Sai Devata

Sai Devata

Senior Associate

Followers of Sai Devata3000 followers
location of Sai DevataSalmiya, Hawalli, Kuwait

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  • Timeline

  • About me

    Finance Leadership | Finance Transformation | Financial Consolidation | Budgeting & Planning | RAFM | Accounting | Cost Optimization | Business Acquisitions | Financing | General Manager Finance at stc Kuwait | FCA | MBA

  • Education

    • London Business School

      2017 - 2017
      Financial Strategies for Value Creation Corporate Finance
    • University of Manchester - Manchester Business School

      2010 - 2013
      Master of Business Administration (MBA) Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services A
    • Andhra University

      2000 - 2002
      M COM Accounting, Audit & Taxation
    • The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

      1998 - 2002
      Chartered Accountant Commerce 75+
    • Acharya Nagarjuna University

      1997 - 2000
      B COM Accounting, Audit & Taxation
  • Experience

    • PricewaterhouseCoopers

      Jul 2004 - Jan 2006
      Senior Associate

      Job responsibility includes performing and reviewing work done by juniors and performing big assignments to issue an audit opinion on the financial statements in accordance with International Standards on Auditing and International Financial Reporting Standards and local laws. Also carried out work as per agreed upon procedures and performed compilation and review of financial statements.Statutory audit of the following: a leading telecom company having 20 international subsidiaries, Mobile Telecommunications Company, Kuwait (MTC Group) the leading banking companies – Gulf Bank, Burgan Bank, Kuwait Real Estate Bank a leading investing company having a portfolio of investments – Kuwait and Middle East Financial Investment Company a leading investor having a portfolio of local and foreign investments – Morad Yousuf Behbehani Investments a leading hotel business – Kuwait Hotels Company a leading trading house involved in trading of watches like Cartier, Piaget, Omega, Swatch etc. a leading shipping company and agency business – Maersk Sealand a leading insurance company – New India Assurance Company a leading courier company – DHL Worldwide express a leading beverage manufacturing company– PEPSI a leading contracting company – Carrier Air conditioning a leading Food processing company – Pizza Hut, Burger King a leading hospital – London Group of HospitalsCarried out due diligence reviews by designing checklist to suit the objective of the business combination and carrying out work per checklist. Issued reports highlighting exceptions requiring adjustment for valuation purposes.Tested application controls at various clients involving the analysis of flow of transactions in the purchase/sale/inventory/payroll cycles and identification of controls and issued internal control recommendations, which were well appreciated and implemented by the clients. Show less

    • Burgan Bank

      Feb 2006 - Jan 2009
      Supervisor - Financial Control

      Management Information preparation/processing - support line management in the preparation of MBO packages with KPI’s to different groups Assist in preparation of Banks Annual budgets & in finalizing department wise budgets/revenues and monthly forecastsAssist in the preparation of Quarterly/Annual Consolidated Financial statements in accordance with IFRS Accounting and valuation of investments as per IFRSGood knowledge on IFRS 3 Business combinations & IFRS 7 Risk disclosuresFinancial reporting – Central Bank of Kuwait on a periodic basisFamiliar with CBK regulations and its implication on reporting Daily review of balance sheet , P&L, Income & expense accounts, EOD reports and analyze major variancesImplementation of BASEL II guidelines issued by CBK & compliance of the same by allocating the assets into Credit Risk, Operational Risk & Market RiskComputing the Capital Adequacy Ratio in accordance with BASEL II Pillar I guidelines and disclosures as per Pillar III on a quarterly basisPreparing various MIS reports like Daily client position summary , Time deposit analysis for each business segment & bank wide Preparing Competitor analysis on quarterly basis and submitting to Management Prepare Customer Profitability Report viz; RoE, Risk adjusted RoE, ROAAssist with adhoc projects as and when required by CFO / Bank ManagementAttended training programs / seminars on IFRS, Derivative products, Basel II guidelines & ACI Treasury dealer certification course Show less

