Syed Ahsan Raza

Boohoo Group PLC Finance Manager (June 2021 – Present)   Boohoo group plc is a leading online fashion group, which sells clothing, shoes, accessories and beauty products to over 100 countries. It is home to a portfolio of fashion brands, including Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Karen Millen, Nasty Gal, Miss Pap, Coast, Oasis, Warehouse Burton & Wallis. My key responsibilities include:   ·       Business partnering with the Head of Operations and Group Logistics Director as well as support the wider Supply Chain Finance and Operational teams. ·       Produce and manage c.£40m budget, report and track productivities against budget and challenge operations teams on KPI performance. ·       Lead daily and weekly operations finance meeting with senior members of operations team, detailing prior week’s performance as well highlighting key points to drive operational improvement. ·       Produce and manage quarterly forecasting process, working with central teams to understand risks and opportunities within plans. ·       Responsible for the month end process. Producing and presenting monthly supply chain board pack for the senior leadership team with variance analysis and commentary. ·       Work with resource planning team to ensure optimal levels of resource are maintained across Operations. ·       Provide support to the Head of Finance – Group Projects on major Supply Chain projects. ·       Responsible for 2 direct reports, supporting them with their work to achieve accuracy and meet deadlines and provide help with their personal development.     Ted Baker Senior Financial Analyst (October 2020 – May 2021)   Ted Baker is a global luxury lifestyle brand, operating through owned                             stores, outlets, concessions and online. My key responsibilities include:   ·       Supporting the business with producing financial reporting each period and ensuring financial controls are operating effectively. ·       Business partnering with the retail team and collaborating closely with the commercial finance team to deliver budget & forecast and ensure the identification of risks and opportunities and supporting the business to make effective decisions. ·       Producing and presenting periodic group finance board pack with commentary, highlighting trends & forecast possibilities. ·       Completion of all balance sheet reconciliations, ensuring that they carry no risk and are fully reconciled on a periodic basis in a timely manner. ·       Ownership of bank reconciliations, to make sure all payments are allocated accordingly and reconciled. ·       Assisting with local statutory accounts, audit queries and liaising with auditors to ensure complete compliance. ·       Responsible for concession partners debtor accounts, to make sure all debtor payments are collected, allocated accordingly and reconciled. ·       Coaching and mentoring junior analysts across finance, reviewing their work and supporting them with deliverable.   IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) Commercial Financial Analyst (June 2018 – September 2020)   IHG is one of the leading hospitality companies and is a constituent of FTSE 100 Index. It has nearly 6000 hotels across 100 countries and owns several brands, including InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton, Voco and Six Senses. My key responsibilities include:   ·       Providing day to day financial management and analytics support to the Business Partners. Supporting Brands & Marketing and Commercial & Technology functions at regional and global level, including budgeting and forecasting. ·       Producing and presenting monthly packs to leadership team, including KPIs and P&L reporting. ·       Supporting the business operations and commercial teams with financial information to evaluate business cases for both new business initiatives and key changes. ·       Delivering timely and accurate accounting for month-end close. ·       Reporting variances by doing Budget vs Actuals analysis and providing with commentary. ·       Providing forecast and analysis on capital & operating expenditure, overheads including headcount and completing SOX requirements for audit. ·       Coaching and mentoring junior analysts and counterparts in India, reviewing their work and supporting them with deliverable. Overseeing new employee onboarding and systems training. ·       Identifying process improvement opportunities and support the delivery of improvements in processes, systems and procedures, I am also part of superusers team for planning tool. Gap INC Financial Reporting Analyst (May 2016 – May 2018)   Gap Inc. is a leading global retailer with a collection of brands including Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta. My key responsibilities include:   ·       Responsible for Europe’s Distribution Centre and network level reporting of data and performance metrics used by a wide variety of Business Partners critical to evaluate service, cost, and people performance results. ·       Producing and presenting weekly risks and opportunities pack to senior management, including Budget vs Actuals analysis and providing with commentary. Challenging operational managers to improve performance by utilising resources in an effective way. ·       Responsible for timely month-end close including providing Kronos special hours & payroll to support month end close reconciliation. ·       Compiling Essbase repository weekly to support divisional reporting roll-ups to include in dashboard. ·       Assisting in consolidating and analysing yearly budgets and quarterly forecasts by considering company’s goals and financial standing. ·       Supervising Accounts Assistants, supporting them with their day-to-day tasks and reviewing their work. Training them on systems and Microsoft Office.   Gap INC European Accountant (September 2014 – April 2016)   ·       Producing and presenting weekly trading report analysing business performance across territories. Identifying key trends and communicating recommendations to stakeholders. ·       Monitoring and analysing KPIs by working with store operations management. ·       Balance sheet reconciliations of various legal entities and departments. ·       Completing SOX testing and answering queries of both internal and external auditors. ·       Supporting tax team by carrying out tax analysis for all European legal entities. ·       VAT returns for Italy and Irish stores. ·       Responsible for preparing journals and delivering month-end, doing re-classes including intercompany postings. ·       Responsible for general ledger for it to be ready for month end. ·       Calculating the monthly turnover figures for UK and French stores and providing the landlords with annual turnover certificates by working closely with external auditors.   New Accountancy & Financial Services Firm Purchase Ledger Clerk – (October 2013 – May 2014)   ·       Responsible for processing payments in and out of the business. ·       Analysing all expenditure for the business and liaising with managers to discuss how to reduce costs. ·       Forecasting expenditure for the business. ·       Processing orders and invoices efficiently. ·       Doing reconciliations to make sure daily figures are balanced.