Steve Abell Email & Phone Number

Warrington, England, United Kingdom

Supporting the Executive during a period of strategy redesign and organisational restructuring:• Led the budget and forecast processes for 2019/2020, as well as a root and branch reforecast on joining the business, overhauling a model which was unfit for purpose. Wrote various papers to the Audit & Risk Committee outlining our approach to improve control and risk mitigation. Created a model to capture cost-benefit analysis for major strategic restructuring and reorganisation activities… Show more Supporting the Executive during a period of strategy redesign and organisational restructuring:• Led the budget and forecast processes for 2019/2020, as well as a root and branch reforecast on joining the business, overhauling a model which was unfit for purpose. Wrote various papers to the Audit & Risk Committee outlining our approach to improve control and risk mitigation. Created a model to capture cost-benefit analysis for major strategic restructuring and reorganisation activities through into the new budget year.• Identified the key commercial terms of a major supplier contract, enabling these to be invoked in order to reduce costs by an annualised £0.1m, and analysing the potential financial impact of pursuing a strategy of termination and replacement.• Overhauled the company’s Business Case/Project Planning template, creating a more robust and transparent model by adding detailed user guidelines, enhancing the relevance of financial analyses, and ensuring closer linkage to accompanying narrative submissions.• Redesigned Sage reporting structures and hierarchies to ensure that budgetary accountability was more clearly defined, monitored and approved at all levels. Created company-wide training materials and videos for a new purchase ordering system. Show less

Manchester, United Kingdom

Providing support for, and challenge to, a range of potential funding opportunities, ensuring that all financial terms and risks of bid/tender guidelines and draft legal agreements were evaluated prior to contract approval:• Provided key support to a complex contract negotiation in Iraq. • Created a flowchart to identify, evaluate and address potential tax and treasury issues, for use in all contract negotiations across the organisation.

Manchester, United Kingdom

Providing consultancy to a number of clients including:• A European clothing brand for a trial launch into UK, giving guidance on pricing and 5 year planning to secure internal investment for a multi-country rollout.• Developing the digital marketing strategy for an online education business.• Producing financial projections and graphs to illustrate property rental and pricing options for a business coaching consultancy.• Business planning and financial projections to support… Show more Providing consultancy to a number of clients including:• A European clothing brand for a trial launch into UK, giving guidance on pricing and 5 year planning to secure internal investment for a multi-country rollout.• Developing the digital marketing strategy for an online education business.• Producing financial projections and graphs to illustrate property rental and pricing options for a business coaching consultancy.• Business planning and financial projections to support investment funding bids for a corporate wellness business. Show less

Manchester, United Kingdom

• Led the North region’s voice and input in driving forward a national project to implement Agresso finance and management information systems. Challenged the basis on which new MI structures had been built, and secured high level changes to both the underlying approach and timelines.• Reorganised regional management structures, to ensure visibility and accountabilityof budgets in line with the Trust’s new finance model.• Trained staff at all levels, from general managers and… Show more • Led the North region’s voice and input in driving forward a national project to implement Agresso finance and management information systems. Challenged the basis on which new MI structures had been built, and secured high level changes to both the underlying approach and timelines.• Reorganised regional management structures, to ensure visibility and accountabilityof budgets in line with the Trust’s new finance model.• Trained staff at all levels, from general managers and retail/catering managers to surveyors and gardeners, in the use of a newly rolled out budgeting tool. Made key recommendations for process and content improvements, and was elevated to a role as regional super-user.• Overhauled the region’s primary weekly retail and catering analysis report by documenting robust processes and challenging the calculation of key KPIs. Reduced the high level of issues and queries raised by report users to virtually zero. Show less

Macclesfield

• Produced recommendations for a European-wide customer price quotation tool, improving the quality of product and process cost data & highlighting the need to move pricing from a pure cost-plus to a market-driven basis. These recommendations helped minimise the number of loss-making quotes and improve profitability across the portfolio.• Produced a report to the Board analysing major capital expenditure projects, identifying common issues such as the need for a standard tool to chart… Show more • Produced recommendations for a European-wide customer price quotation tool, improving the quality of product and process cost data & highlighting the need to move pricing from a pure cost-plus to a market-driven basis. These recommendations helped minimise the number of loss-making quotes and improve profitability across the portfolio.• Produced a report to the Board analysing major capital expenditure projects, identifying common issues such as the need for a standard tool to chart critical paths and milestones, as well as a consistent approach to translating sales probabilities into robust financial forecasts. Conclusions and recommendations were presented to the Group’s Senior International Management Conference.• Created Excel-based planning models covering a full range of corporate strategic objectives and providing guidance & training for factory managers. Demonstrated financial expertise and commercial acumen to gain the confidence of an historically mistrustful operational management team.• Overhauled the monthly Hyperion Finance Report, enhancing the quality and relevance of narrative commentary and graphical trends. Took a lead in coaching and developing the UK shared finance team by explaining the importance of customer mix to inform margin and DSO trends, ensuring that the team could roll out the improved methodology to other Divisions. • Wrote a post-investment appraisal in respect of the purchase of a production site in France, highlighting contract terms which were subsequently invoked to both increase sales and recover costs.• Represented the Division on a group-wide project to roll-out standard costing. Provided recommendations regarding allocations, absorption methods and links to product and contract pricing, which were endorsed and implemented by the project team. Show less

