Mahendra is available for hire
Hire MahendraMahendra Gosar
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Chicago, IL, United States
Toptal member since November 7, 2018
Bio
Mahen is a seasoned finance professional with 14+ years of experience in forecasting and M&A financial modeling for Fortune 100 clients such as Walgreens and Mondelez. He has supported 10+ M&A deals totaling ~$900 million, and also served as an Interim CFO to a high growth cloud and data analytics company. As a freelancer, he enjoys the freedom to work remote and leverage his skills in FP&A and M&A to help a wide variety of clients.
Career Highlights
M&A Consultant
Walgreens Boots Alliance
CFO
Wavicle Data Solutions, LLC
Senior Management Consultant
DLC Consulting
Education Highlights
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree
Indiana University - Kelley School of Business
Certification Highlights
Chartered Accountant (CA)
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
Case Studies
Software Expertise
Other Expertise
Work Experience
M&A Consultant
2016 - PRESENT
Walgreens Boots Alliance
- Analyzed 10+ transactions in specialty pharmacy, retail, and healthcare services business lines.
- Built the valuation model and analysis for a 185-pharmacy file buy acquisition, which was one of the largest file buy acquisitions.
- Uncovered unfavorable financial terms in a 5-year old joint venture transaction that resulted in re-negotiation with favorable terms.
- Developed the financial model and performed industry and competitor analysis for a potential mental health pharmacy chain acquisition that determined the bid price.
- Collaborated with accounting, tax, and treasury functions to incorporate their inputs and recommendations in the financial models of an overseas JV divestiture.
- Prepared presentation material for finance committee and board approvals for the sale of specialty medicine patient access hub to private equity.
- Revealed a flaw in the sale price calculation methodology of a portfolio company that resulted in a $500,000 increase in the cash proceeds received from the sale.
Focus areas: Valuation Modeling, Financial Modeling, Due Diligence, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
CFO
2017 - 2018
Wavicle Data Solutions, LLC
- Prepared financial statements, budgets, corporate taxes, compliance, supported business strategies, and explored business acquisitions.
Focus areas: Finance Strategy, Corporate Treasury, P&L Forecasting, Budgeting, Monthly Close Process, Accounting
Director - Financial Systems
2015 - 2016
PSAV
- Designed and developed granular budgeting process from a regional level (42 regions) to location level (1100+ locations) that led to increased forecast accuracy and buy-in from field operations.
- Led a cross-functional team to evaluate cloud-based corporate performance management (CPM) software. Evaluation process became the gold standard for crucial capital investment decisions.
- Prepared a business case that included cost-benefit analysis, comparative product analysis, risk assessment and mitigation strategy for implementing the CPM solution.
Focus areas: Finance Process Improvement, Business Intelligence (BI), Budgeting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Senior Management Consultant
2008 - 2015
DLC Consulting
- Developed a 3-year income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet forecast for a start-up. Worked closely with acting CEO, business unit directors to create a 3-year forecast that led to key business strategy decisions.
- Created a selling expense forecasting model for a major engine manufacturer utilized to benchmark against actual expenses.
- Managed a team of seven analysts responsible for cash management and accounts receivable functions of 31 malls consisting of over 2500+ tenants.
- Participated in the monthly close process, led monthly variance calls with business units to understand the drivers and prepare senior management reporting.
- Led a cross-functional team to integrate accounting department processes of various acquisitions by designing and implementing a general ledger interface system that automated 90% of accounting processes, implemented over 18 months and saved several hundred hours of manual processing. Managed teams of consultants, client staff and external resources in executing the project plan and kept the project team and stakeholders abreast of the project status, timeline, and risks.
- Performed over 10,500 hours of cross-functional project management, including project scoping and initiation, planning, budgeting, executing, and signing off deliverables. Experience encompassed a diverse range of projects including process re-engineering, software implementation and offshore/onshore outsourcing, and start-up forecasting.
- Assisted with Workday Financials system implementation (testing and data validation) and PeopleSoft upgrade working closely with cross-functional teams.
- Assisted the client to outsource cash management processes under record to report (R2R) approach. Processes were work shadowed, documented, reviewed and then transitioned. Conducted the post-go-live stabilization period consisting of monitoring, communicating, and gathering performance metrics.
- Designed and led the development and implementation of an application tool (SFTP) to automate revenue, accruals, inter-company transfers, and cash collection files. This tool is still used by the client after eight years.
- Improved daily cash collection process involving 15 bank accounts and hundreds of daily transactions (credit card payments, checks, ACH and wires), reducing errors and saving 10 hours of work per week.
- Led development and training (webinars) of over one hundred finance/business personnel, across four regions, on new automated accounting processes.
- Assisted the outsourcing team in Record to Report (RTR), trained the team in India, and troubleshot issues.
- Consolidated 12 regional banking relationships into a single banking relationship with a national bank resulting in effective and efficient cash management processes.
Focus areas: Financial System Implementation, Inter-company Accounts, Monthly Close Process, Accounting, Finance Process Improvement, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Financial Systems, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Senior Financial Analyst
2006 - 2008
Sears
- Forecasted sales and gross margin for a $400 million business comprising of layaway, restaurants and gas stations.
- Improved discontinued inventory reporting process using Access leading to savings of 2 hours per week.
- Prepared company level analysis of monthly revenue, gross margin and inventory KPIs leading to more focussed discussion on variances.
Focus areas: Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Education
2002 - 2004
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Finance
Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Bloomington, IN
1988 - 1993
Bachelor's Degree in Accounting
University of Mumbai - Mumbai, India
Certifications
JUNE 1994 - PRESENT
Chartered Accountant (CA)
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
Skills
Finance
Valuation Modeling, Budgeting, Financial Systems, P&L Forecasting, Revenue Modeling, Three-statement Modeling, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Modeling, Finance Process Improvement, Due Diligence, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Business Intelligence (BI), Accounting, Inter-company Accounts, Financial System Implementation, Corporate Treasury, Finance Strategy
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Dynamics
Geographic Expertise
United States, India
Data & Analysis Software
Intuit QuickBooks, Anaplan, Microsoft Access, Capital IQ
Industry Expertise
Consumer Products, Retail & Wholesale
Other
Monthly Close Process, Sensitivity Analysis, Executive Summaries, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Target Profiles, JD Edwards, JDE, PeopleSoft, HFM, Workday, Process Redesign, Project Management Professional (PMP), IT, Manufacturing
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