNTEER BOARD AND GOVERNANCE EXPERIENCE

2008–2011

Treasurer and Board Officer, Board of Directors

American International School of Lagos, Nigeria

Elected to a 3 year term and further appointed as Board Treasurer and Officer.

Oversaw an annual operating budget of USD 15 million and additional funding oversight of USD 50 million capital expansion project to build a new school campus in Lekki – Eastern Lagos suburb.

Chaired the Finance Sub-Committee and participated in the Curriculum, HR, and Funding and Nominating committees of the Board.

EDUCATION, REGISTRATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Bachelor of Accountancy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1989.

Postgraduate diploma in Datametrics, University of South Africa, 1994. Obtained with distinction.

Equivalent to a BSc majoring in information systems, database design and computer programming.

Full licensed membership of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, 1991.

Active member of the Financial Executives Networking Group (The FENG)

SPECIFIC TECHNICAL EXPERTISE/SPECIALIST COURSES

Trained in Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Financial Management and advanced MS Excel including pivot tables, graphing, Smart View and Essbase.

Attended various courses on Microsoft Office products and object oriented programming languages including Microsoft Access, Visual Basic and other PL/SQL Oracle courses.

Ongoing training in US GAAP, Sarbanes Oxley, IFRS & International Accounting Standards.

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