The Drinks CFO is dedicated to growing drinks industry SMEs from a brand, commercial and operational perspective, as well as making sure your back end is set up correctly to support your business growth. I work on a part time basis, providing support as and when required.If you think I can add value to your business, contact me (steven.lister@thedrinkscfo.com) for a no obligation consultation.

Operations, financial accounting, treasury, management reporting, internal control, budgeting, planning, performance measurement, IT and legal. Achievements- Designed required team structure, recruited and developed team members.- Completed review of finance fundamentals – revenue recognition, reconciliations, controls, data quality, balance sheet cleansing, chart of accounts, tax compliance review across jurisdictions, Australian entity setup.- Led the DD process for the sale of Seedlip and Æcorn to ensure the businesses were ready to successfully complete the process and as a springboard for future growth focusing on financials, tax and business case.- Led first zero based full budgeting cycle and developed full suite of internal reporting outputs and monthly meeting schedule to have visibility and insight into the company’s performance.- ERP (SAP B1) implementation in 4 months within budget including product and vendor selection, preplanning, configuration, testing and go-live. - Integral to development of several NPD initiatives.- Oversight of operations transformation - changing bottlers, label compliance, costs savings, forecast/S&OP processes, MRP review, KPI development.

Financial accounting, treasury, management reporting, internal control, budgeting, planning, performance measurement, IT and legal.Achievements- Development of transformation vision for the finance function including organisational design, new reporting, resourcing requirements and IT priorities. - Centralisation of planning and reporting activities through the introduction of a commercial finance function with renewed focus on value added activities.- Development of Group IT function including IT roadmap – ERP strategy, infrastructure, CRM, data-warehouse, planning tool.- Initiation of in house legal function and development of plan for legal audit and risk management.- Sourcing funding for Irish whisky distillery build and working capital through debt and equity.- Evaluation of various acquisition opportunities – DD, funding, business case.- Lead tax structuring project.

Feeling refreshed, fit and healthy after spending time in the bike saddle not the office chair! Seeing the world, volunteering (Princes Trust, Disaster Aid International and Besom) and living life on a mid life career break.

Ultimate responsibility for all aspects of financial accounting, treasury, management reporting, internal control, budgeting, planning, performance measurement, IT and Internal Audit.PROJECT WORK1. Developed and implemented an IT transformation roadmap including:- Design the appropriate structure and recruitment of the team- Established infrastructure – backup links, disaster recovery, etc- Project sponsor of the companies ERP reimplementation (JDE) and roll out of manufacturing module/MRP to 20 factories- Design and implementation of tools to support Sales reporting, Demand planning, Budgeting and reporting (Hyperion planning), Governance Risk and Control, Pricing, Stock movement through barcode scanning, Data leak prevention- Security awareness and IT policy development2. Risk and assurance roadmap to manage risk and the improve internal control environment including:- Recruit team and develop hybrid resourcing model- Business continuity planning- Fraud risk awareness campaign (best practice award winner)- Compliance monitoring- Whistle-blower policy development and roll out- Business risk heat map identification- Authority matrix establishment- Segregation of duties review- Internal audit plan- Establishment of a risk and assurance committee3 Complete review of all reporting to improve the quality and relevance of analysis and bring clarity to key drivers of financial performance of the organisation.

Ultimate responsibility for all aspects of financial accounting, treasury, management reporting, internal control, budgeting, planning, performance measurement, legal, corporate services and internal audit.PROJECT WORK• Integration of businesses of PRNZ into the acquired Allied Domecq (AD) business including closing down the Australian AD distribution entity and the PRNZ entity, setup reporting and business practices including first year budget preparation and restructuring finance team• Participation in successful negotiation with commerce commission enquiry into divestiture of Sparkling wine brands.• Review of acquisition of vineyard development company.• ERP/Business intelligence implementation (JD Edwards).• Conversion of finance lease to operating lease ($NZD50M saving in net profit). • SOX implementation.• Participation in development of a $160M proposal to move winery, bottling and warehousing operations to a Greenfield site.• Involved in strategic resource planning review to determine long term grape supply requirements.• Lead major tax driven projects: Unwind of mandatory convertible note, corporate restructuring, tax efficient permanent financing solution.• Integration of the Absolut brand into the portfolio.• Divestiture of the Framingham wine company.

Ultimate responsibility for all aspects of financial accounting, treasury, management reporting, internal control, budgeting, planning, performance measurement, legal, corporate services and IT in Czech and Slovak Republics.PROJECT WORK• Coordinated EU integration within the company, focusing on VAT, systems and pricing issues.• Oversight of the company’s implementation of a stock traceability system.• Improved discounts and allowances reporting and implemented P&L by customer.• Reviewed Czech corporate structure and proposed reorganisation.• Implementation of IAS/IFRS and change of year-end.• Review and improvement of company policies and procedures.• Implementation of data warehouse to improve efficiency and quality of information delivery.• Improved the efficiency of the finance department including a reduction in headcounts through addressing deficiencies in processes, systems and skills.• Evaluate streamlining bottling operations, fully outsource logistics and relocate production plant.• Acted as transition director to coordinate the acquisition of Allied Domecq.

Reporting to the Managing Director, the role involved financial and administrative management of the Affiliates and Representative Offices in the region (Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia) as well as ensuring efficient and effective functioning of operations within the whole organization. A large part of the role was to focus on the integration of the acquired Seagram brands into the Pernod Ricard portfolio within our existing businesses and establishment of distribution activities in regions not previously covered by the group.RESPONSIBILITIES• Ultimate responsibility for all aspects of financial accounting, treasury, management reporting, internal control, budgeting, planning, performance measurement, legal and IT.• Human resource coordinator.• Supply chain establishment and improvement.PROJECT WORK – Seagram Integration• Selection of distributors, determination of appropriate performance criteria, putting in place contracts and establishing transfer prices. Termination of old distributor contracts.• Establishment of representative offices in Bulgaria and Croatia.• Development of all internal policies and procedures and management reporting.• Oversight of the close down of a redundant Seagram entity in Hungary.

Ultimate responsibility for all aspects of financial accounting, treasury, management reporting, internal control, budgeting, planning and performance measurement.PROJECT WORK• Performance of financial due diligence on potential acquisition targets.• Establishment of a centralised forecasting function.• Facilitation of the company’s e-commerce review.• Design and implementation of sophisticated business intelligence tool (Essbase).• Review of monthly management accounts.• Oversight of the successful transition to a post Goods and Services Tax (VAT) environment.

Activity based costing, volume forecasting, gross margin analysis, transfer pricing, quarterly stock valuation and reconciliation, vintage intake planning, evaluation of investment proposals.Project work• Discovery and investigation of $A770K fraud.• Activity based costing implementation.• Establishment of key performance indicators within the balanced scorecard framework.• Development of product and customer profitability.• Implementation of Shareholder Value Analysis by product category.• Development and implementation of various production related reporting tools.

Contract role to assist in the implementation of a process activity based standard costing system and completion of comprehensive financial and production budgets

Contract management accounting role including supporting the budgeting processand ad-hoc analysis.

Internal and external audit planning and fieldwork