Emmanuel Okafar
Calgary,AB
Summary
I am an experienced finance professional with over fifteen years’ experience in delivering high quality audits to clients in Canada, the UK and Nigeria. I am goal oriented, motivated, and analytical in my approach.
I am and skilled at planning, implementing and overseeing key improvements to drive efficiency in audit engagements. I have a history of cultivating an open culture with free exchange of information.
I am currently pursuing new professional challenges with a growth-oriented company.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Manager
RSM Canada
05.2022
- Provided strong leadership to enhance team productivity and morale.
- Led audit teams to deliver high quality audits to clients.
- Provided strong leadership to enhance team productivity and morale.
- Monitored progress of audit engagements by reviewing actual to budgeted time spent, cost incurred compared to fees, etc.
Volunteer: Advisory Board Member
Safelink Alberta
06.2023 - Current
- Collaborate with other board members to develop and execute programs and initiatives to advance organizational mission.
- Provide guidance and leadership on strategic planning initiatives and organizational development.
- Serve as advocate and ambassador for organization by fully engaging, identifying, and securing resources and partnerships to advance mission.
- Develop and implement strategies to drive organizational growth and development.
- Support in the improvement of financial systems, internal controls and financial reporting by serving as a member of the board finance and audit committee.
Senior Manager
PwC UK
11.2020 - 04.2022
- Led audit teams to deliver high quality audits to clients.
- Provided strong leadership to enhance team productivity and morale.
- Monitored progress of audit engagements by reviewing actual to budgeted time spent, cost incurred compared to fees, etc.
- Worked as group leader where my role was to provide leadership to other senior managers, managers, senior associates and associates.
- Worked as an I&D lead in the Leeds office, organizing programs and communications to create more awareness of people's cultures and traditions.
- Worked as mentor to less experienced staff, coaching and guiding them to grow in their careers.
Associate to Senior Manager
PwC Nigeria
05.2008 - 10.2020
- Worked varied hours to meet seasonal and business needs.
- Prioritized tasks to meet tight deadlines, pitching in to assist others with project duties.
- Managed client relations through communication and helpful interactions.
- Worked as team member and leader for audit teams of various sizes.
- Led teams to deliver high quality audits for various clients.
- Built experience in various industries such as Pay TV entertainment, manufacturing, retail, real estate and aviation respectively.
Education
Bachelor of Technology in Project Management Technology -
Federal University of Technology Owerri
Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) -
Stella Maris College Port Harcourt
Certificate - Enterprise Leadership
Cornell University
USA11.2023
Chartered Accountant Qualification - Accounting
ACCA
Nigeria02.2014
Skills
- Good analytical skills
- Advanced use of MS Office packages (Excel, Word and PowerPoint) and audit tools - Caseware and Aura
- Talent Development
- Budget Oversight
- Strategic Planning
- Reporting Oversight
- Documentation and Reporting
- Reporting Management
- Cross-Functional Communication
Group Leader Role
PwC UK, In the Leeds Audit Business Unit, I was appointed as a group leader in February 2021. The group leader is a leadership role which involves being a link between Leadership (Partners and Directors) and the other employees (senior managers and below). As a group leader, I did the following:
- Assisted the market senior partner, other partners and directors in determining various people strategies in the audit BU;
- Contributed to driving the firm’s people agenda;
- Planned events, initiatives and activities to improve staff wellbeing and behavior;
- Led and drove the firm’s diversity and inclusion agenda;
- Ensured that leadership objectives and strategies were well understood across staff levels;
- Led meetings with senior managers and managers and ensured that action points are addressed;
- Attended to matters that affect the staff in the Audit Business Unit.
Business Development
PwC Nigeria, In PwC Nigeria, I was involved in the firm’s business development drive in the technology and info-comms space. Being an account driver, I helped the unit to identify opportunities for more work and revenues at one of my clients which was a major account for PwC Africa. My achievement in this area include:
- Worked as part of a team whose objective includes pushing the firm’s business development drive;
- Worked as account driver for one of the firm’s major audit clients with audit fee of circa $600k;
- Supported strategies to increase revenue across the CIPS and TICE audit BU.
Methodology And Audit Quality
PwC Nigeria, In PwC Nigeria, I worked as an audit methodology champion for 3 years. Some achievements recorded in this role include:
- Ensured that the Audit staff were well informed of quality matters and changes in audit standards and processes;
- Created a team of managers in different sub-audit units to train the staff on audit quality matters;
- Prepared and reviewed presentations/training materials for various audit related training sessions across the firm;
- Led training sessions with partners and directors where audit quality and other related matters were discussed;
- Liaised with leadership on various matters that impact the quality of audit work across the Assurance practice in West Africa and Africa as a whole;
- Led a project to migrate audit templates to a google/web-based database.
Training Lead
PwC Nigeria, In PwC Nigeria, I was a lead trainer for some levels of staff. In this role, I worked with the learning and development team and lead partners to deliver high quality assurance trainings to associates and senior associates in the firm. My roles here included:
- Liaised with the managers and other training coordinators in the learning and development unit;
- Liaised with other facilitators on matters such as training materials, timetables, sessions;
- Ensured that the training materials are relevant to the sessions and that important areas are covered and in good time;
- Actively participated in the various training sessions for the less experienced staff;
- Ensured that the sessions went on smoothly.
Team Award Recognition
PwC Nigeria, 12/01/15, As a manager, I was part of an audit team that was recognized at PwC Africa level for delivering high quality audit in a complex environment.
Language Ability
excellent, excellent
Work Experience And Achievements
As a senior manager, I manage some complex audit and non-audit services in Nigeria and the UK. Below is an outline of some of my tasks:
- Audited financial statements of various clients (local and group reporting) under IFRS, Canadian and UK GAAP;
- Effectively managed client with annual revenues of over $180 million;
- Prepared and reviewed audit budget for discussion with engagement leader and onward presentation to client management;
- Reviewed quarterly and interim financial information for group reporting and other reporting purposes;
- Reviewed IT processes and controls on engagements with straightforward IT structure;
- Reviewed management forecast and budget to determine future profitability and cashflows;
- Reviewed forecast, budget, disbursement plan, etc. to support use of donor funds for NGOs;
- Audited donor-funded agencies and reported results to the donor;
- Performance appraisal for less experienced staff;
- Provided coaching and various levels of support to less experienced staff;
- Known for being patient in coaching and review of work of team members;
- Well experienced in dealing with difficult clients;
- Regularly reviewed profitability of audit engagements by comparing cost accumulated to expected revenue/fees.
References And Client List
Available on request
Hobbies and Interests
Singing, watching football, travelling, etc.
Languages
English
Native or Bilingual
Hobbies
- Watching and analysing soccer games
- Travelling
- Singing
Timeline
Volunteer: Advisory Board Member
Safelink Alberta
06.2023 - Current
Senior Manager
RSM Canada
05.2022
Senior Manager
PwC UK
11.2020 - 04.2022
Associate to Senior Manager
PwC Nigeria
05.2008 - 10.2020
Bachelor of Technology in Project Management Technology -
Federal University of Technology Owerri
Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) -
Stella Maris College Port Harcourt
Certificate - Enterprise Leadership
Cornell University
Chartered Accountant Qualification - Accounting
ACCA
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