Projects

For Waegener, Bouffantes assumed the role of interim CFO. Waegener is a new company, located in Beerse, Belgium. Waegener is ambitious and wants to grow to a global company in a short period. As CFO, Bouffantes is involved in structuring financing, establishing multi-year business plans, creating reporting structures, developing accounting and finance, establishing risk management, implementing the ERP system (Navision) and overseeing the HR department. Bouffantes maintains contacts with banks, accountants, tax advisors, legal advisors, notaries and recruiting agencies.

For Business Unit ICOS Bouffantes assumed the role of finance director during a period of restructure. The business unit ICOS includes four factories (two in Germany, Czech and US). Lumberg Automation is one of them. In 2009, this division generated approximately € 50 million revenue with approximately 400 employees. This division has been dealing with the negative effects of the economic crisis, resulting in closure of the factory in the US and one of the factories in Germany in 2009. Production was moved to Czech. This reorganization has had far reaching consequences for the organization as well as for its employees. As a member of the management team Bouffantes has rebuild the organization and assisted with the permanent replacement of the role of the finance director. Bouffantes has specifically:

• supported the reorganization process with analyses and determining the financial effects of the reorganization. Besides that, Bouffantes was involved in the planning and execution of the reorganization process;
• ensured that the monthly, consolidated, results and analyses were completed and deviations from forecast and prior periods were explained and actions defined;
• improved the results analyses and comparability of results and KPI’s;
• ensured financial effects of reorganization were appropriately accounted for;
• cooperated with other departments (for example Purchasing) to achieve further improvements in results, for example through cost savings, improving inventory control, et cetera;
• participated in management team meetings, including meetings with corporate management of Belden Incorporated;
• executed all other activities that belong to the normal role of a finance director.

Belden EMEA Headquarters is, among other things, responsible for the consolidation, reporting (periodic results, forecast, budget and analysis) and compliance for the EMEA-region. The various entities in the region supply their results, which are than consolidated for the region. Besides that, the regional compliance team executes various audits in the region. Bouffantes’ responsibilities for this project were:

• Developing a solution for the information transfer from SAP R/3 to the reporting system Hyperion;
• Developing an analysis model (Excel) for the division of which Lumberg Automation was a part. This model provides an analysis of the developments in the results in comparison to previous periods, budget, et cetera. It allows management to quickly understand where possible problems are and where action has to be taken;
• Further support of Lumberg Automation (off-site support);
• Mapping potential risks for SAP authorizations, system access and segregation of duties. Subsequently developing an action plan to resolve the identified problems and risks together with management of entities where those problems existed;
• Analyzing existing control deficiencies, prioritizing those deficiencies and ensuring that the responsible parties completed the action plans. These deficiencies were mainly related to the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance program;
• Participating in the monthly Sarbanes-Oxley steering committee meetings.

For Lumberg Automation (Germany), a subsidiary of Belden Incorporated, Bouffantes took care of the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Bouffantes documented the processes, improved internal control and trained the employees. Besides that, Bouffantes built the finance department and ensured this department was able to complete month-end reporting within three working days. The existing SAP R/3 system was improved and several team members were trained. Additionally, Bouffantes supported the organization with the purchase price accounting, the statutory reporting and solving various financial issues. In short, a mix of financial management, compliance, training & coaching, based on interim management.

Besides the above mentioned projects, Bouffantes is experienced in:

• Implementing SAP R/3 FICO modules;
• Building and managing an (international) internal audit department;
• Building, improving and managing Sarbanes-Oxley compliance programs;
• Developing continuous monitoring and auditing techniques;
• Developing and implementing a risk management proces;
• Developing and implementing cash management structures;
• Implementing tax planning structures (e.g. commissionaire, VAT processes);
• Preparing reporting, budgetingprocesses, forecasting processes, consolidation and related analyses;
• Preparing year-end closing, auditfiles, communication with external auditors and tax authorities;
• Improving processes like creditmanagement, cash flow processes, foreign currency management and cash management;
• Developing and improving accounting processes for start-ups, projects, companies ranging from small to large, nationally and internationally.