From the delivery record to the capacity decision

Mandate

Connect service commitments and asset availability with pricing, investment and funding decisions.

Outcomes

• Revised the economics of a distribution contract using observed turnaround
• Supported a staged storage opening with its higher unit cost disclosed
• Separated unresolved cargo recoveries from the base liquidity forecast

Decisions in context

The CFO role requires me to connect commitments made in different parts of the business. A customer promise can create a fleet requirement, a chamber design can constrain future sales, and an unresolved service event can affect cash before its final cost is known. I lead the finance functions through four managers and work with the managing director on the alternatives presented to our owners and board. I do not decide product release, transport safety or insurance coverage. Those responsibilities need the appropriate operational and professional judgement. My task is to make their financial implications understandable, including the assumptions that remain open. The three cases on this site show why I want finance involved before a contract or investment is presented as settled. I attend board discussions in an executive reporting capacity and have not been appointed as a director.

Reason for the move

Current appointment; considering a first compatible external board contribution.

Mandate

Bring finance into the operating assumptions behind proposals before commitments are finalised.

Outcomes

• Introduced service-cycle comparisons into major customer reviews
• Separated committed storage demand from prospective seasonal demand
• Coordinated financial and operating explanations for investment papers

Decisions in context

I moved from assembling a financial account to helping shape the questions asked before a new commitment. The CFO asked me to work with commercial and operating leaders on major renewals and proposed storage capacity. I found that a late financial objection was often the result of an earlier missing conversation. The team could improve a model more usefully when dispatch had time to explain the promised delivery pattern and the commercial lead could still discuss alternatives with the customer. I coordinated that work and the supporting reporting without taking over those functions. I also managed the group budget and close through the central and hub finance teams. The appointment prepared me for CFO responsibility by making me accountable for the quality of the recommendation, including the cost of delaying or declining a proposal that other colleagues supported.

Reason for the move

Promoted to CFO after a planned succession and handover.

Mandate

Explain the timing and uncertainty of receipts alongside fixed operating and asset payments.

Outcomes

• Distinguished disputed balances from routine collection forecasts
• Prepared cash views around seasonal storage and transport cycles
• Connected bank information with supported operating and accounting records

Decisions in context

Treasury made the timing of an assumption difficult to ignore. The company could expect a satisfactory annual result and still need to meet payments before a seasonal customer settled. I worked with the CFO on cash forecasts and banking information, asking local teams to distinguish a routine due date from an amount awaiting a commercial resolution. I also coordinated financial reporting, where the treatment of an estimate could differ from the question of when money would arrive. Advisers supported specialist accounting and legal matters. My team maintained the evidence and ensured that the forecast used an explanation that could be traced to the relevant person and record. I learnt to discuss uncertainty without turning every open item into a worst-case story. The aim was a funding decision that remained workable across plausible timing outcomes, not a forecast made reassuring by ignoring unresolved conditions.

Reason for the move

Appointed head of finance to support more complex customer and expansion decisions.

Mandate

Make local operating differences visible within a consistent financial record.

Outcomes

• Explained occupancy using the actual product and chamber constraints
• Included waiting and return positioning in route reviews
• Prepared local cash expectations with named commercial assumptions

Decisions in context

Regional finance put the warehouse and the truck in the same conversation. A customer could use storage predictably but require irregular transport, or create a reliable route while holding space only during a short season. I worked with the regional operations head to understand those combinations before interpreting the financial result. My seven colleagues maintained local accounts and prepared route and hub comparisons under group policies. I learnt that an empty pallet position was not necessarily available for every product, and that a truck with spare kilometres did not always have spare time. Those distinctions improved the questions we asked during planning. They did not give finance authority to change technical service requirements. I became responsible for presenting the regional result in a way that retained its operating context when the figures reached the central team and the CFO.

Reason for the move

Moved to central control and treasury as the company expanded its asset base.

Mandate

Relate recorded vehicle costs to the actual service cycle.

Outcomes

• Separated travelling and waiting time in selected route comparisons
• Documented refrigeration running costs outside billable kilometres
• Prepared supported cost schedules for customer-pricing review

Decisions in context

My first cold-chain appointment taught me that distance could be an incomplete explanation of cost. I prepared vehicle and trip schedules for the finance manager and discussed unusual movements with dispatch and maintenance colleagues. A delayed unloading could affect the next assignment, while refrigeration continued to consume resources even though the vehicle was stationary. I learnt to retain those facts in the analysis rather than force every difference into a cost-per-kilometre measure. I also saw the limits of an analyst's conclusion. A cheaper operating assumption was not useful if it conflicted with a customer's approved product requirement or a safety decision. My work supplied evidence for review by finance and commercial leaders. It established the habit of asking what the asset had been required to remain ready for, a question that still informs my current investment and contract discussions.

Reason for the move

Promoted to regional finance after developing experience across fleet and hub records.

Mandate

Prepare supported bills and distinguish documentation gaps from commercial disputes.

Outcomes

• Matched delivery records with agreed customer charges
• Maintained a separate list of unapproved additional-service claims
• Prepared reconciliations for the accounts manager and commercial team

Decisions in context

I began with the practical work of making a completed trip billable. The delivery record, agreed rate and additional services needed to support the amount sent to the customer. I prepared invoices under supervision and raised discrepancies with the accounts manager. When a customer disputed a waiting charge, I could gather the documents but could not settle the commercial position myself. That distinction helped me understand why an outstanding balance was not always a simple collections failure. I worked with dispatch and customer-service colleagues to keep the next action visible. The appointment gave me a disciplined start in transport finance and an interest in what happened before the invoice. I moved to cold-chain costing because I wanted to understand how the resources committed to a service shaped its economics, rather than only account for the amount eventually billed.

Reason for the move

Joined refrigerated logistics to develop experience in asset and service costing.