Commodity-Prepayment Finance Recovery Leader

The mandate

The processor financed crop purchases through trader advances secured by future export flows, then treated undelivered tonnes as both available inventory and committed collateral. Moisture and specification disputes reduced final settlements, freight and inspection charges were netted differently by counterparty, and replacement purchases weakened the margin embedded in each shipment. Following a covenant reservation from the facility agent, the permanent commodity-finance lead was removed. The board now needs a temporary executive to regain control before the next procurement cycle commits further cash.

The opening forty-five days require a contract-to-tonnes-to-cash reconstruction for every live prepayment: advance received, pricing formula, designated inventory, quality evidence, shipment status, permissible deductions, hedge linkage, final invoice and net settlement. The leader must identify double commitments, unsupported warehouse quantities, expired delivery windows and counterparty claims before presenting lenders with a revised borrowing and repayment base. By day ninety, the board expects a funded crop-purchase plan and downside view covering yield, quality, port delay, benchmark spread and buyer default.

Decision rights include freezing new drawings that lack verified collateral, assigning contract and inventory owners, setting the daily settlement forecast, approving cash application under existing waterfalls and escalating shipment substitutions. New prepayment counterparties, amended security, additional debt, commodity-specification concessions, litigation and changes to trading limits remain reserved. The leader will chair a twice-weekly physical-and-finance control room whose records reconcile commercial positions with general-ledger and bank evidence.

The recovery must transfer into accountable line operations. The interim will define a permanent commodity-finance role, coach the appointed successor, establish mill-to-port confirmation controls and require finance, quality and sales owners to run three complete settlement cycles under observation. The final handover will include outstanding deductions, collateral exceptions, lender undertakings, open claims, cash sensitivities and a calendar showing where the next procurement season could reopen exposure.

The remit excludes commodity price speculation, crop-procurement awards, quality certification, warehouse operation, legal interpretation, hedge dealing beyond approved policy and side agreements with traders. The leader cannot recast losses as timing differences, recognise disputed inventory without evidence or direct inspectors. Independent surveyors, external counsel, authorised dealers and the board retain their formal authorities.

Why this seat is open

The control break spans physical product, contract language, lender security and accounting rather than one treasury spreadsheet. No continuing executive presently holds enough authority across origination, mills, shipping and finance to restore the evidence chain. A fixed-term recovery leader can make immediate bounded decisions, stabilise the next procurement window and hand a reconciled book to a permanent specialist.

What you will own

• Reconstruct every live prepayment from advance receipt through designated tonnes, quality result, shipment, deductions and final cash settlement.
• Establish verified collateral and availability rules that prevent double commitment, stale warehouse evidence and unsupported borrowing.
• Produce daily settlement and thirteen-week liquidity views linked to shipment dates, benchmark pricing, quality bands and counterparty claims.
• Direct the cross-functional control room, close named exceptions and record commercial, finance, quality and legal ownership boundaries.
• Prepare lender reporting, covenant forecasts, waiver evidence and a funded crop-purchase case without masking realised margin erosion.
• Set escalation thresholds for delayed loading, quantity variance, inspection failure, buyer netting, substitute cargo and counterparty default.
• Transfer controls, reconciliation routines, decision logs, claim schedules and seasonal sensitivities through three successor-led settlement cycles.

Candidate qualifications

• Has held senior decision authority over structured commodity prepayments, borrowing bases or inventory-backed trade-finance facilities.
• Understands physical agricultural flows, price formulae, quality deductions, inspection evidence, shipment documentation and settlement netting.
• Can reconcile trader statements, collateral records, hedges, invoices, bank movements and accounting without inventing unavailable precision.
• Has led lender and counterparty discussions after a covenant reservation, collateral exception or material settlement dispute.
• Can distinguish liquidity timing, physical shortage, basis movement, quality loss, customer claim and control failure in one exposure view.
• Has handed a recovered commodity-finance book to permanent leadership with tested routines surviving a subsequent procurement cycle.

Non-negotiables

• Can sustain the Jakarta hybrid presence, fortnightly mill travel and monthly lender and trader sessions for eleven months.
• Brings direct agricultural or comparable physical-commodity finance recovery; paper-market trading alone does not qualify.
• Will not fabricate collateral, defer recognised losses or accept informal counterparty assurances in place of contractual evidence.
• Has no undisclosed interest in participating traders, inspection firms, warehouses, lenders, brokers or local procurement agents.

1. 49 words maximum. Which reconciliation would first expose tonnes committed simultaneously to two prepayment obligations?
2. 49 words maximum. How would you distinguish a quality-driven margin loss from a temporary settlement delay?
3. 49 words maximum. What must a successor demonstrate before you release control of the physical-and-finance room?