Graeme Geoffrey Macdonald
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Toptal member since April 10, 2020
Graeme is a chartered accountant with extensive experience in middle-market, high-growth private equity, and direct lending. While working with boutique investors, Graeme led transactions across Africa, Australia, the United States, and Europe, spanning the financial services, retail, manufacturing, and insurance sectors. As a freelancer, he leverages his experience to assist and advise management teams in achieving their goals.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Valuation Assessment
Capital Structure Optimization Model
Valuation Model
Expertise
- Deep Learning
- Due Diligence
- Financial Forecasting
- Financial Modeling
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- Private Credit
- Private Equity
- Python
Work Experience
Finance Manager and Deal Support
Greenpoint Capital
- Modeled investment scenarios to assess the transactions for suitability and subsequent preparation of investment memorandums for multiple debt lead transactions with a value of up to $15 million.
- Implemented formal investment valuation policies for three investment funds, incorporating IFRS 9.
- Created complex fund models for three debt-lead investment funds. Incorporated equity options linked to debt, preference shares, live share prices, complex tax, detailed investor reporting, live forecasting, and complex fee calculations.
- Prepared investment memorandums for presentation to the investment committee, seeking approval for transactions of up to $15 million.
- Designed and implemented a tax-efficient internal group structure. Approved the structuring of investments for tax efficiency.
- Created and maintained detailed rolling forecasts for multiple linked investment funds and group companies to enable the efficient management of the group. These forecasts were fully linked, allowing for rapid scenario analysis across the group.
- Designed and implemented a hybrid debt-equity fund in a rapid time frame. This fund incorporated a live share price allowing for capital gains to investors, leading to a highly complex yet robust model, allowing the fund's management.
- Prepared financial records in the form of a "closed" 3-statement operating model and a board report highlighting relevant areas on a monthly basis for three funds and two group companies.
Finance and Operations Manager
Imazi (Mauritius) Limited
- Worked alongside the board of directors, reporting directly to the director. My responsibilities included investment identification, valuation, negotiations, due diligence, and obtaining investment committee approval.
- Performed due diligence for targets in the United Kingdom, Zambia, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa, with responsibilities that included managing financial, tax, and legal diligence workstreams, as well as third-party diligence advisors.
- Performed detailed forecasting for potential acquisitions, most notably on a group-company competitor and three large insurers in Ghana, Zambia, and Mozambique.
- Performed valuations on target companies using various pricing methods, including earnings multiples, discounted cash flows, and comparable transactions. Was responsible for the investment committee's approval of investments.
- Participated in negotiations alongside the CEO and communicated the financial viewpoint with the stakeholders of potential acquisition prospects.
- Established the finance function for the Imazi group, responsible for managing foreign and local subsidiaries, joint ventures, forex accounting, associates, and cell captive arrangements.
- Prepared monthly management reporting packs, including financial statements, budgets, and commentary surrounding the group activities for monthly board presentations.
- Managed relations with investors and investees, the majority being corporate executives.
- Reviewed and drove reporting between subsidiary companies, insurance cell captives, and reinsurers.
- Managed and grew Imazi's relationship with international A-rated reinsurance providers, which required a measured approach while maintaining a transparent data flow.
Senior Consultant
CrossCountry Consulting
- Served as a senior consultant based in Washington DC at CrossCountry Consulting, which was involved in the provision of assurance services for a big four accounting firm in the United States that serviced NYSE and NASDAQ listed entities.
- Managed audit engagements for subsidiaries of companies listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ with minimal or no partner oversight.
- Reviewed and commented on trainee work to ensure the quality of the audit and provide on-the-job training to the trainees wherever possible.
- Assessed and reviewed compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley in multiple companies.
- Evaluated the accounting treatment of clients to ensure compliance with US GAAP, as well as for the correct conversion to IFRS.
- Managed multiple audit engagements simultaneously, incorporating the remote management of teams.
- Established engagement timelines and an automated workflow to ensure that teams managed against tight schedules during the busy season.
Auditor
Deloitte
- Obtained the competencies established by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
- Managed multiple audit engagements with teams ranging from three to 10 people.
- Interacted with client employees, including executives of multiple entities listed on the JSE and LSE. This client engagement required a highly professional manner and detailed knowledge of the topic at hand.
- Performed complex pricing, stock, and wastage analysis for intricate inventory systems for manufacturing entities.
- Audited acquisitions and disposals ranging from $1 million to $100+ million for publicly-traded accounting clients.
- Audited and re-constructed financial statement consolidations for listed multi-national entities, including a leading JSE-listed logistics group headquartered in South Africa.
- Reviewed and tested covenant compliance across a listed multi-national group with a highly complex capital structure.
- Assessed the application of IFRS and US GAAP terms within various companies domiciled in South Africa and the United States.
- Lectured and trained future employees of Deloitte on topics that included technical and soft skills.
Education
Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in Accountancy
University of the Witwatersrand - Johannesburg, South Africa
Bachelor's Degree in Accounting Science
University of the Witwatersrand - Johannesburg, South Africa
Certifications
Deep Learning Specialization
Deeplearning.ai
Machine Learning
Stanford University - Online
Financial Solutions Consultant
Syspro
Chartered Accountant
South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)
Skills
Finance
Due Diligence, Three-statement Modeling, Forecasting, Free Cash Flow (FCF), Fund Management, Budgeting, M&A Reporting, Financial Modeling, Financial Management, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Valuation, Private Equity, Private Credit, Private Equity Valuation, Market Research, Revenue & Expense Projections, CFO, Financial Accounting, DCF Valuation, Valuation Multiples, M&A Modeling, M&A (Sell-side), Capital Structuring, Capital Structure Optimization, Taxation, Financial Reporting
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Xero.com, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retail & Wholesale
Geographic Expertise
South Africa, Mauritius, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia, Mozambique, Ghana, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Australia, Ireland
Other
Modeling, IFRS Financial Reporting, Financials, Xero, Group Reporting IFRS, Financial Statements, Investment Funds, Budget Modeling, Credit Reporting, Research, Financial Forecasting, Private Equity Consultant, EBITDA, US GAAP, Reporting, Team Leadership, Deal Execution, Deal Structuring, Management, Manufacturing, Advertising, Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Investor Relations, Business Planning, Startups, Financial Analysis, Board of Directors, Board Reporting, Investment Committee Advisory, Business Strategy, Legal Structuring, Negotiation, External Audits, Team Management, Planning, Project Management, SOX, Client Management, Target Screening, Market Research & Analysis, Machine Learning, Neural Networks, Deep Learning, Python, Data Science, IT, Excel 365, Excel VBA, Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), Optimization, TensorFlow, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Keras, Transformers, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Syspro, Earnings Analysis, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT)
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