Please meet our team
JOSEPH
Founder of Exfina (full-time)
EDUCATION
- 1983-1986 Economic High School, College St-Michel, Fribourg
- 1989-1993 Certified Specialist for Finance and Accounting, SEC Fribourg
- 1993-1996 Chartered Expert in Financial and Managerial Accounting and Reporting – Fribourg
- 1986 Diploma High School of Commerce, Fribourg
- 1991 Certificate Windows user, NCR Lausanne
- 1991 Certificate Apprenticeship Teacher, Morat
- 1993 Swiss Certified Specialist for Finance & Accounting, Fribourg
- 1995 Management courses Gustav Kaeser, Fribourg
- 1996 Chartered Expert in Financial and Managerial Accounting & Reporting (Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education)
- 1999 SAP R3 FI/CO courses, Lausanne
- 2002-2004 Anti-money Laundering courses, Lausanne
- 2018 PhD/Doctorate level [recognition as per ISCED8], [EU approval N° 2241/2004/CE®]
- Finance management – Operational level
- International accounting standards implementation (IFRS, US-GAAP)
- Controlling: strategic and operational analysis
- Cash management and balance scorecard
- Cost accounting implementation (Standards, ABC – Activity Based Costing)
- Merger & Acquisition (M&A), consolidation, value based management, EVA
- Tax optimisation
- Reengineering
- HR management
- Vice-president of Financial Corporate, Commune
- President of the Swiss Certified Expert Chamber (www.swisco.ch)
- Expert/lecturer for Swiss certified expert in finance & controlling exams
- Teacher to Western Switzerland Fiduciary Institute – Member of the Foundation Council (www.iref.ch)
- Member of the National Federal Board for fiduciary exams
- Accounting software (SAP, Navision, Net Suite, ABACUS, TOPMAN, CLIME, CRESUS)
- Proficiency use of MS-Office® software (Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook)
- French – Mother Tongue
- Italian – Second mother tongue, good spoken knowledge, professional use
- English – Fluent, professional use since 1994
- German – Good spoken and written knowledge, professional use
- Spanish – Spoken knowledge
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
August 2004 – until now: Own Financial Consulting Company (www.exfina.com)
- Fiduciary services
- Company administration
- Balance scorecard implementation
- International consolidation tool design
- Business intelligence implementation, DCF
- Cost accounting module design (SAP)
- Company creation and evaluation, EVA, value based management
- Tax optimization
- Due diligence execution for company acquisition (16 achieved during last 5 years)
- Support client for periodic close and financial analysis
June 2002-July 2004: CFO – Member of the board of directors – AML Officer (anti-money laundering)
- Member of the board of Directors
- Finance department reorganization
- Relationship with family offices and private investors, regular abroad trips
- Support to the Managing Director and deep involvement in strategic decisions
- Company Secretary (for offshore jurisdictions)
- Ensure that the Anti-money laundering law is clearly applied, acting as financial intermediary
- Direct relationship with banks, insurances and brokers
- Financial tools management to ensure clients import/export
- Direct involvement into private funds facilities
- Tax optimization at Swiss and international level
- Development of reporting customized tools for clients
April 2000 – March 2002: Head of Finance & Controlling
“Award for Best Service Provider during 2000, Strasbourg”
- Finance department
- Reorganization of department tasks and process
- Individual redefinition of responsibilities
- Time frame reduction for periodic reporting (under UK & Swiss GAAP)
- Set-up control procedures for group requests
- Increase accuracy and efficiency
- Cost center implementation analysis in the IT system
- Reduction of DSO by 20%
- Organisational tasks
- Purchase order implementation
- Cost control procedure
- Self-cost absorption control
- Redefinition of employee calculation
- Discussion with clients
- Move to calendar month
- Pan European travel in Head Offices
- Commercial tasks
- Negotiation of volume rebates and payment conditions
- Overdue cash collection
- Partnership optimisation
- Legal & fiscal tasks
- Tax optimisation
- Set-up of loan agreement with abroad companies
- Lead special contracts with European major companies
- Comments and explanations during Board of Directors meetings
- Involvement in management meetings
- Operation implications
- Vendor coaching
- Reengineering process
- Proposition to the group for joint venture
- Discussion with Group Management about Pan-European reorganization
- Reorganization of the Head Office
- Redefinition of priorities and main task of each department
- Purchase order procedure. Cost control implementation
- Reduction of spending by 30%
- Increase in communication and efficiency
March 1996 – December 1999: Europe Finance Controller – Financial Analyst
- Month-end and annual reporting
- Build up of a new reporting package. This process has been reduced from 1 week to 2 days including technical consolidation (P&L at subs level with comparison of performance versus Prior Year, Budget and variance explanations)
- Consolidation by business area, by products with P&L and Balance sheet comparison
- Management of monthly consolidation’s entries and tax calculation (US GAAP)
- Year-end close
- Balance sheet review
- Risks and opportunities appraisals
- Audit package preparatio
- Tax disclosures and calculation
- Consolidated financial statements together with statutory auditors’ report
- Performance measurement by country and by subsidiaries
- Budget
- Design of an integrated procedure, from the sales to the expenses, with currency exposures and
cash flow statement (Define forwards agreement to cover our short currencies) - P&L by subsidiaries, consolidated financial statements, transfer prices policy and margin analysis
- Design of an integrated procedure, from the sales to the expenses, with currency exposures and
- Inventory exposures
- Design of separate database software (Access) to calculate every month our inventory reserve, purchase price variance capitalisation, foreign exchange impact, duplicate reserve and inventory composition with separate line of business (SLOB). This database is maintained for internal purposes (purchasing and distribution) and can provide quick and accurate analysis (GR/IR, slow movers statistics, etc.)