Cheadle

• Provided financial guidance to the company's Russian Licensee, which was facing its first experience of economic recession. Withstood initial local resistance to continue emphasising the importance of cashflow, and ultimately gained buy-in to recommendations on discounting product through Umbro branded retail stores without compromising long-term sales and profitability. Credited by Licensee management with ensuring their business continued as a going concern.• Instrumental in negotiating… Show more • Provided financial guidance to the company's Russian Licensee, which was facing its first experience of economic recession. Withstood initial local resistance to continue emphasising the importance of cashflow, and ultimately gained buy-in to recommendations on discounting product through Umbro branded retail stores without compromising long-term sales and profitability. Credited by Licensee management with ensuring their business continued as a going concern.• Instrumental in negotiating a new contract with the same Russian Licensee. Constructed a business case to convince Licensee management of, and gained CFO approval for, the key dynamics which underpinned a non-standard approach to royalties, against a backdrop of limited trading and operating transparency. • Developed a pan-European contingency planning framework, to mitigate against potential Licensee failure. Applied key steps in negotiations with the Liquidator of the former Hungarian Licensee, ensuring that stock was not released onto the parallel import market.• Created third party cashflow forecasting models, and worked together with Licensee management teams in developing commercial plans to ensure local business continuity and secure Umbro’s royalty income streams. • Built models to assess the commercial viability of new products and propose pricing structures across the distribution chain.• Created a process for dealing with withholding tax receipts on royalty invoices, which had previously been dealt with inconsistently and had the potential to contravene tax legislation. Show less

Manchester, United Kingdom

Head of Department and a member of the Operational Management Team, line-managing a team of three: • Overhauled the international payroll process by interfacing multiple processes and introducing control checks between Sage, Excel and bank software, and engaging the Assistant Accountant in the process of documenting, critically assessing and recommending improvements to existing procedures. Also commissioned a third party specialist review to ensure compliance with tax and pensions… Show more Head of Department and a member of the Operational Management Team, line-managing a team of three: • Overhauled the international payroll process by interfacing multiple processes and introducing control checks between Sage, Excel and bank software, and engaging the Assistant Accountant in the process of documenting, critically assessing and recommending improvements to existing procedures. Also commissioned a third party specialist review to ensure compliance with tax and pensions legislation.• Providing advice and support in relation to programme and project reports for a wide range of institutional and governmental donors.• Responsible for key cashflow management. Successfully challenged the charity’s banking suppliers to have surcharges waived on a non-functioning fast-track funds transfer process.• Recruited two HQ finance managers as direct line reports, and led telephone interviews for overseas finance positions. Show less

Street, Somerset

• Improved profit margins in the German market by producing a plan of action for the phased termination of business to customers with sub-optimal product offerings, poor brand image and higher product returns. In mitigation of the loss of short-term critical mass, developed a parallel medium-term action plan for growing key accounts.• By analysing and benchmarking competitor/partner performance, influenced the decision regarding significant funding for a Japanese distribution partner… Show more • Improved profit margins in the German market by producing a plan of action for the phased termination of business to customers with sub-optimal product offerings, poor brand image and higher product returns. In mitigation of the loss of short-term critical mass, developed a parallel medium-term action plan for growing key accounts.• By analysing and benchmarking competitor/partner performance, influenced the decision regarding significant funding for a Japanese distribution partner, obtaining approval for this and other key conclusions from the International Director.• Provided analysis on Clarks branded retail store investments, challenging assumptions on store location and size, SKU profiles, trade margins and lease costs. Used this knowledge to influence a major decision on the grade of shopfit to be used by a key Spanish customer.• Produced analyses of competitor performance, identifying the main differences in business operating models and thereby presenting key recommendations for product sourcing and the creation/purchase of intellectual property rights.• Created and maintained a monthly financial analysis pack for a major European business partner, reporting data for formal review against a number of contractual targets.• Improved the control and analysis of regionally budgeted marketing activities, enabling more informative tracking of accruals and enabling identification of commitments by bringing forward the point of authorisation to the order stage. Show less

Knutsford

Reporting to the MD of a £100m turnover division and line-managing a team of two staff: • Negotiated a pan-European dental glove distributor contract, consolidating the previous structure of disparate partners across countries into a single distributor by setting price and rebate structures to encourage growth whilst mitigating against short-term parallel importing issues.• Worked closely with the central marketing team to develop and evaluate strategy, analysing NPD, new technologies… Show more Reporting to the MD of a £100m turnover division and line-managing a team of two staff: • Negotiated a pan-European dental glove distributor contract, consolidating the previous structure of disparate partners across countries into a single distributor by setting price and rebate structures to encourage growth whilst mitigating against short-term parallel importing issues.• Worked closely with the central marketing team to develop and evaluate strategy, analysing NPD, new technologies and potential acquisition targets.• Presented the health economics of synthetic gloves to potential institutional buyers, by highlighting the impact of increased re-use rates and the lower incidence of infection.• Encouraged consumer-brand focused subsidiary Country Managers to understand and extend their focus to an unfamiliar medical business, which represented a small proportion of their overall turnover, by illustrating the benefits of leveraging a profitable business and simultaneously spreading their operational risk. Show less

Bsc, Economics And Accounting

Diploma, German Studies