Chief Financial Officer — Interim, Pharmaceutical GCC

The mandate

Global finance rejected the GCC's transfer-pricing true-up after cost pools and service evidence could not be reconciled. The local CFO resigned before audit planning, leaving the centre exposed to tax challenge and business-unit distrust of its reported savings.

The interim must start within three weeks for nine months through tax response, audit and budget reset. Recruitment of a permanent finance head proceeds in parallel, with a six-week handover included.

The seat closes when the service-cost baseline is accepted by all charged business units, the tax position is supported without material penalty, audit completes unmodified, and the successor certifies two closes below a seven-working-day timetable.

The CFO may correct cost allocation, approve routine spend below ₹1 crore and negotiate true-up mechanics within policy. Changes to legal-entity structure, markup policy or settlements above ₹3 crore need global approval; programme benefits ownership remains with service executives.

R&D portfolio valuation, product transfer pricing and global treasury redesign are excluded. The assignment is confined to the GCC entity, its intercompany services and dependable local finance control.

Why this seat is open

The rejected true-up exposed weak evidence beneath an apparently healthy centre cost report. Executive departure leaves no local officer credible with auditors and global controllers. Temporary finance leadership will reset the numbers before a permanent head inherits normal operating responsibility.

What you will own

• Reconstruct service cost pools by beneficiary, activity, headcount, technology consumption and contracted allocation rule.
• Decide which historic charges require correction and document the resulting intercompany true-up.
• Build auditable service evidence linking cost, output, acceptance and business-unit sign-off.
• Lead the transfer-pricing response with tax advisers while maintaining one controlled fact base.
• Shorten close to seven working days through reconciled interfaces, certification and disciplined accrual rules.
• Present centre economics as gross cost, recharge, productivity and validated business value without conflation.
• Induct the permanent finance head through two closes, one chargeback forum and the final audit review.

Candidate qualifications

• Chartered accountant with twenty-two-plus years in multinational finance and Indian GCC statutory leadership.
• Direct experience resolving a material transfer-pricing or intercompany-service challenge with defensible benefit evidence.
• Strong grasp of cost-plus centres, service catalogues, allocation drivers, tax documentation and foreign-exchange compliance.
• Led fast-close and audit remediation in an entity serving multiple global business units.
• Ability to challenge overstated GCC savings while preserving stakeholder support for the centre.
• Prior succession handover involving statutory, global-controller and charged-business-unit accountabilities.

Non-negotiables

• Able to join in Pune within three weeks and attend global finance forums across time zones.
• No active engagement with the external tax adviser or auditor involved in the disputed position.
• Will provide independent statutory judgment despite pressure to preserve reported savings.
• Available exclusively for the nine-month correction and successor transition.

1. 49 words maximum. State your notice period, earliest Pune start and any current tax-advisory conflict.
2. 49 words maximum. Which intercompany service charge did you successfully defend, and what evidence proved benefit?
3. 49 words maximum. What close timetable did you inherit and what sustained result did you leave?