Petersen Finance & Control

Owner and founder

• Implementation of a Financial Planning & Analysis model for an international organization.
• Prepared a financial incentive model to structure employee financial incentives by matching company and individual performance.
• Implemented accounting system and chart of accounts for newly created entities.
• Annual accounts and tax returns for various companies. .
• Part of the exclusive Toptal freelance network, limited to the top 3% talent..

Owner and founder

• Manage accounting, annual reports and taxes..
• Market & advertise business through various networking sites and other marketing outlets.
• Contract negotiations with vendors and customers..
• Developed a distribution model for a newly launched product line in The Netherlands. .
• Traffic, conversion, trends, customer lifetime value, and cohort analysis.
• Conducted feasibility study and business plan to determine the potential of the company. Performed valuation studies, financial reviews, projected revenue streams, competitive analysis and overall profitability.

Head of Finance- Member of the management board

• Rebuilt the finance function, implemented formal budgeting, forecasting and reporting systems to measure and communicate performance results to local management and corporate leadership.
• Manage all treasury and financial accounts for several entities, including the monthly consolidation of the financials. Responsible for company internal control and compliance with all local regulations.
• Modeling and forecast reporting used for decision making regarding pricing changes, changes in cost structures and effects of volatility on net income.
• Implemented KPI reporting, providing financial and operational key metrics in consolidated, actionable format, ensuring performance improvement transparency for management and operations.
• Act as the liaison for external auditors, tax authorities, banks and insurance agents ensuring that all deliverables are prepared timely and accurately.
• Prepare and present Board presentations as needed.
• Successful implementation of SAP FI/CO/SD/MM with minimal business interruption.
• Initiated cost saving actions and increased efficiencies to ensure profitability at current activity levels.
• Partnered with IT Dev and Operations VP to structure department forecasting, enhance ROI analysis, capital & financial processes.
• Prepared contracts and transfer pricing agreements for newly established development center in Kiev.
• Performed financial analysis, due diligence and integration by the acquisition of Travelaudience GmbH.
• Initiated project cost control process, for all phases of software developments, with investments of 10M€+.

03/05-11/10 Director of Finance & Administration

• Direct management of the accounting, business controlling, IT, logistics and customer service functions.
• Held ultimate responsibility for US GAAP and statutory reporting, as well as SOX compliance.
• Management of the company's forward growth planning.
• Prepare, analyze and present 3-year business plan, annual budget and forecasts.
• Support the commercial department with Financial analysis and profitability analysis.
• Created complex financial models to structure employee financial incentives and thereby efficiently matching company and individual performance.
• Implemented Score Card reporting, providing financial and operational key metrics in consolidated, actionable format, ensuring performance improvement visibility.
• Spearheaded plan to synchronize business processes and increase communications throughout various levels of the organization using CRM software, increasing transparency and generating incremental revenues.
• Initiated and developed policy and procedures to enhance work processes, promote internal controls and SOX compliance.
• Awarded Top Performer Award for Controllership and Business Partnership.

• Developed forecast models against budgets based on key indicators, increasing accuracy of short- and long-term earnings estimates.
• Prepared ad hoc analysis and performance reports to assist management and commercial teams in decision making.
• Manage the customer service and supply chain department.
• Reviewed contracts, documents and financial records to determine compliance with transfer pricing regulation.
• Increased year-on-year cash flow by $3.5 million by reducing accounts receivable days by 25.
• Led deal negotiations with distributors around the world, tracked KPI metrics and targets, established and enforced pricing controls, analyzed risks, evaluated revenue recognition, and assessed contract compliance.
• Reduced distribution expenses with 20% by developing and implementing new distribution policies and procedures, ensuring defined controls.

• Monitored and improved controls and accounting procedures where weaknesses are identified.
• Provided sound financial advice on budgeting decisions that support business strategies.
• Actively involved in implementing and roll out of new resale minus transfer pricing policy.

With implementing a transfer pricing strategy, I managed to achieve a onetime tax saving of 3,5M€ and an annual saving of 1M€. I achieved this by entering into a cost+ agreement with which we made costs from a non-profitable foreign affiliate tax deductible in the domestic tax return. This agreement included a split of IP ownership and has been successfully audited by the German tax authorities.

A SAP implementation is a massive operation. Not only from a technology point of view, but also from a process and people point of view. A successful implementation can deliver a lot in terms of efficiency and transparency. With the multiple projects I lead, we managed to reduce the monthly closing process from 6 days down to 3 days. On top, with the additional transparency we achieved cost savings. The automation of the billing cycle drastically reduced the number of errors and time effort with over 50%.

A thorough analysis of the distribution costs of shipments to distributors in over 50 countries resulted in a change of the distribution process. This resulted in a reduction of 20% in distribution costs. This was achieved by measures such as increasing minimum order quantities, changed means of transportation and implementing a Vendor Managed Inventory.

Making processes measurable into the right KPI`s enables you to start optimizing these processes. In this way I made several processes more transparent, which enabled us to set targets and monitor these, resulting in an improvement of the overall EBITDA. With the KPI dashboard I developed we generated additional revenue with more cross-selling, increased the number of productive hours and were able to faster resolve tickets raised by our customers.