    • Stc Kuwait

      Feb 2009 - now

      Project Director of IFRS 15, 16 & 9 projects and VAT Implementation in VIVA.Managing a budget of $1 billion million in revenues and capex of $120 million for the third and youngest telecom operator in Kuwait with 2.6 million subscribers. The role reports directly to the CFO and manages a team of 11 staff members. Key responsibilities include budgeting, performance management, investment decision making, financial & management reporting, operational efficiency improvements & change management, credit control, Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management functions. Working closely with the CFO, CEO and the senior leadership team to develop & execute the company strategy.Develop and manage external financial relationships (e.g., banks, tax authorities, insurers, auditors) and internal relationships and constantly look for ways to strengthen overall financial performance. Financial Planning: Prepared a well-structured commercial and financial model by analyzing various cost drivers, CAPEX & Manpower Planning and by embedding sensitivity analysis and business assumptions in line with the company’s overall strategy. Submission of business plan to banks and parent company and addressing the queries.Budgeting: Manage the overall budgeting process right from creating the budget templates for different business user departments and its consolidation to arrive at the final outcome of the financials.Audit: Fully responsible for handling external reviews and audits including preparation of financial statements, single point of contact for all queries and as well prepare presentations for the board audit committee meetings.Board Presentations: Manage all periodical reports and presentations – external and internal, Board Presentations, Parent company, Shareholders etc. in a proper fashion for timely decision making and as required by Board. Show less • VIVA being a start-up entity, it gave me an opportunity to build a finely tuned accounting department, fostering a collaborative environment that improved productivity, individual accountability and team morale.• Revamped G/L, financial systems, reports and schedules to improve forecast precision and standardize external and internal reporting procedures.• Lead the Revenue Accounting project – responsible for the complete integration of all revenue streams from TABS system to Oracle GL platform, developed standard operating procedures to ensure better controls. • Team member in arranging, negotiating and framing Trade Payables Restructuring agreement with major network supplier for amount approximately USD 200m which helped in managing the liquidity position.• Completed comprehensive valuation analysis and credit review of acquisition target, and played a key role in the due diligence effort that was crucial to successful merger.• Manage all periodical reports and presentations – external and internal, BoD, Parent company, Shareholders etc.,• Built the Business Plan for the first time with the help of Booz consultants in line with the company’s overall strategy.• Created the strong excel based Revenue Model for Budgeting and forecasting jointly with Commercial team head coupled with various sensitivities.• Presentations to staff on the IFRS updates, tax, accounting treatment for new products and services etc., and motivate the staff by conducting weekly team meetings.• Introduced business process improvements that enhanced A/P functions, established common vendor files, eliminated duplication and reduced monthly processing time by 20%.• Other adhoc projects as and when necessitated by management viz., listing, solvency issue, Telecom License recognition, conduct quarterly review meetings, competitor’s financial outlook, Pricing and costing model etc. Show less

      • General Manager Financial Control

        Aug 2013 - now
      • Senior Manager - Financial Control

        Feb 2009 - Jul 2013
    • The Kuwait Chapter of the Institute of Chartered

      Jun 2018 - May 2019
      Vice Chairman of the Kuwait Chapter of the
    • ICAI Kuwait Chapter

      May 2019 - Jun 2020
      Chairman

      Moved to Advisory role

    • Inflection Point Ventures

      Dec 2024 - now
      Angel Investor
  • Licenses & Certifications

    • Manchester MBA

    • AI Cheat Sheet for Business Leaders

      LinkedIn
      Aug 2025
      View certificate certificate
    • Financial Modeling and Forecasting Financial Statements

      LinkedIn
      Sept 2021
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    • Nano Tips to Accelerate Your Goals with Shadé Zahrai

      LinkedIn
      Feb 2023
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    • Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work, and Life

      LinkedIn
      Aug 2025
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    • The Future of AI for Finance and Accounting

      LinkedIn
      Jul 2025
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    • Train Your Brain to Develop Better Habits

      LinkedIn
      Sept 2025
      View certificate certificate
    • Automated Financial Reporting with AI

      LinkedIn
      Sept 2025
      View certificate certificate
    • Machine Learning and AI Foundations: Predictive Modeling Strategy at Scale

      LinkedIn
      Jun 2020
      View certificate certificate
    • The Six Morning Habits of High Performers

      LinkedIn
      Jun 2020
      View certificate certificate