Chief Financial Officer

Job Purpose

The purpose of this job is to lead the Finance, Accounts & Taxation, Planning, Budgeting & MIS, Corporate Secretarial & Audit functions of the organization, and provide strategic inputs to ABHFL business leveraging multi-dimensional perspectives. This role serves as an objective expert balancing the role of Strategic Business Partnering as well as Capital Stewardship through monitoring of Costs, Regulatory and Statutory compliance across the organization (including Company Law) and financial audits and reviews. It holds end accountability for overall tax compliance (direct and indirect). It is responsible for designing and establishing Financial Control mechanisms ensuring compliance in Financial accounting in line with prescribed standards, tax operations, payout operations and budgetary control. It also partners with Treasury Team on effective cash utilization, providing strategic inputs and liaising with the regulator on refinancing options

Job Context & Major Challenges

Job Context/Job Challenges:Organizational ContextThe Company is a part of Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL) - holding company for the financial services businesses of the Aditya Birla Group. The Company offers an omni-channel based D2C platform to acquire and serve customers. Through this platform, the Company will offer PIFA (Protecting, Investing, Financing, Advising) solutions across touchpoints (App, Website, Branch, Virtual Engagement). The newly incorporated company will be an intermediary to distribute insurance, mutual funds and lending solutions.Job Context

Key Aspects

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) leads and holds final accountability for the Finance, Accounts & Taxation, Planning & Budgeting, Corporate Secretarial & Audit functions of the organization. This includes strategic planning, budgeting & MIS, finalization of accounts, audits, taxation, statutory compliances & corporate governance management. The CFO also partners with Treasury for strategic management of fund flow, utilization and availability.The CFO is part of the leadership team of ABCDL, providing strategic direction to the Company and participating as a member of various internal committeesThis position plays a key role in business planning, growth and sustainability, through the institutionalization of process-driven measures around robust accounting and reporting, legal, financial and regulatory compliance (including AML Framework and Reporting), business planning, budgeting and MIS tracking, and financial control.Key ChallengesFormulating business plans that demand accurate forecasting, maintaining strong, timely MIS and analytics to highlight exceptionsAsserting adherence to risk/ compliance findings in business decisionsActive liaising with internal and external stakeholders like auditors, tax regulators, group companies etc. on corporate governance, company law, audit compliance, regulatory compliance, exception handling, etc.Partnering with Treasury to ensure timely availability of funds for business at the most optimum cost while managing fund flowStaying up to date on evolving taxation, financial-regulatory compliance, and accounting requirements and standardsConceptualizing, designing and setting up systems and processes for ensuring efficient and compliant accounting and reporting, and planning and budgeting

Enabling Skill Sets & Qualifications

Critical skill sets required to meet these challenges are strong tax & accounting knowledge, quick decision making, strategic vision to gauge business direction and build future financial projections, deep understanding of Company Law and regulatory compliances, strong analytical and presentation skills, evolved business and commercial acumen, strong industry networking, sharp focus on results, and excellent stakeholder and team management skillsEducation & experience required to fulfil this profile are a CA/ MBA – Finance with minimum 15 – 18 yrs of experience in Finance with exposure across sub-verticals, of which at least recent 8 - 10 yrs experience should be in a bank/ NBFC/ HFC

Key Result Areas

KRA (Accountabilities) (Max 1325 Characters)

Supporting Actions (Max 1325 Characters)

