Stuart How Email & Phone Number

I am managing the commercial environment for multinational client contracts generating an annual revenue of over £6m per annum. Supporting the client service leads in planning challenging but realistic revenue forecasts, I regularly monitor the revenue position and work to mitigate adverse variances or recognise opportunities to increase revenue as well as supporting the preparation of well-resourced retainer and project fees. I have also created regular reporting such as monthly commercial metrics for the entire profit centre, reporting profitability (using direct labour contribution) and recovery; along with the FD and Managing Director, I present these results to the client leads. I have created client-specific templates for more regular reporting and more granular reporting aimed at mid/high-level client services for WIP management, fee estimates and recovery (planned SOW vs actual time).

The Systems Accountant role evolved organically as more and more of my time was invested in systems-related tasks and as a front-line responder for our user issues; through my system knowledge, I’d also developed strong personal relationships with other teams such as our SAP helpdesk, HQ Group, other close intercompany offices, and Internal Control. I developed various Excel templates the agency used for month-end reporting as well as for internal Management and Operational reporting. Month-end reporting templates were created with reference to, and in compliance with, the company’s SP&Ps, strengthening my understanding of internal controls. My SAP analysis skills are often sought by senior finance to help them understand the origin of certain postings or balances on GL accounts and to explain the underlying processes. Major deliverables:• I review data tables (client rat cards, employee grades, etc.) and perform cleansing and maintenance).• Development and maintenance of Recovery report (scoped time vs. actual time).• Development and maintenance of Direct Labour/Contribution Margin report.• Creation and streamlining of various month-end balance sheet reports (WIP, Debtors, Vendor POs, and Advanced Billing Netting). • Built a third-party spend analysis template for McCann Worldgroup UK Group companies to identify insourcing opportunities and performed the initial analysis compiling a very large volume of data items.• Development of self-serve WIP and Recovery dashboards.• Part of the development team for a regional job completion dashboard.

Promoted to the Client Finance Manager, I led the team of Budget Controllers for the whole agency reporting to the FD and FC, and managing billing relating to the revenue of around £25-£30m per annum. I managed the monthly and quarterly internal month-end reporting for WIP and debtors, driving the investigation and resolution of aged items as well as approval of quarterly production reconciliations.Performing a Business Partnering role, I worked with client leads to prepare realistic revenue forecasts, monitoring these for variances and updating management. While ensuring revenue was recognised in line with US GAAP and SOX, I maintained proper records to support internal audit checks.In 2012, the Group rolled out the SAP ECC 6.0 template for which I was a senior stakeholder contributor, involved in business requirement documentation, data mapping, process alignment, system configuration, data cleansing, validation of data loads and end-user training.

Continuing in a supervisory role, I took on the additional reporting of WIP and debtor provisions for month-end closing, as well as providing ad-hoc reports and analysis for the FC, CFO and operational business leads.I began managing all client credit limits with IPG Treasury, ensuring we had sufficient levels of credit in place.

After demonstrating a thorough understanding and competence in my initial role at McCann, I took on the supervision and mentoring of two to three Billing & Receivables Coordinators. Due to a proven aptitude for SAP and Excel, the Finance Manager often called upon me to produce ad-hoc reports and analyses. I was able to argue for improvements in processes, such as approval control over the structure of the client master data hierarchy to enable better reporting. In 2002, the full-suite SAP 4.7 template was implemented; I joined a project team on the client side communicating over several months with the in-house SAP configuration team and SAP consultants. I played an active role as a subject matter expert during the ‘as is’ documentation, reviewing the ‘to be’ phase for gap analysis and determining system and business practice changes. Finally, I performed user acceptance testing for the final client sign-off and identified proposed system changes and enhancements. Post implementation, as an SAO super-user, I trained other finance staff as well as agency operational staff.

I successfully handled the Production WIP management, Media Billing and Credit Control for an assigned client portfolio.My introduction to SAP, FI module only, and the beginning of my informal role as the ‘systems go-to’.

Cima Acma Cgma, Accounting And Business/Management

Cima Certificate

Bsc (Honours) Computing And Systems Practice, It / Systems Practice