Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
Membership
References
Timeline
Generic
STEPHEN MAKAU

STEPHEN MAKAU

Nairobi

Summary

Finance & Accounting | Audit | Risk & compliance

Head of Internal Audit, working as an Independent Advisor to the Board and Executive management team in execution of Corporate and Business strategies for sustainable value creation.

I have extensive experience in all aspects of business management with success in process synergies & efficiencies, working capital management, cost reduction techniques, strategic partnerships, developing robust standards, internal controls, and processes while minimizing risk.

Overview

11
11
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Head of Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance

Mr. Green Africa Trading Limited
05.2022 - Current

Key Achievements

  • Identified and rectified a flawed commission-based plastic sourcing model responsible for a loss of KES 10 million in commissions within six months.
  • Recognized repeat occurrences of inventory overstocking, optimizing working capital management by aligning sourcing volumes with plant production capacity.
  • Collaborated with the CFO to enhance the cash conversion cycle, resulting in a 30% boost in revenue collections.
  • Flagged and led an IT application control gaps remediation project that had cost the business KES 1 million over a period of three months.
  • Identified and resolved double purchasing instances, both system and people-related, resulting in an improved internal control environment.
  • Led 13 million USD business scaling-up project to establish new processes and controls in a consultancy role.
  • Developed a KES 2 billion Enterprise Risk Management framework (ERM) for the business.

Audit Manager-Internal Audit

Liberty Kenya Holdings Plc
04.2018 - 04.2022

Key Achievements

  • Identified revenue losses of KShs 35 million for Heritage Insurance Kenya Limited, resulting from failure to monitor exchange rate fluctuations.
  • Flagged TZS 256 million unsupported facultative premium revenue recognized in Heritage Insurance Tanzania.
  • Reviewed and identified unsupported intangible assets (value in-force business) worth UGX 183 million in Liberty Life Assurance Uganda Limited.
  • Identified and reported missing receipt numbers from the premium-receipting tool at Heritage Insurance Tanzania Limited, leading to a management-initiated forensic investigation.
  • Identified and addressed the need for user activity monitoring, system change logs, and compatible user rights for the premium-receipting tool at Heritage Insurance Tanzania Limited.
  • Flagged non-compliance in withholding tax for medical service providers and contributed to the creation of an excel-based model to ensure Compliance-Heritage Insurance Kenya.
  • Discovered massive operational irregularities in Charter Malawi, with subsequent forensic investigations revealing fraud and technical insolvency. The Group was able to take remediating measures to avoid further shareholder value loss.
  • Conducted an ‘agreed upon’ IFRS 9 training for Liberty General Insurance Uganda.

Audit Senior

KPMG Kenya
09.2013 - 03.2018

Key Achievements

  • Oversaw the 2016 and 2017 KCB Group Plc audit that included a detailed review of the books, coordinated group reporting and recommendations to the Board Audit Committee as per the newly implemented Group structure.
  • As an accredited trainer within the Learning and Development at KPMG, I facilitated numerous technical training and learning hours within the audit department, most notably the IFRS 9 implementation project.
  • Recognized by KPMG as a professional in the region who had demonstrated excellence, skills and behaviors that helped support and drive the global and regional strategy through the ‘KPMG Shine Award’.
  • Was rated as “Highly effective” during all the yearly reviews at KPMG for exceeding the expectations and performed exceptionally. I was promoted to a senior auditor after only 2 years after joining the firm through the graduate recruitment program.
  • Participated in the Kenya Top 100 Survey projects as a Lead Analyst with the responsibility of data analysis and ranking of the participants based on their financial ratios obtained from audited financials.

Key Clients Managed: KCB Group Plc, HF Group Plc, UAP Insurance Group, Old Mutual Insurance Group, Jubilee Insurance Group, Sameer Africa Limited, BOC Gases, East African Breweries Limited, De La Rue, Accenture East Africa Limited, Philips East Africa, Pfizer Laboratories, Opportunity Kenya Limited and Finlay’s Horticulture Kenya Limited

Education

Executive Masters of Business Administration -

Strathmore Business School

Bachelor of Commerce-Finance -

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
01.2013

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education -

Makueni Boys High School
01.2007

Skills

  • Financial Management
  • Financial Reporting
  • Cash runway modeling
  • Financial Planning and Analysis
  • Budget analysis
  • Process and Financial controls development
  • Risk assessment and management
  • Auditing
  • Operations Management
  • Legal & Regulatory Compliance
  • Project & change management
  • Strategic planning and execution
  • Leadership & team management
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Negotiation and Bargaining

Certification

  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA-K)
  • Certified Internal Audit, (CIA)- IIA

Membership

  • A registered Certified Public Accountant, member no. 20883
  • Institute of Internal Auditors, Kenya Chapter member number 2189168

References

  • Frank Mumo, Chief Finance Officer, Mr Green Trading Africa, +254 723 949 889, fmumo85@gmail.com
  • Pius Musyoki, +254 721 849 215, pius.musyoki7@gmail.com
  • Bernard Kamau, Senior Manager, KPMG Kenya Limited, +254 727 362 405, bkamau@kpmg.co.ke

Timeline

Head of Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance

Mr. Green Africa Trading Limited
05.2022 - Current

Audit Manager-Internal Audit

Liberty Kenya Holdings Plc
04.2018 - 04.2022

Audit Senior

KPMG Kenya
09.2013 - 03.2018

Executive Masters of Business Administration -

Strathmore Business School

Bachelor of Commerce-Finance -

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education -

Makueni Boys High School
STEPHEN MAKAU