Voula Marques

Experience

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  Unidata a Division of Didata

  Feb 1994 - Apr 1997

  Financial Accountant

  Full Accounting Function including the design of the financial system on Accpacfrom Brilliant Accounting for the newly developed Smartec Division within Unidata. This subsidiary was sold to Absa Bank during 1997.QED Payroll and Payments, Creating and costing bills of material and managing the profitablity and stock for the design and implementation of the smartec devices globally and locally. Forward Exchange contracts for importing stock.Cash flow management and collection of debtors and negotiation payment of creditors. Preparing financials for submission to head office and assisting with management reporting to the board of Smartec Show less

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  Absa Retail and Business Banking

  Jun 1997 - Jul 2013

  Contribute to the effective financial management of the cluster by providing financial leadership to the finance team, the business cluster as well as contributing to divisional and global financial activities.This encompasses a host of activities including providing management & leadership, inform business decision making activities, business plan development, controlling accounting practices and the timely preparation of financial reports, forecasts and business performance analysis.Analyse the data and information to identify opportunities and threats, and being financially estued in order to contribute and inform the strategic direction and all decision making of the business. Perform analysis to aid decision making and steer the strategic direction and thereby enusre the business unit maximises shareholder value. Continuously consider the interplay between the cluster and larger group, the competitive environment and financial market to identify new opportunities for cost reduction or revnue enhancement and advise the business which opportunities to pursue.Advising and networking with internal role players to create a consolidated retail and business banking set of financial results.Colloboration with other business units to create, mantain and sustain the newly formed Corporate and Business bank divisions.Liaise with internal and external auditors and ensure all governance and controls are in place to receive a satisfactory audit.Ensure development of a high-performing team through embedding formal Performance Development and informal coaching. Show less Identify, co-ordinate and manage the preparation of the financial results, as well as the required analysis needed to identify opportunities and risks through competitor analysis, market analysis and understanding the economy and it's drivers and then informing internal clients through presentation and consultation on the financial performance of the business unit. During consultation offering financial advice primarily to Exco members to aid pro-active decision making and change and inform the business focus.Utilise the information for decision making and directing and implementing strategy.Plan, co-ordinate, manage, analyse and share the outcome of the financial weekly, monthly, interim and final results by presenting these to the business units Exco members as well as for the Absa group (for presentation by Group Exco to external analysts and the general public).Analyse the data in comparison to the competitors and identify areas for possible opportunities and limit threats predominantly during the interim and final releasing of financial results as well as utilising the Reserve Bank information to increase opportunities for further analysis.Keeping abreast with new governance and policy development and ensure implementation in the business units finance areaResponsible for the investigation, creation and implementation of the newly formed Corporate and Investment Bank as well as the new Business and Retail Bank. This included financial restatements, system alterations, people management and up-skilling staff in their newly created roles.Liaise with internal and external auditors and ensure all governance and controls are in place to receive a satisfactory audit. Show less Design, co-ordinate and implement financial product reporting to align to the Barclays model.Post design, maintain and sustain input into the Global Retail and Commercial Bank (GRCB) monthly product review pack for Barclays bank. Participate in the presentation of the findings to the GRCB product team - and the scheduled monthly teleconference with the London team.Assist and participate in the development of the the business unit STP and MTP's (short and medium term plans) by providing the necessary tools (budgeting and forecasting tools) and creating the forums and providing specialist financial advice.Analyse the results of productivity and efficiency measures and challenge the proposed growths provided by the business heads where the input provided will financially not be performing optimumly with the scarce resources required. Through discussion with the business heads, Exco members and Executive Manager, guide, inform, advise and influence the proposed growths to be able to meet the required business strategic objectives. Facilitate an integrated session for all elements of the business and thereby, ensuring buy-in and an integrated budget with aligned goals and objectives.Manage the process within the finance team to ensure the resources (people) systems and information are of high standard, available and meets business objectives.Design stakeholder reporting tools to communicate results to the business on all elements of the financials (interest income, margins - funds transfer pricing, non interest income, Opex, transfer pricing and balance sheet, Vostro, Nostro and trade products) by understanding the drivers of the relevant income and expense line items and correlating these drivers to actual financial results. With an in depth understanding being able to attestate the business units results for the GLCF (General Ledger Control Framework)Balance sheet optimization including managing the business bank Alco and monthly reporting to Group Alco. Show less Responsible for the financial identification, definition and creation of commercial banking sectors within business banking.Analyse and mind the data to understand the customer base and thereby create customer banking sectors from agriculture, franchise, retail, manufacturing, Public sector, Tourism, Construction and