My work experience is mainly finance related and with a strong international component.

I have worked in the industrial Group Teka, manufacturer of kitchen appliances, in several positions. I started as accountant assistant in the Controlling Department and I ended up as Director of the Internal Audit department of the Group. Each job gave me different knowledge and made me face multiple challenges

My first years in Teka were devoted to the accounting consolidation of the financial statements of the Group. A vast amount of information needed to be filtered, checked and the relevant intercompany adjustments posted in order to obtain the final figures. Part of my “baptism of fire” was a one year stage in one of the factories of the Group in Granada where, due to the implementation of a new ERP, a lot of work of bookkeeping and reconciliations needed to be done to keep the accounts updated and clear. It was a formidable experience in which I learnt a lot.

I also spent a couple of years in the Accounts Department of the parent company in Santander as Credit Controller of our export customers. Great advance was made in the recovery of the debt and, even better, we set up a control system for the approval of the production and delivery orders, which considerably reduced the number or incidences.  By using the different means at our disposal (letter of credit, insurance, analysis of previous history of payments) we managed to implement a flexible commercial system while also ensuring the payments.

The year 2000, I was lucky enough to be “in the right place at the right time”. I was given the chance to become the Finance Manager of Teka UK and I spent there four wonderful years. I contributed to a turnaround of the situation, going from heavy losses to three consecutive years of profits. Sales increased and we looked at the gross margin of each article to make sure a safe profitability was achieved. Overheads were under control and we improved our cash flow with a good reduction of our working capital, which allowed us to pay our suppliers on time. Great effort was done so that our Logistics and Service were up to the high level demanded by our customers. I managed the stock control process personally and it was fascinating to deal with all the logisitic and transport issues with several European factories and carriers. A detailed and meticulous monthly planning of the orders, along with an efficient use of the ERP, helped us to have a smooth process of import which sustained the commercial progress.

I was highly impressed by the attitude to work of my English colleagues. They always want to progress professionally and they have a very positive and open minded disposition to new challenges, which I have since then tried to imitate.

Back in Spain, I was fully involved in the operations of the Group worldwide as International Controller. On a monthly basis, I reviewed the Profit and Loss Accounts and Balance Sheets of our commercial subsidiaries. I implemented a reporting system which gave us detailed information of stock and sales by individual reference in each country. I travelled to different countries to support their initial stages when a new company was opened, making sure the financial reporting was accurate and in line with the Group and International accounting rules (IFRS).

I also started a monthly follow up of individual objectives of the working capital, with special emphasis in the stock rotation and debt recovery.

You can work with order from the headquarters and monitor a lot of information, but sometimes it is necessary to visit the companies in situ in order to check the information and performance with higher detail. I visited more than 20 foreign subsidiaries. It was nice work with colleagues of so different backgrounds and keep learning the business peculiarities of each country. Depending of the issues to be dealt with, the trips could last some days, weeks or months. Sometimes  I had to implement procedures to guarantee the right management of stock or of the credit risk insurance, or to make sure the physical stock was matching our system figures. In other occasions it was more an accounting matter with a deep analysis of the figures or of certain overheads. It was a very diverse job with gave me a good insight of the different challenges that many companies face.

In 2013 the Group decided to create a new department of Internal Audit and I was given the chance to lead it. This implied different missions of high responsibility. During one month I went to one of our European companies to lead the winding up of the company. Along with visits to commercial subsidiaries in Europe and Asia I did two deep reports on the financial situation of two of our European factories. One of these reports was specially challenging for its implications, which originated a complete change in the management of the company. It was what we could call «a very interesting experience». When speaking about that to the local auditor he told me: “indeed, this would make a good reading for a novel”. Well, maybe in the future …

In the last years I have set up my own business as independent  Consultant.  I like to give an impartial opinion on how to improve results in an efficient and smooth way. I believe that problems should be foreseen and avoided, rather than resolved; and the goals of each department should be both realistic and ambitious. A view from the outside can improve plenty of things if given the opportunity!