From checking an entry to explaining a commitment

Mandate

Give local and group decision-makers a clear account of liquidity, commercial exposure and financial obligations.

Outcomes

• Recommended deferring a ₹12 crore distribution after a usable-cash review
• Refused incremental credit to an overdue distributor while preserving existing customer obligations
• Substantiated a revised ₹8.9 crore parent-service management allocation
• Supported independent confirmation before a ₹78 lakh supplier payment

Decisions in context

The CFO appointment added responsibility for the financial recommendations presented to the Indian board and the parent group. I lead four finance heads and work directly with the managing director, while maintaining a functional reporting line to group finance. Those relationships require a common factual basis, even when their priorities differ. I have concentrated on usable cash, distributor exposure and the explanation behind group-service budgets. My role includes challenging a proposed commitment and stating the cost of delaying or refusing it. It does not include unilateral authority to distribute company funds or substitute my judgement for a board decision. I attend relevant meetings as an executive presenter and hold no directorship. The work is most useful when colleagues can see how the recommendation follows from the obligations, rather than treating the CFO's approval as a separate hurdle whose reasoning remains hidden.

Reason for the move

Current role; improving the connection between cash forecasts and commercial commitments.

Mandate

Connect local financial records, management planning and parent reporting without obscuring their different purposes.

Outcomes

• Introduced a clearer bridge between bank balances and usable treasury funds
• Assigned owners for recurring differences between commercial and finance records
• Brought parent-service assumptions into the local budget review

Decisions in context

As controller I took responsibility for the close, treasury reporting and the preparation of the operating budget. The team grew to twenty colleagues, and I learnt to organise review through people who understood distinct parts of the account. A major task was connecting the local records with the parent's reporting structure. The two views needed reconciliation, but forcing them into identical categories could obscure a restriction or timing issue relevant to a local decision. I worked with treasury and commercial colleagues to make those bridges explicit. I also began asking for the activity assumptions behind service allocations before the budget was finalised. I reported to the CFO, with a defined function-expense remit and no directorship. The appointment prepared me for broader leadership by requiring me to explain differences clearly to people whose decisions depended on different parts of the same financial picture.

Reason for the move

Promoted to CFO following the incumbent's planned departure.

Mandate

Explain the financial differences between licence sales, recurring maintenance and implementation commitments.

Outcomes

• Separated licence, maintenance and implementation assumptions in proposal reviews
• Connected distributor exposure with new-credit requests
• Supported local reporting changes during the 2014 majority-ownership transition

Decisions in context

Kulvani offered the chance to work inside a software company after several years in distribution. I led commercial finance across licences, maintenance and implementation, helping colleagues see why the cash and cost patterns differed. Eleven people supported proposals, channel analysis and commercial reporting by the end of the appointment. The ownership transition in 2014 added another learning experience. The company moved from Indian founder control to a German parent majority, and local activity had to be explained within a wider group. I worked on reporting and budget changes without assuming that a group category answered every local operating question. My authority remained within the CFO's delegation; I did not negotiate ownership terms or hold a board role. The period broadened my understanding of software economics and prepared me to take responsibility for the close and treasury as financial controller.

Reason for the move

Promoted to financial controller with responsibility for the wider finance operation.

Mandate

Connect partner orders, credit exposure and collection evidence in commercial decisions.

Outcomes

• Reviewed new-credit requests alongside overdue balances
• Distinguished expected partner receipts from money already collected
• Established named follow-up ownership for collection exceptions

Decisions in context

Software distribution introduced me to commercial relationships in which the next opportunity could dominate discussion of the earlier account. I began as a finance executive and became commercial controller in 2006, leading seven colleagues. We reviewed credit requests, collection plans and the evidence supplied by partners. I learnt to discuss a restriction without turning it into a personal judgement about the sales team or distributor. A refusal still needed a reason and a route to reconsideration; an approval still needed a view of the exposure it added. I reported to the CFO and worked within delegated limits, with no unilateral authority to write off balances. The role gave me a practical understanding of channel economics. I moved to Kulvani because I wanted to connect that experience with the company's own licensing, maintenance and implementation obligations.

Reason for the move

Joined an industrial-software company to lead commercial finance across a broader service model.

Mandate

Keep commercial records connected to delivery, invoicing and receipt evidence.

Outcomes

• Reconciled delivery records with invoicing schedules
• Tracked missing documents separately from unpaid invoices
• Introduced review instructions for the assistants reporting to me

Decisions in context

My first role began two months after completing a commerce degree. I prepared account schedules, reconciled records and followed up documents needed by the finance manager. The business supplied industrial equipment and consumables, so I could see how a record related to an order and a physical delivery. I learnt to distinguish a missing document from a customer who had not paid, even when both appeared as an unresolved item in a summary. From 1999 I supervised three assistants and became responsible for making the review process understandable to others. I did not control borrowing, major contracts or the company P&L. The appointment gave me a grounding in evidence and practical accounting routines. After nearly seven years, I sought a role where I could work more directly on credit and commercial decisions, leading to software distribution.

Reason for the move

Moved to software distribution to develop commercial-finance responsibility.