Grant Sutton Email & Phone Number

Australia

Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Australia

Gold Coast, Australia

Brisbane, Australia

Sydney, Australia

Key responsibilities• Commercial partner of the Chief Executive and Operating Officers by providing insight and accurate financial information for better decision making in a constantly changing environment• Manage a reporting team of Finance Managers that produce financials and manage rolling monthly and quarterly forecasts across 10 entities under the Mediabrands umbrella• As a reporting group we collaboratively manage over a billion dollars of billings and maintain a healthy profit margin, adhering to company Standard Policies & procedures and ensuring our environment meets control standards• The CEOs of each business are highly dependent on my team for accurate and timely financial information with which they can make key decisions, as well as providing counsel and financial acumen when required• Effective Working Capital management in conjunction with the local and global Treasury teamsKey Achievements• Over 13 months in 2015 and 2016 I successfully migrated all businesses from two finance systems into one SAP system, this was no mean feat given the complexities of each business and dependencies on their legacy systems. Beyond the implementation stage, there required continuous support to all aspects of the business given the change in environment within which each employee now operated• In conjunction with the change in operating system, I oversaw the implementation of a Shared Service Centre and ensured their service levels met the expectations of our business• I am a member of the People’s Board of Mediabrands, working as a conduit between the employees and Board of Directors. I was selected by fellow peers in the business and have worked closely with other People’s Board members in implementing key policies• Improved relationships between finance and the rest of business by introducing business partnering/collaboration strategies and methods• Maintain excellent retention of staff across my immediate finance team

Sydney, Australia

Key responsibilities• Financial Controller across three locations (Sydney, Melbourne and Perth) with revenue exceeding $40m• Responsible for the integrity and accuracy of the financial reporting across the businesses with the finance function housed in Sydney Head Office• Management of the Financial Accountant and worked with the Operational Financial Controller who managed the AR, AP & Media Reconciling teams• Identified synergies and process improvements across the Finance team• Liaised with business MDs in order to present accurate and growth challenging forecasts• Maintained financial best practice and control across the company operations, including US & AU GAAP and SOX Compliance• Pre-empted control issues before they arose• Provided leadership, guidance and knowledge to the finance team• Key point of contact for local and international auditors, both internal and external, as well as the Regional Controller Team• Oversaw the preparation of annual statutory accounts for AUGAAP purposes• Reviewed and approved monthly payroll• Approved supplier invoices and subsequent bank paymentsKey Achievements• Expanded my FC role beyond its standard form and at the same time further up skilled the Financial Accountant so that she was better equipped to perform her role• Worked with the MD in the Perth office to reorganise the staffing structure and grow the revenue base to meet 25% YOY growth requirements• During my time at Initiative I managed to reduce the $20m debt of one client by 50% and implemented a payment plan in order to reduce debt beyond 90 days

Sydney, Australia

Key responsibilities• Financial Controller across two locations (Sydney and Perth)• Ultimate responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the financial reporting, providing monthly, quarterly and annual management accounts• Management of six finance members and provide smooth day to day running of the finance department• Identifying and offering learning opportunities for staff in order to meet their performance and development needs• Managing stakeholder interests by setting and controlling multiple budget submissions to ensure targets are met / exceeded• Driving financial best practice across the company operations• Proactively identifying and resolving any potential issues before they arise• Provide leadership and guidance to the stakeholders on finance issues• Key point of contact for local and international auditors, as well as regional and global CFO’s• Oversee the preparation of annual statutory accounts• Development and creation of generic charge out rate cards, client specific rate cards, client profitability reporting and staff utilization reports• Reviewing monthly payroll, including communicating salary changes as and when required, ensuring these are reflected in the rolling forecast for control purposes• Preparation of the monthly Board finance pack and attended Management meetings each monthKey Achievements• Implemented profitability reports both locally and for the global network, working alongside the London based team• Created rate card templates to cover all clients• Oversaw the network’s internal audit and remediated the issues that were identified by implementing new processes and correcting/amending the existing methods• Maintained a very low staff turnover rate within the finance department• Successfully stood in as company CFO for 3 months in 2014 and 5 months in 2015 while the position was vacant, trained up the new CFO and continued to be active in the day to day role, offering advice and assistance when required

Sydney, Australia

• Following the acquisition of a local Australian entity I carried out due diligence of the business and cleaned up historical accounts, investigated questionable pre acquisition accounting (forensic accounting) and saw through the adjusting entries• Transitioned the reporting function from non-existing into required global standard meaning the business was producing timely, accurate, reputable numbers• Implemented changes across the finance department to streamline processes by either automating or simplifying methods and adequately training staff• Ensured Standard Policies & Procedures (SP&Ps) pushed down by the global network were being followed and brought the agency up to complete SOX compliance and installed a better control environment• Reviewed and improved the management reporting function for the Sydney and Perth offices, identified synergies and promoted collaboration between the offices

London

London

Key Achievements• Set up a Global Rate Card with selected agencies across Europe and north and south America, and had sole responsibility of creating the rate card for the London agency with revenue of approx £30 million• Assisted with the SAP implementation across the London offices• Automated many processes throughout the finance departments to streamline the reporting and meet deadlines

London

Durban, South Africa

Chartered Institute Of Management Accountants (Cima), Accounting And Business/Management

Bachelor Of Commerce (Bcom), Business/Commerce, General

Human Resources Diploma, Human Resources Management And Services