KRA1 Strategic Business Planning& Financial Forecasting Provide strategic inputs to the Management/ Board, gauging business direction and environmental factors to ensure short and long term business performance and sustainabilityLead the financial forecasting process & ensure alternate ways of revenue generation and cost optimizationFormulate financial plans in liaison with different functions considering factors like product availability, customer base expansion, market situation, competition, tax efficiency, etc.oInteract with internal and external stakeholders, monitor competitive trends and embed them in the business planning and strategy decisionsKRA10 Team Management Monitor the performance and development of top talent, working with HR for requisite career growth, development opportunities, rewards and recognition, etc.Identify succession paths for top performers to enhance business continuity and sustainabilityNominate teams for relevant technical and behavioral trainings/ seminars/ initiativesKRA2 Institutionalizing Robust & Transparent Financial Reporting for Analysis & Decision Making Institutionalize a strong MIS system for business performance monitoring, exception reporting and analytical decision makingEnsure systems and mechanisms to assess business progress vis-à-vis the budgets on a periodic basis, highlight deviations to leaders/ management and orchestrate course correctionMonitor the company management agenda and present the consolidated developments to the senior managementFacilitate business presentations to various stakeholders, board members and senior managementDrive timely preparation of periodic financial statements including balance sheet, profit/loss statements, and accumulative general ledger, ensuring accounting standards and Standard Operating Procedures are followedKRA3 Regulatory Compliance for Business Sustainability Institutionalize a strong process of monitoring fool- proof compliance with the regulatory requirementsDrive design and implementation of tools to create necessary framework for compliance that ensures closure of gaps identified within prescribed timelines on an ongoing basisSet up process for escalating non compliances and tracking the process for closing the irregularitiesEmpanel experts and consultants for ensuring quick addressal of pending issuesDrive a culture of Zero Tolerance with regards all regulatory procedures & requirementsSet up and institutionalize systems and processes to ensure that all loan borrowings & allocations are in line with statutory norms & regulationsEnsure statutory audits are completed as per schedule and all queries/ non-compliances are adequately addressedEnsure the establishment of a strong AML framework to discharge the statutory responsibility of detecting possible attempts at money laundering or financing of terrorism/ any other illegal activitiesStay proactively updated on all applicable regulatory requirements across business lines through industry forums and networking platformsKRA4 Building a Stringent Accounting & Audit Regime for Strong Compliance Ensure all tax assessments/ payments, filing of returns & statutory regulations under all acts like RBI, Companies Act, VAT, Income tax act & Service tax act are complied withLead the development of action plans based on internal & external audit recommendations and monitor progress on achievementsLiaise with tax regulators, accounting regulators and regulator for housing finance companiesKRA5 Ensuring Taxation Compliance & Optimization Ensure Direct and Indirect Tax compliances, with necessary coordination with consultants/ relevant stakeholders as required to support team memberDrive accurate and timely filing of tax returns, ensuring active liaising with relevant stakeholders to remove bottlenecks and improve awareness on tax liabilities/ requirementsProvide Board/ Management expert tax advice considering changing laws/ regulations and securing best interests of the companyDrive timely finalization of VAT and service tax payments and returnsKRA6 Financial Control through Cost Optimization Strategies & Monitoring-Control mechanisms Drive cost optimization strategies across functions, liaising with business leaders as requiredBuild and institutionalize internal controls and mechanisms to ensure adherence to budgets and plans, driving adoption and alignment across the organizationEnsure effective monitoring mechanisms are in place and adhered to at all timesKRA7 Company Secretarial Accountability Work with Company Secretary, ensuring all responsibilities pertaining to interpretation and implementation of Companies Act 2013, leveraging own understanding of Company Law and liaising with stakeholders as necessaryProvide inputs on and lead diverse activities towards ensuring compliance with corporate governance requirements during M&A/ change of entity scenariosKRA8 Partnership on Treasury Management Liaise with Treasury Team on effective cash utilization using diverse investment and sourcing streams, balancing growth and sustainability imperativesProvide strategic inputs on treasury in terms of the alternate sources of fundingLiaise with regulator on treasury support, refinancing, etc.Plan for effective ALM, maintain debt equity ratio, capital adequacy as per NHB guidelines and balance weighted average cost of capitalKRA9 Technology System Improvements Envision long term functional plans in the context of the larger business strategy and provide considered inputs on introducing/ upgrading information systemsApprove system improvement projects in consultation with CEO/ Board