Arnaud Soupa, CFA
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Toronto, ON, Canada
Toptal member since January 20, 2022
Arnaud is CFO consultant. After an international corporate career of 20+ years working at prominent players like Veolia and PwC, he ventured into the startup space as a co-founder and CEO. For the past seven years, he has been helping small and medium-sized businesses scale up, adopt more sophisticated practices, and tackle increasing complexity. Arnaud appreciates the opportunity to engage with various visionary, demanding, and talented stakeholders.
Career Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
- CFO
- CleanTech
- Corporate Finance
- Environment
- Financial Analysis
- Financial Modeling
- Part-time CFO
- Service
Work Experience
Part-time CFO | Corporate Finance Management Advisor
A.Soupa Consulting Inc.
- Provided financial and risk analysis to a First Nation economic development corporation. Analyzed investment opportunities in energy storage and the medical sector.
- Backed a startup in scaling up its SaaS space through improved processes, new commercial models, and strategic partnerships in Canada and the USA as a fractional CFO.
- Guided an American e-learning company in FP&A, compliance with US GAAP, and improvement of the finance function as an advisor.
- Assisted a not-for-profit in improving the FP&A function, including developing a forward-looking financial model.
- Supported a credit union's scenario analysis, including developing a bottom-up forward-looking financial model as an advisor in Canada.
- Acted as interim, part-time CFO supporting a global PE-owned food production company for its North American operations, focusing on budgeting, cash flow, profitability, tax modeling, and growth projects.
- Designed and led the implementation of a strategic plan for a Canadian environmental services space following an acquisition as fractional president.
- Supported a Canadian startup in securing equity and debt for its first commercial project in the cleantech space as fractional CFO.
- Built a financial model and conducted an impairment and onerous contract analysis as an advisor for a company in the automotive sector in Canada (IFRS and US GAAP).
- Provided advice during an M&A process in France as an advisor.
VP of Strategy and Business Development
Veolia - Veolia North America
- Served as a business development conduit to structure and submit offers and explore partnership opportunities across North America for the entire environmental services portfolio.
- Partnered with business development and operational teams to craft offers and submit bids and proposals backed by intense financial analysis, financial modeling, contract review, and risk analysis for 37 projects.
- Performed research and development of strategic growth plans to measure the impact of major strategic projects and growth initiatives.
- Steered risk review procedure development, tightening the process to submit project opportunities to management.
Chief Financial Officer
Veolia - Veolia Energy Canada
- Designated to the newly created position with a mandate to lead the development and execution of strategic plans and develop all back-office functions in finance, legal, HR, IT, and risk management.
- Scaled back-office infrastructure for growth. Aligned finance functions to group standards for transparency with accurate reporting and forecasting. Deployed group initiatives at the subsidiary level.
- Helmed a seven-year strategic plan for Canadian operations with varied business models and market opportunities.
- Supported business development efforts from a finance perspective, providing financial analysis, financial modeling, risk and mitigation, contractual analysis, and deal structure.
- Tasked to plan and lead divestment of a non-core and loss-making business unit deemed non-strategic.
Finance Director
Veolia - Veolia Energy UK
- Managed geographically disparate teams across the UK in charge of a portfolio of business units.
- Mandated to boost the profit and cash flow of a mature business unit.
- Ensured finance systems and processes were in place to cope with challenges as the company aggressively expanded in the retail facilities management sector.
- Led off-balance sheet arrangements like project financing, refinancing, and major commercial settlements.
Financial Controller
Veolia - Veolia Energy UK
- Focused on tracking and maximizing cash flow, EBITDA, and profitability, with active involvement in commercial matters and risk management.
- Implemented cash optimization measures like cost savings and working capital management.
- Supported the growth of the project's business development cycle.
Internal Audit and Risks Analyst
Veolia - Veolia Energy UK
- Spearheaded various internal audit assignments in compliance and performance.
- Led the 2006 Sarbanes-Oxley campaign to assess a new set of internal controls as part of a global group policy.
- Raised business awareness while managing the group insurance program.
Management Accountant
Veolia - Veolia Energy Headquarters
- Contributed to the central management accounting team, reporting to its director.
- Modeled, analyzed, and presented the group's strategic plan to the CFO.
- Monitored the headquarters' costs, working closely with the CFO while taking responsibility for management accounts.
Senior Consultant in Management Accounting
PwC
- Defined and implemented processes and procedures across a variety of clients in the public sector, telecommunication, and more.
- Implemented a management accounting system with activity-based costing.
- Developed and delivered training programs to accelerate the adoption of new procedures and systems.
Branch Financial Controller
Geoservices
- Implemented financial processes, procedures, and management accounts.
- Focused on the collection of receivables, bringing the accounts receivable's age profile back to normal.
- Carried out various assignments for several Mediterranean and Middle-East branches to implement best practices.
Intern – Corporate Banking Analyst, Banque de Gestion Privee
Groupe Credit Agricole
- Delivered financial and risk analysis on working capital, LBO arrangements, and more.
- Processed day-to-day transactions for corporate clients.
- Monitored profitability of corporate banking activities.
Education
Bachelor and Master's Degree in Finance
Grenoble School of Management - Grenoble, France
Bachelor and Master's Degree in Public Services
Institute of Political Studies - Grenoble, France
Certifications
Advanced Financial Modeler
Financial Modeling Institute
FI Accelerator Program for Startups
Founder Institute
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA institute
Skills
Finance
CFO, Financial Modeling, Budgeting, Forecasting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Revenue & Expense Projections, Three-statement Modeling, Cash Flow Modeling, Internal Financial Reporting, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), P&L Forecasting, Corporate Finance, Operational Finance, Project Finance, Business Advisory, Working Capital Management, Cash Flow, Management Accounting, Cash Management, Angel/Seed Funding, Seed Fundraising, Controller, Accounting, Startup Funding, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Internal Audits, Fundraising
Industry Expertise
Renewable Energy, Energy, Early-stage Startups, Technology, Education Technology (Edtech), Oil & Gas
Output Software
Microsoft Excel
Data & Analysis Software
Intuit QuickBooks, Xero Accounting
Other
Financial Analysis, Business Planning, Virtual CFO, Part-time CFO, Fractional CFO, Strategic Planning, Reporting, Controllership, Cash Flow Analysis, Infrastructure, Economic Analysis, Financials, Cash Flow Management, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Variance Reporting, Consolidated Reporting, Monthly Close Process, Analysis, Contract Review, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Dashboards, Business Analysis, Writing & Editing, Presentations, Startup Consulting, Renewables, SaaS, Corporate Governance, CleanTech, Strategic Partnerships, Management, Service-level Agreements (SLA), Financing, Business Models, Startups, Sales Growth, Environment, Service, Interim CFO, Information Technology, Enterprise SaaS, Subscriptions, Cost Accounting, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cap Tables, Education, Entrepreneurship, Business Development, PPP Projects, Xero, Internal Control, Risk Management, Policies & Procedures Compliance, Manufacturing, Edtech Design, Operations, Inventory Management, eCommerce, US GAAP, Energy Storage, Audits
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring