Cecilia Leong
Verified Expert in Finance
Management Consulting Expert
California City, CA, United States
Toptal member since May 16, 2022
Cecilia has over 20 years of experience specializing in organizational change management, business process transformation, risk management, and internal audit. She possesses technical know-how coupled with strong interpersonal skills. Cecilia's proactive approach to analyzing business processes and organizational culture before applying the change management strategies makes her a valuable resource to any company wanting to achieve a successful change transformation.
Career Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Operational Excellence Director
Bunge Asia
- Led a team in the business process of re-engineering and transforming business units in Asia to enable process standardization, identification of internal control weaknesses, and duplication of work efforts for remediation.
- Led the organizational change management efforts in implementing the Asian financial and sales order processing shared service center, resulting in overall cost savings and improved efficiencies and controls.
- Developed the Asia-wide standard operating procedure manuals and training website for the trading and distribution division within the organization.
- Played the role of change management lead for the SAP ERP system, OpenText, enterprise content management, and mobile application for order processing system implementations across Asia.
- Achieved recognition as a subject-matter expert in the process, risks, and compliance, working with key users and system teams to resolve process issues, risks, and control deficiencies for Asia.
- Played the role of Asia's regional order-to-cash and procure-to-pay process owner.
- Oversaw the implementation and management of the sales contract centralization project for Asia. Managed the operations of Asia's contract management team for three years.
Management Consultant
RGP
- Conducted internal and SOX compliance audits independently for clients from various industries.
- Reviewed the client’s business processes to ensure control processes were in place and developed or updated financial policies and procedure manuals.
- Developed operational business policy and procedural manuals.
SOX Compliance Manager
Tyco
- Spearheaded the roll-out of the global SOX 404 program, including scoping, preparation of process narrative of key controls, development of test plans and methodology, working with the audit firm, and performing SOX testing.
- Worked closely with process owners to design and implement remediation plans and monitored for closure of identified gaps. Trained and supported stakeholders to ensure a thorough understanding of the SOX requirements.
- Played the primary liaison between finance, IT, process owners, and internal and external auditors to support day-to-day compliance activities.
Global Internal Auditor
Neptune Orient Lines
- Developed and maintained annual internal audit budgets and audit resource planning.
- Led global risk-based internal audits, developed an audit work program, and presented audit reports to department stakeholders or owners.
- Developed a standardized operational and financial risk assessment template to be used by the Internal audit team globally.
- Played the role of an internal control specialist in the finance, shared-service center implementation.
Risk Management Consultant
Deloitte
- Planned and executed financial and operational audits using a risk-based audit methodology.
- Conducted fraud investigative audits for clients across various industries.
- Developed an operational risk assessment template.
Internal Auditor
Singapore Turf Club
- Performed financial and operational audits for the company.
- Hired and spearheaded the establishment of an internal audit function.
- Managed a group of eight auditors when the internal audit manager was on long-term leave.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and Finance
University of New South Wales - Kensington, Australia
Graduate Diploma in Taxation
University of Sydney - Sydney, Australia
Certifications
Certified Information Security Auditor
CISA
Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)
Certified Internal Auditors
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Australia CPA
Skills
Finance
Internal Audits, Fraud Investigation, Accounting, Taxation
Other
Business Operations, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Process Mapping, Training & Training Content Development, Business Processes, SOX Compliance, Operational Risk Management, Shared Service Centers, Microsoft Development, SAP, OpenText, Internal Control Evaluation, Business Process Optimization, Change Management, Virtual Coaching, Internal Audit Function
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