Joshua Musyimi Makau

Company Overview

Taji School, registered in 2014, has had its operations in Nairobi and Machakos. The Schools’ objective is to transform future generations, one child at a time. It is intentional about training and instructing children to acquire the necessary skills and character for them to influence the next generations.

Responsibilities

• Developing and executing the company’s business strategies in order to attain the goals
• Providing strategic advice to the co-director to have an accurate view of the market and the company’s future
• Preparing and implementing comprehensive business plans to facilitate achievement by planning cost-effective operations activities.
• Developing and executing company policies and legal guidelines and ensure they are cascaded from the top down in the company and that they are followed at all times.
• Communicating and maintaining trust relationships with all stakeholders, business partners and authorities
• Overseeing the company’s financial performance.
• Maintaining a structure and reward system which supports the organization’s achievements.
• Developing and appointing key performance indicators for Team leaders.
• Understand and provide a framework for reporting requirements
• Seeking external support as when may be required as necessary.

Achievements

• Oversaw the growth and expansion of the school from one to four campuses in two different counties, Nairobi and Machakos
• Managed seamless operations of the school in the development and growth from its conception to a student population of 200+ children up until 2020.

Company Overview

Oriflame is a leading cosmetics company in Europe selling direct and was founded in Sweden in 1967 with its presence in 65 countries worldwide.

Oriflame East Africa Limited is the African division of global enterprise presently operating in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with its head office being in Nairobi, Kenya.

Responsibilities

• Directing and overseeing the accounting function in the region
• Preparing cash flow projections, reviewing and planning cash outflows and investment activities
• Collaborating with senior management to accurately forecast and report on financial status of the company
• Developing and managing pricing model for entire product portfolio
• Ensuring a safe custody of the organizations financial assets
• Formulating sound financial policies, procedures and systems to ensure effective control and accountability
• Managing and reviewing of monthly group financial performance reporting including income statement, balance sheet, and cash- flow statement
• Coordinating the preparation of budgets, monitoring of implementation and management of corrective action to ensure achievement of overall budget objectives
• Preparing the annual financial statements and coordinating the process with independent auditors
• Overseeing preparation and processing of payroll
• Managing related company accounts with regional offices
• Handling insurance matters by ensuring the organizations risks are covered
• Liaising with the bank on a day to day basis and handling negotiations and/or correspondence
• Handling administrative matters
• Managing staff pension matters.

Achievements

• Setup Tanzania office accounting department involving staff recruitment, setup of accounting software and training and ensuring compliance with local regulations
• Developed a real-time synchronized internal reporting tool for all the six offices in the region ensuring timely daily monitoring and reviews of treasury management.

Responsibilities

• Verifying and approving vendor invoices for payment
• Managing W.H.T returns
• Preparing annual budgets and variance reports
• Managing Cash flow
• Maintaining and monitoring margin calculations on product portfolio
• Preparing monthly bank reconciliations
• Managing payroll deductions and returns
• Preparing of VAT returns
• Maintaining the company’s assets register
• Managing of accruals and prepayments
• Preparing monthly management accounts
• Managing related company accounts with the Uganda office
• Handling insurance matters both medical and general
• Liaising with bank on a day to day basis monitoring activity and negotiating for rates
• Handling administrative matters
• Supporting in preparation of payroll schedules
• Handling audit

Achievements

• Setup the Kenya finance and administration department
• Handled maiden audit & Due diligence exercises
• Established and developed systems to oversee accounts department for Uganda office.

Company Overview

CAMEC Kenya Ltd was engaged in exploration and mining activities in Kenya, Southern Sudan, and Ethiopia.

The company was based in Kenya and operated as a subsidiary of Central African Mining and exploration Company Plc incorporated in the UK.

Responsibilities

• Approving of payment requests to vendors
• Reviewing and coding for upload into ACCPAC of Ethiopia and
• Sudan monthly transactions.
• Deducting W.H.T where appropriate, issuing of certificates to vendors and consultants and ensuring the same remitted to KRA as per the statutory requirements
• Verifying and approving vendor invoices for payment
• Preparing of cash call requests to the Head office
• Supervising petty cash use and reimbursement
• Preparing monthly bank reconciliations
• Maintaining of cashbooks ensuring that these are consistently up-to-date
• Reconciling monthly intercompany balances with Sudan, Ethiopia and UK
• Adjusting for rate of exchange differences that arise from multi-currency transactions
• Preparing of variance against budgets
• Maintaining of the fixed asset register
• Assisting in preparing of quarterly accounts for presentation to the Ministry of Energy.

Achievements

• Established with company bankers an online banking facility that increased efficiency in the various banking functions like paying vendors and inter-bank transfers
• Setup the Accounts Payable module in ACCPAC to enable the accruing of vendors' invoices previously accounted for on a cash basis.

Exit

• Due to the Economic meltdown, the parent company in the UK withdrew funding of its operations in Kenya in December 2008 leading to the closing down of the Kenyan office and releasing all staff.

