Charles Lees Email & Phone Number

Mornington, Victoria, Au

Melbourne, Victoria, Au

PEAK DMC is a division within Intrepid Travel of destination management companies (DMC’s) with 25 overseas entities operating across 85 countries. The DMC’s create and deliver the amazing travel experiences Intrepid is known for as well doing so in a profitable and compliant manner across multiple jurisdictions. With a pre-COVID-19 turnover of over AUD$180m in 2019 it was the fastest growing division within Intrepid.Key Responsibilities- Divisional Chief Operating Officer COO with responsibility for delivering all KPI’s for the division including sales and profit goals as well as operational targets- Direct reports included 5 Global Managers of Finance, Sales, Operations, Contracting and Systems who led these areas for the DMC’s, with another 15 indirect reports. This cross-functional global team provided directing and mentoring of the offshore office staff of 450 office and 1000 tour leaders- Developing, refining and ensuring delivery of the 2020 strategy for the division and worked closely on developing Intrepid 2025 strategy with Intrepid CEO and Founder- Key member of Intrepid Global Leadership Team and on boards of 5 overseas entities

Melbourne, Victoria, Au

Key Responsibilities- Reporting, analysis, planning and governance of the DMC’s to help drive and deliver performance.- Being a key member of the DMC Global leadership team and developing strategy for the division.- Directing and mentoring a global finance team of 70 across 17 offshore offices.- Ensuring compliance with local statutory and group requirements and resolving the complex issues that arise in areas such as taxation, risk management, systems and reporting. - Proactively identify key areas of risk, improve internal controls and oversee the development of viable solutions- Optimising financial flows/taxation treatment for improved commercial outcomes

Melbourne, Victoria, Au

- Ownership of budgeting, forecasting and cashflow management for group reporting to Chief Financial Officer (CFO)- Preparation of management and statutory accounts for UK entities within the group- Negotiating financial aspects of key supplier contracts

London, Gb

Responsible for all the financial management as FD/Chief Financial Officer/CFO of the business and reporting directly to the Owner/Founder. Ensuring that the business achieved its commercial objectives whilst applying best practice across all financial/commercial functions.Key AchievementsImplementation of an integrated accounting and job based costing system – PaprikaImproving profitability across all key clients by improved reporting mechanismsAchieving significant overhead savings of over 25% across the agencyManaging cashflows efficiently during the GFC so that no redundancies or additional financing were requiredEngendering a strong sense of commercial responsibility and accountability throughout the agency

Gb

Preparation of the annual budget with Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and department heads to obtain relevant information and prudently reviewing and challenging all inputs/assumptions provided.Producing management accounts and product costing models for forthcoming DVD releases. Ensuring the Counterpoint royalties systems was fully operational and integrated with the SAP accounting system in order to report balances and accruals correctly at each month end.

Preparation of complex financial models in order to correctly calculate stock and return provisions.Developing and refining a group reporting model for over 30 subsidiary companies across the group working closely with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).Reviewing various balance sheet accounts, correcting past mistakes including a VAT error of over £500k and implanting new policies and procedures to ensure future accuracy.Working closely with a project team of 5 to ensure the group could be audited successfully.

Undertaking analysis of all balance sheet accounts including investigating irregularities and improving procedures.Completing monthly management accounts and forecasting for all 10 live music venues.

London, Gb

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer/CFO/Group FD with responsibility for the month end accounts, monitoring cashflows and supervising 5 staff to ensure the smooth running of the accounts department within a leading London communications agency.

London, England, Gb

Responsible the monthly and year end accounts using SAP software for the UK news department and newsgathering operations worldwide and preparation of their annual budgets.Reporting to Head of Finance - NewsLiaising with other departments to ensure internal charges are fully understood and accurate.

Sydney, New South Wales, Au

Ferrier Hodgson is the most widely recognised and respected provider of Restructure and Turnaround, Financial Due Diligence and Insolvency Management services in the Asia-Pacific region.My roles on turnaround projects included: - Investigating all areas of the businesses to ascertain whether cost savings and improvements were possible.- Monitoring trading operations and preparing cash flow and other reports for the secured lender.- Developing various financial models, showing the outcomes of different scenarios.- Performing sensitivity analysis on models by changing the underlying assumptions behind them.

Ca, Accounting

B Com, Commerce