Managing a cross-border finance team
Communication with your finance team is no doubt harder when members are spread around the globe, although AES Engineering FD Neil MacDonald doesn’t seem to mind.
“We’ve got a great team. It’s so international,” he says. “At the head office there are four qualified accountants and some part-qualified accountants. We’ve also got dedicated finance people in subsidiary countries such as Ireland and America.”
“Some of the smaller businesses can’t sustain their own finance team so the head office covers that.”
AES Engineering makes mechanical seals and is valued at £100m. MacDonald joined as a part-time FD at the beginning of 2007 but became full time in October of that year.
Before joining AES, MacDonald worked for Firth Rixon. His past experience included looking after finance teams in other countries. “It’s about developing relationships”, MacDonald advises. “Once you get those relationships, it’s managing regular contact. You also need common systems.”
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Tags: communication, cross-border finance team, aes engineering, neal macdonald, developing relationships, finance director,
