Owen White
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Management Consulting Expert
La Roche-Chalais, France
Toptal member since January 25, 2022
Owen is a Chartered Accountant with commercial and leadership skills gained from over 20 years of experience in IT, telco, consulting, and health sectors. His major highlights include mergers and acquisitions due diligence for a €140 million acquisition by Logica Plc, leading the bidding and negotiations for contracts worth over £1 billion, and identifying and delivering annual efficiencies of over £60 million. Owen is eager to find fresh challenges and collaborate with diverse clients.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Leading the Turnaround of a £400 Million Business
Rapid Business Case Review Uncovers Unexpected Losses
Business Acquisition Options and Strategy Appraisal
Expertise
- Budgeting
- Business Cases
- Business Modeling
- Business Planning
- Commercial Finance
- Contract Negotiation
- Management
- Operational Efficiency Improvement
Work Experience
Director of Finance | Deputy Chief Financial Officer (CFO) | Contract Director
Freelance
- Directed and led the contract negotiation process to closure for health service contracts worth £1.4 billion per year. This included developing and agreeing on targets and a strategy with a broad group of stakeholders.
- Identified significant flaws in the business case for a £30 million capital development, yielding annual losses of £1 million. Led the board through a process to reverse its original decision and cancel contracts before incurring costs.
- Drove the finance transformation program, improving support and reducing annual costs by 20% while delivering all aspects of financial management and business partnering.
- Spearheaded the financial recovery of the organization, including doubling the value of efficiency schemes to more than £20 million per year and implementing stronger business controls and processes.
- Led and mentored finance teams to deliver improved performance. Worked with team members to develop their skills and confidence, enabling them to move onwards and upwards through the organization, with senior talent more visible to senior leaders.
- Identified, initiated, and led contract renegotiations with external suppliers, yielding savings of £10 million or 25% per year.
- Identified over £22 million of annual financial exposure to the organization and led the engagement and resolution of the issue with the National Regulator. This also led to significant policy changes by the National Regulator.
- Devised and introduced improved contract governance arrangements, which led to the delivery of health service transformation while delivering improved engagement, accountability, and stakeholder relationships.
- Controlled and reported on business profit, loss, and balance sheet positions. Managed and provided financial reports, including forecasts, reforecasts, and actuals. Analyzed annual budget scenarios and agreed on final budgets.
- Led the business case development, review, and scrutiny, including contract negotiation support, post-implementation reviews, and project support. Headed and mentored finance teams and oversaw their personal and professional development.
Finance Director
Logica CMG
- Developed and implemented the turnaround plan for a loss-making £400 million turnover business. Transformed it into a transparent, competitive, and customer-focused business with a record order intake in a single quarter of over £400 million.
- Initiated and led efficiency drives delivering annual savings of over £18 million. Deployed various methods, including supplier renegotiations, cost elimination, business restructuring, contract reviews, delivery process reviews, and improvements.
- Led the financial due diligence to acquire an overseas business with 1,500 staff and turnover of over £130 million per year. Acted as a finance lead for the related ten-year IT and systems outsourcing contract.
- Designed and implemented a development and accreditation framework for operations staff. This yielded improvements in service quality and consistency, enhanced control and takeup of training, reduced attrition and training costs by £200,000 per year.
- Designed and implemented much stronger project financial control systems, providing greater insight into the financial performance of projects in real time and improving management information regarding the current and future performance.
- Led the restructuring of the finance function, including the creation of a project accounting specialty, which reduced project write-offs to less than 0.5% of sales.
- Merged and restructured three divisions, transforming them from loss-making to consistently delivering above 10% margin and delivering annualized savings of over £12 million per year.
- Transformed the service catalog into market-focused and a source of both new sales and cost efficiencies.
- Oversaw the control and reporting of profit, loss, and balance sheet positions for a £400 million turnover business. Managed and provided financial reports, including budgets, forecasts, reforecasts, and actuals.
- Led the bid and business case development, review, scrutiny, and contract negotiation support, plus post-implementation reviews. Headed and mentored finance teams and oversaw their personal and professional development across Europe and India.
Finance Controller
Nortel Networks
- Led the successful multi-site implementation of Oracle Financials systems in both the UK and France.