others.Lead a team of financial specialists to achieve excellent operational results through continuous people development and mentoring activities and report on the results of the sectors as well as play a business partnering role to the newly formed sectors in the cluster.Identify, co-ordinate and manage the preparation of the financial sector results and ensure integration across the business segments and products to be able to matrix report for the business cluster. Identify opportunities and risks through competitor analysis, market analysis and understanding the economy and it's drivers and then informing the General Manager and the Manco through presentation and consultation on the financial performance of the business unit. Offering financial advice primarily to Exco members to aid pro-active decision making and change and inform the business focus.Design, compilation of the business untis FSC scorecard for reporting by Absa externally as well as tracking to ensure the business units targets are met. Show less CFO, for the medium business segment. The business unit conisted of an the executive team, 6 regions nationally and 1000 employees.Within this assigned portfolio of clients, I met with them regularly to understand the needs and present the finance business offering. During consultation offered financial advice primarily to Exco members to aid pro-active decision making and change and inform the business focus.The Business Partnering role to the General Executive for Medium business as well as the 6 Regional Managers included being financially estued in order to contribute and inform the strategic direction and all decision making of the business. Performed analysis to aid decision making and gave steer to the strategic direction and thereby enusred the business unit maximised shareholder value. Enhanced processes, identified, generated and implemented specific reporting tools to influence the team in decision making and informing strategy. This included a intranet site to allow all regions nationally to view the results as well as trends of the business.Focussed on the drivers of the business and together with the Executive committee managed pipeline. This business unit became one of the most profitable business units and achieved numerous internal awards. Show less Compile, measure and report financial & business results for business regions and cost centres (monthly,quarterly, half yearly) by focusing on the key drivers of results to ensure that the financial results as reported are accurate and complete.Assist business stakeholders in the interpretation and understanding of financial reports. Financial reports such as comparative income statements, balance sheets and analytical reports on key performance metrics are provided to business and then discussed in various forums. This includes measuring and designing KPI tools as well as a balance scorecard to measure all the elements of business and not just financial. Analysis and report key balance sheet and income statement items (eg. loans to customers, interest income/margins, non interest income, Impairments, Direct Expenses & Transfer Expenses) to enable understanding of the reasons for the variances, to enable forecasting of the line item, and to enable engaging with business to identify potential opportunities.Develop tools to assist in establishing trends to allow for forecasting of future financial performance. Understanding and building reports on the internal systems of Analyst and Millenium Show less Perform customer and product analysis by doing deep dives into the performance, and provide insights to influence the business planning processes during the Rolling Annual Forecast (RAF), Short Term Plan (STP) & Medium Term Plan (MTP).I was responsible for the design, creation and implementation of profitability models to be able to asses product and client profitability in the newly formed decentralised business unit. Models created were in detail level based on the drivers of the business and I was thus part of the team to implement a driver financial tool able to inform profitability analysis (OFA - Oracle Financial Analysis).Participated in the planning phase of new business opportunities (joint ventures, new initiatives, new products and services) by conducting analysis on the financial soundness of the opportunity for inclusion in the financial plan.Support the project sponsors and review the reasonability and feasibility of the business case and stated benefits Provide an opinion on the financial aspect of the benefits and costs stated in the business case (co-ordination of expert role players) The analysis prepared and presented to the Flexi Banking Retail Manco, changed the strategic direction of the unit, influenced pricing and informed the marketing campaigns (including messaging on ATM's) and informed channel usage of clients. The results rendered were so postively received by the Absa Executive Committe that an honourary award was received for changing the business unit from a non profitable segment to profit making in a very short period Show less Support the business unit seniors to understand their financial and management accountants, with a particular focus on how expenditure is allocated, the impact of trasnfer pricing on their profit and loss accounts and how to conduct financial planning and forecasting.Responsible for the group charge outs, which included the design of a charge out methodology we well as financial modelling. Negotiation with business units for the costs transferred and identifying ways to reduce and enhance costs and methodologies.Responsible for variance reporting to Group Exco as well as rollings forecast, budgets and strategic planning.Compilation of BA returns, completion of tax pack for consolidation by the tax departments and preparation of group cash flows. Show less

  • Head: Performance Management & Analytics Business Markets (RBB))

    Jan 2012 - Jul 2013

  • Head: Performance Management

    Dec 2009 - Dec 2011

  • CFO Commercial Products

    Sept 2007 - Nov 2009

  • CFO - Commercial Sectors

    Jun 2006 - Aug 2007

  • CFO - Medium Business Banking

    Sept 2003 - May 2006

  • Management Accountant - Medium Business

    Aug 2002 - Aug 2003

  • Profitability Analyst

    Nov 2000 - Jul 2002

  • Absa Finance - Specialised Services

    Jun 1997 - Oct 2000
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  Absa Capital

  Aug 2013 - now

  Chief Operating Officer - Finance COO