- Periodic closure
- Self organized process design, with chronological job achievements
- Balance Sheet and P&L analysis
- Cash flow statements, fixed assets analysis, currency exposure, margin analysis
- Provide divisional P&L statements
- US-Gaap / Swiss book annual closure and variances management
- Sales statistics discussions/coaching
- Investigations with local controllers
- Responsible of the follow up of our facility plant in Aosta (Italy)
- Quarterly and monthly discussion with local management and local fiscal advisor
- Taxes optimisation in regard of Italian law
- Transfer price analysis, etc
- Tax calculation
- Responsibility of the consolidated and Swiss annual income tax returns. With deferred tax calculation. The aim is to pay the little amount of income tax in each country by using all the tax laws opportunities
- Discussion with tax authorities when necessary
- Other tasks
- Many others punctual missions (company acquisitions, business appraisals, marketing, logistic or
distribution requests) – due diligence - Improve the quality contact with all our internal customers
- Procedure improvements
- Audit of our subsidiaries in Europe, etc
- Many others punctual missions (company acquisitions, business appraisals, marketing, logistic or
Swiss Certified Expert for Account and Controlling with Federal Diploma
September 1994 to 1996: Manager of Finance & Control
- Variance explanation versus budget (AROE, BROE)
- Constantly search for ways to simplify and improve processes
- Margin analysis, monthly & annual closure (Swiss book, US GAAP)
- Controlling, organisation improvement, US Gaap – Swiss Gaap adjustments
- Annual income tax returns fillings
- Audit pack – direct responsibility
- Activity based costing analysis, variance explanation
- Provide analysis required by Marketing department or Management Team
- Review and improve significant communications with other departments (Distribution, Marketing, R&D and Production)
- Team management with year-end performance discussion (bonus)
From October 1995: Member of Management Team – Director of Finance
- Financial projections based on assumptions developed by the management team
- Direct and oversee the execution of the detailed financial planning process
- Direct financial reporting, controlling and accounting functions (Lead and ensure that these functions are delivering the vital information to effectively manage the business and meet regulatory requirements)
- Manage relationships and financial expectations of Managing Team from US headquarters
- Special projects required by local management
- Final audit reports discussion
- Cash flow statements
- Direct and oversee the execution of detailed financial planning process
August 1991-August 1994: Chief Accountant
- Reorganisation of accounting dept. (acquisition of 8 new companies in CH)
- Merge of these new companies
- Closure and consolidation (monthly, quarterly, annual basis)
- Audit pack preparation
- Holding and Pension Fund accounting
- Implementation of a new IT system (Oracle)
- Monthly finance analysis for Sales Manager, business area
March 1989 – July 1991: Administration manager
- Accounting of special consortium (150 Mio turnover)
- Implementation of a new IT system
- Organisation development (branch with headquarters)
- Business partner contact improvement (bank, insurance, competitors)
- Salary dept. manager with same contacts as above mentioned
Beginning of Charted accountant classes
October 1986 – February 1989: Payroll Manager
- Manager of payroll department for business area Fribourg and Vaud (450 employees)
- All tasks and relationship related to this function (bank, insurance, syndicate, Cantonal tax departments)
GUILLAUME
Guillaume, general-ledger specialist (full-time),specialized accountant diploma (Edupool.ch)
- General-ledger specialist (Swiss and international clients), proficiency user of CRESUS software (accounting, payroll and invoicing).
- Coaching on-site.
- Periodic reporting design as per client requests and specifications.
- Assistance during closing.
- Audit and statutory processes, French and German skills.
CÉLINE
Specialized employee/partner (Part-time employee <20%)
- Specialized employee/partner, in charge of special tax files, closing and reporting full responsibility.
- “AGM” participation.
- Controlling and assisting during fiscal/statutory.
- Closing processes, French and English skills
ISABELLE
Specialized employee/partner (Part-time employee <20%)
- General ledger specialist, proficiency use of payroll, and invoicing « CRESUS » software.
- Periodic reporting design as per client requests and specifications.
- Assistance during an audit.
- Closing processes, French and German skills.
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