- Oversaw as a finance expert numerous sales bids, ranging from simple product sales to complex telco networks. Resultant sales totaled over $1 billion. Led project delivery reviews and control and ensured integration with financial forecasts.
- Rationalized the corporate group structure and inter-company transactions, eliminating unnecessary tax burdens and totaling £1 million per year.
- Rolled out financial system access and training to non-finance teams to transform the FP&A team into a partnering function, which included moving on, promoting and recruiting key staff members, and eliminating inefficient processes.
- Developed and rolled out a pan-European accounting workshop to address local and head office issues, which included developing and delivering training and technical updates on accounting policies and procedures.
- Initiated and led cross-functional review sessions to strengthen the relationship between finance, operations, and sales teams, improving project control and the quality and reliability of financial forecasts.
- Promoted a quality culture within finance, including establishing documented processes, succession plans, emergency cover capability, and implementing ISO initiatives and accreditation.
- Oversaw the control and reporting of profit, loss, and balance sheet positions for businesses with up to $430 million turnovers. Delivered a contract accounting service supporting overall forecasts and budgets.
- Led the bid and business case development, review, scrutiny, and negotiation support, plus post-implementation reviews. Headed and mentored finance teams across six countries.
- Delivered a contract accounting service supporting overall forecasts and budgets.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Business Studies | Finance Specialty
University of Teesside - Yorkshire, England
Certifications
Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
ICAEW Business and Finance Professional (BFP)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
Skills
Finance
Oracle Financial Analytics, Accounting, Management Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting, Commercial Finance, Forecasting, Budgeting, Cost Efficiency, Financial Modeling, Financial Management, P&L Forecasting, Cash Flow Forecasting, Statutory Returns, CFO, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Cash Flow, 13-week Cash Flow, Revenue & Expense Projections, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), UK GAAP, IFRS Audit Planning, Big 4 Accounting, M&A Modeling, Cross-border M&A, M&A (Buy-side), M&A (Sell-side), Taxation, Tax Compliance, Due Diligence, Valuation, Market Research, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Private Equity
Data & Analysis Software
Xero Accounting
Industry Expertise
Telecommunications, Software, Nonprofits, Venture Capital
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word
Other
Oracle Financials, Business, Finance, Cost Accounting, Management, Business Consulting, Management Information, Financial Management Information Systems (FMIS), Business Planning, Commercials, Contract Negotiation, Business Management, Business Modeling, Management Reporting, Operational Efficiency Improvement, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Team Mentoring, Financial Forecasting, Microsoft, Project Bidding, Project Reporting, Revenue Assurance, Revenue Recognition, Revenue Projections, Balance Sheet Optimization, Balance Sheet Forecast, Financials, Team Management, Offshore Team Management, Mentorship & Coaching, Statutory Reporting, Audit Liaison, Business Analysis, Cash Flow Management, Reporting, Revenue & Pricing Support, Bank Reconciliation, Monthly Close Process, Interim CFO, Unit4 ERP, SAP, Audits, Business Risk Assessment, Strategy, Business Strategy, Ethics, Business Ethics, Project Review, Contract Management, Dispute Resolution, Business Cases, Project Management, Team Restructuring, Policies & Procedures Compliance, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Scenario Analysis, Large-scale Turnaround & Transformation, Sales, Order Closure, Team Building, Team Leadership, Organizational Development, Control Systems, Business Restructuring, R&D, Oracle, System Implementation, Consolidated Reporting, US GAAP, IFRS Consolidation, Auditing, Business Technology, Behavioral Finance, Business Services, Business Models, Software as a Service (SaaS), Mobile, Wireless Systems, SaaS, Enterprise SaaS, Business Development, New Business Development, Investor Relations, Xero, Charity, Research, Development, Marketing, Business Law, Behavioral Economics, Economics, Commercial Law, Technology Trends, IFRS Financial Reporting, GAAP, Governance, Business Unit Management, Product Development, Catalogs, System Integration, Financing, Board Work, Infrastructure, Negotiation, Turnaround, Turnaround Management, Business Transformation, Corporate Governance, New Product Business Cases, Business Unit Strategy, Business Processes, Business Proposals, Contract, Contract Manufacturing, Global Team Management, Contract Review, Business Validation, Scenarios, IT, Public Sector, Outsourcing, Manufacturing, New Products
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