Company Overview

FedEx (East African Courier Limited) was the appointed FedEx licensee in the region. EACL is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with branches in Mombasa, Kisumu and Thika and 120 accredited agents strategically located all over the country EACL offers customs Services, In-Country

Courier (Local Courier) and Express Logistics Services.

Responsibilities:

• Preparing payment to suppliers and other creditors
• Reconciliation of creditor’s statements and handling creditor’s queries
• Supervising petty cash use and reimbursement
• Maintaining staff debtor’s accounts
• Supervising three accounts assistants in the department
• Ensuring system backups are done on a daily basis
• Preparing monthly bank reconciliations for company’s six bank accounts
• Assisting the Finance Manager in preparing financial reports required to renew facilities with the bank, managing the bank accounts and ensuring good bank relations with the relationship managers.
• Assisting the Finance Manager in preparing monthly payroll and ensuring staff salaries are transferred accurately and on time
• Ensuring all payroll related statutory deductions and returns are paid on time and accurately
• Reconciling marketing trip expense reports for review
• Preparing and entering in the books monthly payroll journals, direct bank debits
• Managing of accruals and prepayments
• Preparation of VAT returns
• Maintaining the company’s assets register
• Preparing monthly management accounts and any other reports as may be required by management
• Ensuring W.H.T is deducted and the same remitted to KRA as per the statutory requirements
• Assisting in negotiations for renewal of annual insurance policies and liaising with the insurance brokers on any arising queries/claims
• Ensuring installment tax is paid on time
• Handling and reconciling related party transactions namely, FedEx
• Head office, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi
• Preparing books of accounts for the annual audit and attending to audit queries with auditors.

Achievements:

• Worked with consulting arm of Deloitte & Touché during the company’s valuation process and generated the report within the required period
• Visited Rwanda office and automated their accounting systems as well as trained finance staff on use of the ACCPAC together with accounting policies & procedures to be adopted
• Handled the Finance Manager’s docket for a period of two months while she was away on maternity leave by ensuring seamless operations in the department
• Cleared a two year audit backlog left by the department’s predecessors and achieved to have the subsequent audit done on time
• Participated in an ‘operations team’ set up to map/strategize on the company’s five year strategic plan
• Elected as a trustee in the Staff Pension Scheme.

Recognitions:

• Awarded the finance departments’ best performer for the year and in 2007 recognized for efficiently deputing the Finance.

Company Overview

Triad Architects was incorporated in 1963 and has been at the forefront of the architectural profession in Kenya and the East Africa region since then.

Responsibilities

• Prepared and issued fee notes to clients.
• Issuing monthly statements and debt collection
• Ensuring procurement is done according to laid down policies and procedures
• Preparing payment to suppliers and other creditors
• Ensuring all recoverable expenses are allocated to the related projects and billed accurately to the client
• Maintaining cash flow
• Preparing financial reports required to renew facilities with the bank and managing the bank accounts and ensuring good bank relations with the relationship managers
• Conducting negotiations for renewal of annual insurance policies and liaising with the insurance brokers on any arising queries/claims
• Supervising petty cash use and reimbursement
• Preparing monthly bank reconciliations for all bank accounts
• Preparing monthly payroll, ensuring staff salaries are transferred accurately and on time together with all related statutory deductions and returns
• Ensuring VAT returns are done accurately and on time
• Managing consultants’ accounts
• Maintaining the company’s assets register
• Preparing monthly management reports and any other reports as may be required by management
• Ensuring W.H.T is deducted on all payments to consultants and the same remitted to KRA
• Ensuring installment tax is paid on time
• Preparing books of accounts for the annual audit.

Achievements

• Rectified the fixed assets register by conducting an audit of all assets, reclassified wrongly classified assets and made the necessary adjustments accordingly.

Company Overview

International Bible Society is a Christian NGO with a worldwide reach that seeks to engage people with God's Word to meet their spiritual needs it has an East African regional presence in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Responsibilities

• Supervising petty cash and ensuring a proper record of disbursement
• Maintaining cash flow
• Ensuring that selling policies are adhered to
• Ensuring debtors’ statements are produced and disbursed monthly
• Overseeing the preparation of payments and ensuring a proper and safe dispatch of the same
• Preparation of VAT returns
• Facilitating retail sales by ensuring an efficient operation of the point of sale terminals at the bookshops
• Preparing monthly bank reconciliations.
• Pricing of goods to ensure such carry adequate profit margins
• Authorizing requisitions from the IBS warehouse as well as local purchase orders and ensuring supplier credit limits are adhered to
• Preparing monthly financial reports for management
• Preparing and presenting final accounts for the annual audit.

Achievements

• Contributed to adopting a more analytical and friendly format of reports to management using the Pastel accounting software
• Carried out an internal audit for the books of IBS Tanzania for the year to September 2004 with the findings contributing substantially to their results for that year
• Modernized accounting operations in the IBS Tanzania office by computerizing their books of accounts and trained staff at the office on how to operate the accounting software
• Contributed to consolidating the IBS EA regional financial statement for the year to September 2004 which comprised of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.