Gonca Demir Halulu

RESUME

Finance professional with +6 years of solid experience in FP&A, performance management, financial reporting, controlling and currently working in Amazon EU HQ in Luxembourg as Business Controller. Recently, I had worked as Financial Analyst, Performance Management in RBC Luxembourg. As a strong finance person, I would like to come back to Luxembourg financial services where I can use my background, take responsibilities and use my analytical skills to be more business partner by touching the market and business insights with the aid of the teamwork within the company.

• Holding valid work permit in Luxembourg (no visa sponsorship required)

• Would like to continue her whole career in financial services

• Two master degrees in Accounting & Financial Management and Economics (Uni. of Hertfordshire, Uni. of Luxembourg)

• Total +6 years of FP&A experience in financial services and production sector (including FMCG, e-commerce)

• Result oriented, ambitious, proactive, good team player, likes deep analysis, works under strict deadlines

• IFRS and SQL knowledge and expert level user of SAP, BW, BPC, BI, EPM and Microsoft Office Programs

• Led SAP related value-added enhancement projects for high quality reporting and automatization

• Various reports preparation: management reports (Exco & Board report), fixed costs, ad-hoc and group reporting

• Solid FP&A knowledge, strong knowledge of P&L (expense, revenue, metrics analysis) and accrual management

Amazon EU HQ (Kirchberg, Luxembourg) - (October 2019 – present)
Role: Business Controller

• EU&TR cost controller, preparation of Management and weekly reports, handling ad-hoc requests

• Preparing budget and forecast for TR and new launch EU marketplaces, enhancing BI reports

• Participating closing process, explaining the variances in Actuals vs PY/Budget/Forecast

• Preparing budget documents/presentations for whole EU by doing deep analysis and work closely with other EU teams

RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) Investor Services (Belval, Luxembourg) - (October 2018 – October 2019)
Role: Financial Analyst, Performance Management (FP&A)

• RBC IS Bank  ̴1.1B EUR AUA, +1000FTE as EU HQ in Luxembourg

• Reported directly to Snr. Mngr, Performance Mgmt. and have significant responsibilities in budget/forecast process

• Prepared Exco reports and Board presentations which show deep analysis of company financials

• Risk recovery reports indicating the major KPIs of the company, product profitability report and Ad-hoc reporting

• Ensured consolidated financial reports by explaining main variances vs PY and Plan (monthly and YTD basis)

• Prepared Non-Interest Expense budget/forecast (5-year projection) for Luxembourg and other countries (IT, CH, BE, FR, Ireland, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore) and implementing of strategy changes for expenses & revenue

• Deep analysis of consolidated P&L (including other entities) and Balance sheet vs. previous month, PY and Plan

• Budget/forecast presentations for Luxembourg and other entities in Statutory and Management view

• Close relationship with Head Office (Toronto, Canada) for monthly financials and budget/forecast activities

Colgate & Palmolive Company (HO of Turkey, Istanbul) - (May 2016 - Aug 2017)
Role: Senior Budget and Planning Specialist

• Colgate & Palmolive is well-known American FMCG brand, website: www.colgatepalmolive.com

• Brand accounting, brand controller, supported commercial team for preparation of P&L of new launch products

• Ensured Group Reporting, participating in closing process and good cooperation with division (Basel, CH)

• Targeted simplification: Contribution to reduce manual jobs on budget activities and being more business partner

• Led implementation of new Budget module to Colgate – Palmolive Turkey (global project: BW, BPC, Excel Analysis)

• Controller of Advertising & Promotion, analyzed sales and margin growth analysis by sub-brand or sub-category

• Significant contribution to budget and forecast activities, preparation of brand P&Ls, Ad-hoc reporting, SOX compliance

• Forecasted financials, prepared and presented to top managers (up to margin + A&P on SKU basis) - Monthly

• Targeted double-digit organic growth with at least 2% margin improvement by ensuring financials (next four quarters)

Akcansa (JV of HeidelbergCement Group and Sabancı Holding) (Istanbul, Turkey) - (Sept 2013 - Apr 2016)
Role: FP&A Specialist

• Akçansa: Turkey’s biggest cement producer, listed on stock market and JV of HeidelbergCement Group (German Group)

• Ensured HeidelbergCement Group and Sabancı Holding reporting requirements by analyzing Act vs Budget/Forecast/PY

• Prepared various reports: Management Reports, KPIs, Board Reports, Ad-hoc reporting, sales reports, rolling forecast

• Analyzed and controlled all P&L items such as sales targets, organic growth, fixed costs, headcount and staff costs

• Had key responsibilities in budget process and forecasting activities, participating in closing process and accruals

• Prevented potential overspent fixed costs by getting monthly forecasts from departments (e.g. IT, HR, Sales, Marketing)

• Led SAP related enhancement projects: BW & BPC projects and Fund Management

• Aimed to prevent 50% of overspent fixed costs (7 mUSD) by leading Fund Management SAP enhancement project

ING (NN) Life & Pension (Istanbul, Turkey) - (Aug 2012 - June 2013)
Role: Assistant Specialist – FP&A

• Ensured group reporting requirements, good collaboration with Head office of NN (Amsterdam)

• Prepared Management Report and group reporting, assisted budget and forecasting activities

• Analysed variance between actual and budget for Operating Expenses, cost control and cost allocation

• Participated in monthly closing process, prepared Ad-hoc reports, assisted departments about financial control process

Skills

• MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint

• SAP, BI, Analysis Excel and BW/BPC, SOX, Google sheets, IBM Cognos TM1 (EPM)

• MS SQL, Oracle, Access

• IFRS  

• Power BI  

Languages

• English - fluent

• Turkish - native

• French - beginner

Seminars &
  Trainings

• 2020 - Making Great Hiring Decisions - Amazon

• 2019 - Several trainings in RBC Luxembourg: Stress Management, Career Journey, job shadowing, rotation program

• 2017 - Plan to Act Module (SAP, BW, BPC, Excel Analysis) Workshop Colgate Palmolive – Dubai (2 weeks)

• 2014 - KPMG IFRS Course (3 days) and IFRS Training at Sabancı Holding (Deloitte) (1 day)

• 2013 - Deloitte Basic IFRS training (3 days)

• 2011 - Pre-sessional Course @ University of Hertfordshire (England, UK) – Preparation for master, 1-month program

• 2010 - Language School @ Embassy Ces Language School (Cambridge, UK) – 16 weeks English Language school

Master in Economics and Finance: University of Luxembourg (World University Rankings: 179th) - (Sept 2017- Sept 2018)

• Modules: 11 modules in total, major ones: Financial Stability, Risk Management, Advanced Macro and Micro Economics, Advanced Econometrics, Advanced Finance Theory, Behavioural Economics and Finance

• Dissertation topic: Relationship between income inequality and economic growth

MSc. Accounting and Financial Management: University of Hertfordshire (Hatfield, United Kingdom) - (Sep 2011-Nov 2012), (cGPA: Distinction)

• Modules: Challenges to management, Financial Reporting, Financial Management, Financial Strategy, Financial Markets, Management Accounting, M&A, Contemporary Issues in Accounting & Finance

• Dissertation topic: Relationship between stock prices and macroeconomic factors.

Undergraduate Program: Ege University (Izmir, Turkey) - (Sept 2006 - June 2010)

• Faculty of Science – Department of Mathematics, BSc Mathematics and Computer Science