Gary Van Der Linden Email & Phone Number

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

The main focus of this role is developing and improving various financial models to establish insights for the next budget cycle, including scenario planning. The aim of this is to ensure a high level of accuracy and validity of data to allow for meaningful presentation of financial information to the CFO, CEO and other stakeholders.A key deliverable is the development of "whole of project" forecast models (finance performance, financial position and cash flows) for submission to Queensland government's financial reporting system.

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

My responsibilities in this role focused on the preparation and delivery of the FY2023 annual budget. This included scenario modeling, liaising with senior management and preparing presentations to stakeholders.

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

This is a secondment position filling a temporary vacancy in the Business Performance team in the Family and Disability Services (FaDS) business unit. My key responsibilities are managing a team of 4 Business Performance Analysts (BPA's) supporting the General Managers in the delivery of our services throughout Queensland, ensuring that the month-end close process runs smoothly from the business unit point of view, regularly liaising with UnitingCare Queensland (UCQ) support and finance functions, coordinating and managing cyclical planning processes, and providing accurate and timely financial information for reporting and decision making purposes to the FaDS senior leadership team and the UCQ Executive Leadership Team.In this position, I have gained valuable insight into the operations of the business and understand many of the challenges facing the Business Performance team. With this knowledge I expanded the Power BI model I had previously created by adding specific reports targeting key performance indicators enabling the BPA's to focus their attention on these key indicators. The impact has been that the BPA's can now better support the General Managers and service delivery teams and improve the quality of the services our clients receive.

Brisbane, Australia

Partnering with the Business Performance team in the Family and Disability Services (FaDS) business unit, providing financial information, tools, analysis and insights to help make more informed decisions. Other responsibilities include consolidating reporting from the business unit to the UntingCare Queensland (UCQ) Executive Leadership Team (ELT).In this position, I designed and implemented a Power BI data model to improve and increase the accessibility of financial information available to the FaDS Business Performance team. Using the capabilities of the Power BI platform, financial information was easier to access and interrogate, improving the quality of reporting to the FaDS senior leadership team as well as the UCQ ELT.

Johannesburg, South Africa

My responsibilities for NBL were to be the accounting technical support to the category commercial managers (tea, coffee, creamer), assist the category commercial managers with the daily management and review of their categories and month end closing. This included capital project evaluations using EVA and NPV methodologies, new product feasibility scenarios and month end closing journals. I was tasked to manage daily service delivery matters and the relationship with Finance Shared Services (FSS) for Entyce and RBC. For RBC, my responsibilities included all aspects of financial management and reporting to the internal management team as well as the holding company (AVI). I was heavily involved in the audit process and prepared the accounting pack for inclusion in the consolidated annual financial statements. I managed RBC’s daily cash flow prepared weekly 8-week cash flow forecasts. I reviewed accounts payable reconciliations prior to payments being released.One of the highlights while working with RBC was that I recovered a R1.4m VAT over payment from the revenue authorities.My responsibilities shifted towards the reporting aspects of the business, where I was responsible for the preparation and submission of deliverables for Entyce and RBC. I was able to use my advanced Excel skills to improve many aspects of the reporting framework. I created opportunities to deliver meaningful and concise information to the management team efficiently and effectively. I started using the Power Pivot add-in in Excel to assist with preparation of reporting deliverables. I created my own BI data warehouse from SAP, Cognos and other sources. This enabled me to extract the relevant data for any report quickly and easily, cross referenced to multiple sources. I was considered to be the go-to guy for any Excel related matters.The Entyce and Snackworks business units where restructured, where I played a pivotal role in determining the most appropriate cost centre hierarchy.

Johannesburg, South Africa

After completing my articles at Deloitte, I joined Samsung Electronics as a bookkeeper. In this role, I was required to process daily EFT payments, cashbook journals, manage petty cash and cash flow and prepare bank reconciliations for the month end process. After six months, I was promoted to the position of Cost Accountant. This role required me to review costs from warehouse and distribution suppliers, prepare reconciliations to the accounts payable ledger and prepare payment advices on a fortnightly basis. I monitored product costs for abnormal variances and processing adjustments, if required. I managed fixed assets from end to end – capturing invoices, processing additions and disposal in the fixed asset register and calculating and applying depreciation. I completed and submitted various statutory returns, including Value Added Tax (VAT).I lead a team of 3 - the bookkeeper, local accounts payable clerk and international accounts payable clerk.I was the go-to guy for technical accounting issues related to the application of new IFRS standards.

Johanessburg, South Africa

I started my career at the Johannesburg office of Deloitte as a trainee accountant. I gained experience in planning, executing and finalising audits for listed and unlisted entities. I supervised and mentored junior staff and performed extensive quality control of their work before submitting it to the audit managers and partners for final review and signoff. I prepared accounting packs and annual financial statements from these packs and trial balances, including consolidated annual financial statements. I learnt how to liaise with senior client staff in a professional manner to resolve audit issues, as well as managing strict deadlines with audit managers and partners to ensure timely and proper management of audits while still adhering to professional quality standards and statutory, governance and compliance regulations.One of the highlights of my time at Deloitte was that my advanced Excel skills were identified and in my third year of articles I was asked to present an Excel skills and tips course with particular focus on its application to audits to new trainees.

Bachelor Of Commerce (Honours)

Bachelor Of Com