Show the obligations behind the available rupee

I lead finance at Kulvani Industrial Software in Jaipur. We license and support scheduling software used by industrial businesses, with direct sales and eight distributors. The company is majority owned by Ravendahl Systems, a fictional German software group, while Indian founder shareholders and employees retain minority stakes. That gives my work two perspectives: the parent needs a coherent view of its investment, and the Indian company needs decisions grounded in the obligations and cash available here. A consolidated number cannot do both jobs on its own.

My thirty-one-year career began with accounts at an engineering-supplies business. I later worked in software distribution, where a successful sales conversation could leave a difficult credit position behind it. At Kulvani I moved through commercial finance and financial control before becoming CFO in October 2021. I now lead twenty-six colleagues through four heads and report to the managing director, with a functional line to the group CFO. I present financial choices to directors, but I do not hold a board seat or claim their decision-making authority as my own.

The examples on this site concern commitments that can be concealed by otherwise accurate figures. We deferred a proposed distribution after separating restricted deposits from usable cash. We declined further credit to an overdue distributor even though it had a new order ready. We challenged a parent-service allocation while accepting the shared support we could substantiate. And we held a payment when changed bank details could not be independently confirmed. Each decision required finance to explain a consequence that someone else would prefer to avoid.

Current focus

I am improving the connection between our treasury forecast, distributor exposure and the decisions presented to the board. The same commitments should be visible when sales requests a credit exception, when the parent discusses a distribution and when finance reports liquidity. I also want our four finance heads to explain the assumptions behind their recommendations in ordinary language, so that a disagreement can be resolved on its substance rather than through the apparent authority of a spreadsheet.

Conversations I welcome

I am considering a first external non-executive role in a specialist software or industrial-services company. My provisional capacity is twenty-two days a year, dependent on employer clearance, conflicts and the proposed work. I would contribute financial scrutiny and an understanding of subsidiary relationships, while respecting the difference between advising an executive team and serving on a board.