Hitesh Purohit

An experienced Finance Controller – Hitesh has worked mainly in the SME space, within a variety of different sectors including medical device, R&D, Retail and Wholesale.

He has experience in start-ups and setting up adequate financial procedures and processes in as well as the many other tasks a start-up may experience, such as HR policies.

With his wealth of experience and hands on approach, he is an ideal candidate for SMEs in all industries.

Hitesh started his working career as a temporary accountant for a specialist AV rental company during the company accountant’s sabbatical leave. During this period, he was involved in changing the way the company operated, from manual record to record hires to a computerised software-based hiring system. His role was to integrate this with the accounting software.

He then worked for a security company which specialised in retail store detectives and guards. The company was part of a larger group and his role as group accountant meant that he was producing management accounts for the companies in the group and consolidating them.

Hitesh was offered a role with a friend who owned a wholesale business and helped his friend build this up and move onto trading on various online selling platforms, thus providing a different revenue source.

He moved onto a packaging and manufacturing company on a temporary contract, where he produced management accounts for the group and the individual companies within the group.
Another temporary contract followed this as a group FC for a retail chain of chemists, who operated out of high-end departmental stores (such as Harrods and Selfridges).

He then joined a SME that was still trying to build a business in a niche market. Over the year’s, once regulatory clearances were achieved was operating in many territories worldwide. Employee base had gone up from 10 to over 150. The SME grew to a multi-million pound company with sales branches in USA and several cost centres in Europe and India. The shareholders wanted an exit strategy and so Hitesh worked with PWC and Rothschilds during the FDD.

Hitesh, then took a career break and started again in Feb 2020 as a contractor for a £16m turnover company which specialised in DAM. Initially, this was meant to support the incumbent FC a few days a week. The FD and MD soon realised his breadth of experience especially with cashflow forecasting during the lockdown such that he was then given a full-time role. At this company, he aided the company move accounting systems, prepare consolidated budgets/cashflow statements. He went onto aiding in the FDD as soon after the new systems had been implemented, the owners wanted to sell off the company.

Hitesh has also worked on two other shorter term contracts within the construction industry.

Over the course of his career, he has had experience in:

• Forecasting and Budgeting – Creating detailed 3-year forecasts in multiple currencies in order for the company to plan expansion and growth. Summary forecasts were also prepared for external stakeholders, such as investors. These were then monitored on a monthly basis and variances were reported to the board.
• Cashflow planning – The lifeblood of any SME, creating rolling 13 week rolling cashflow forecasts as well as 3-year plans, in order for businesses to plan expansion and growth. These highlighted when more funding would be required, and the banks were approached for an increase in overdrafts and short-term loans.
• Setting up Policies – as with any SME, there is often a lack of policies, both financial and HR. These were created and employees were consulted before they were rolled out. Employees were grateful that there were now, for example, expense policies which detailed what could be claimed and more importantly, the process.
• Office Fit outs and relocation – negotiated rental agreements and project planned entire office renovation.
• Financial Due Diligence – worked  in creating a FDD pack  including keeping the data room updated.
• New Systems Implementation – been involved with new accounting system implementations and modifying the MI packs to work with these systems.

Background:

A medical device company that has developed a specialised product was having difficulty penetrating a market which was heavily regulated and already dominated by major manufacturers with years of experience and large market shares. The company had to prove, not only to the regulators, but also to the competition, on how their product complimented current methods. The aim was for the product to become the standard of care in the industry.

Challenge:

The challenge is was to support the ambitions of the founder directors and to build a finance function, with adequate controls. The starting point was to determine where the company currently is and where it sees itself in a few years. The end point was to determine an exit strategy for the angel investors and shareholders.