RUCHI ARORA
St Kilda East,VIC
Summary
Objective leader with demonstrated success leading Finance teams and programs. Experience across a variety of industries and all aspects of the Finance function. Well-organized, proactive and adaptable to dynamic conditions.
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
Work History
SENIOR FINANCE MANAGER/ HEAD OF FINANCE
RMIT University
Melbourne, VIC
05.2019 - Current
- Head of finance for College of Business and Law
- Leadership of College financial management, including provision of financial
advice - Provide strategic advice and partner with the Office of Vice Chancellor, Finance
Leadership team and CFO including active management of risk - Lead and coordinate the budget and forecasting process
- Preparation of monthly management reports with analysis to budget, forecast and
prior year together with KPI reporting - Lead transformation projects including implementation of cloud-based solution
- Support and review of business cases for strategic investments
- Perform commercial analysis for Senior stakeholders to drive insights and
decision support - Recommend enhancements to systems and processes in order to facilitate
effective resource deployment - Lead, develop and motivate a team of finance staff in order to implement
strategies that have a significant impact on the college’s capability - Successful implementation of key finance transformation projects involving
Workday (cloud-based solution) - Successful delivery of cost control initiatives saving the college ~$20m in cost
base during COVID 19 pandemic
SENIOR FINANCE MANAGER
AIA Insurance Australia
Melbourne, VIC
05.2018 - 05.2019
- Finance lead on various transformation projects and process improvement
initiatives e.g. systems implementation, shared services optimisation - Supporting delivery of strategic objectives and business case development
- Supporting annual budgeting and quarterly forecasting process
- Financial modelling for decision making driving change initiatives
- Finance business partner support for Investment accounting function
- Oversight of internal finance controls certification process ensuring review and of all documented controls, periodic testing of control effectiveness
- Leading the month end reporting process including preparation of board papers
- Management of team of 7 qualified and 1-part qualified accountant including assigning team’s BAU and Project workload
- Successful implementation of key transformation project involving change in year end to align with Group and reducing month end timeline from WD6 close to WD5
SENIOR FINANCE BUSINESS PARTNER
DIXONS CARPHONE
London, DC
06.2016 - 05.2018
- Partnership with category managers to drive revenue growth, cost productivity and margin growth
- Providing commercial insight and recommendations covering trading business decisions including pricing, sales, margin, promotions, range changes, supplier income, stock, product competitor analysis and sales initiatives
- Driving operational performance by challenging financial targets and providing timely reporting of management accounts
- Development and delivery of business cases for investments
- Liaising with the wider Finance and Compliance teams to ensure alignment on financial modelling, reporting and budgeting
- Continually improve budgeting and re-forecasting processes to create accurate and dynamic business forecasts
- Leading, coaching and developing a team of qualified accountants
- Achieved savings of £3.5m through targeting better payment collection and reduced rejections for customer support agreements
Commercial Finance Manager
BROADSPECTRUM (Part Of Ventia)
Sydney, NSW
05.2014 - 05.2016
- Business partnering to improve profitability and support the drive for operational
excellence - Hypotheses generation, operating model re-design and cost transformation
- Financial and commercial analysis of contract and project performance
- Budgeting, planning and forecasting including modelling of key drivers
- Business case analysis and financial modelling of proposed optimisation
initiatives for different business streams - Develop reports and deliver presentations on findings to a range of stakeholders
- Modelling new growth opportunities to determine expected performance
- Risk analysis and working with the business to deliver a commercially
acceptable solution - Engage with contract managers to assess the impact of changes in the business
- Achieved saving of $3.6m thorough centralisation of finance function from
business unit level to group operating level (6 months to implement)
SENIOR MANAGER
STIRLING WARTON TAYLOR
Sydney
11.2010 - 04.2014
- Servicing of compliance and consulting needs for a portfolio of clients ranging from listed companies to high net worth individuals
SENIOR CONSULTANT/ ASSISTANT MANAGER
BDO AUSTRALIA
07.2007 - 09.2010
- Servicing of compliance and consulting needs for a portfolio of clients ranging from listed companies to high net worth individuals
CONSULTANT
PETER VICKERS BUSINESS GROUP
Sydney
12.2003 - 06.2007
- Servicing of compliance and consulting needs for a portfolio of clients ranging from listed companies to high net worth individuals
Education
Master of Accounting & Tax -
The University of New South Wales, Australian School of Business
2011
Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accountants -
Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia
2009
Bachelor of Commerce - Accounting and Finance
The University of Sydney
2005
Skills
- 15 years of end to end finance function experience including commercial business partnering, financial planning and analysis, financial control and finance transformation
- Formulation and implementation of commercial strategy including execution of cloud base solutions
- Business process improvement consulting and cost optimisation
- Coordination and Implementation of change management programs
- Financial modelling and data analytics for decision support
- Extensive experience leading and developing finance teams
- Exceptional communication skills, written and verbal to a diverse
audience including peers, clients and senior management - Substantial experience driving and communicating change within the
business
Timeline
SENIOR FINANCE MANAGER/ HEAD OF FINANCE
RMIT University
05.2019 - Current
SENIOR FINANCE MANAGER
AIA Insurance Australia
05.2018 - 05.2019
SENIOR FINANCE BUSINESS PARTNER
DIXONS CARPHONE
06.2016 - 05.2018
Commercial Finance Manager
BROADSPECTRUM (Part Of Ventia)
05.2014 - 05.2016
SENIOR MANAGER
STIRLING WARTON TAYLOR
11.2010 - 04.2014
SENIOR CONSULTANT/ ASSISTANT MANAGER
BDO AUSTRALIA
07.2007 - 09.2010
CONSULTANT
PETER VICKERS BUSINESS GROUP
12.2003 - 06.2007
Master of Accounting & Tax -
The University of New South Wales, Australian School of Business
Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accountants -
Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia
Bachelor of Commerce - Accounting and Finance
The University of Sydney
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