EFM’s Associate Network of outsourced Finance experts is growing strongly in both the UK and Ireland, and we’re now delighted to welcome into our Ireland-based team Conor Forde. His big-brand, international experience will focus his SME clients on putting Finance where it matters most: at the heart of the business’s growth and profitability strategy.

About Conor

For well over twenty years, Conor has occupied senior

financial positions (including Finance Director and CFO) for leading global brands. He was based throughout his career in the UK and Hong Kong with regional responsibilities including countries as diverse as China, South Africa, South Korea and Ireland.

His roles have encompassed every possible financial responsibility; from reporting and analysis, and preparation of statutory accounts, to budgeting and forecasting, and more.

But what has driven Conor throughout his career is his determination to make Finance a transformative partner in the business’s success – not just a means of measuring and recording it.

To this end, Conor is experienced in supporting commercial teams in customer negotiations, renegotiating supply chain terms, and optimising cash flow and tax efficiency, all of which make a palpable difference to operational profitability.

At the same time, he is also practised in maximising the synergies between IT and Finance, making use of, for example, business intelligence systems to support data-driven analysis and “right first-time” decisions, as well as automated processes to reduce the costs and productivity impacts of the repetitious activity.

What Conor will help EFM to do

As you’ve seen above, Conor takes Finance beyond just accounting, and this is exactly how all EFM Finance Directors work, providing excellent, incisive, timely information that supports your decision-making process and, where needed, effective business reorganisation.

Conor is no stranger to the results this method of working can bring. His changes have helped release many millions of dollars worth of “trapped” cash, move a major European brand into double-digit profit in the UK for the first time, and protect a global brand through the devastating credit crunch of 2008 – among many other achievements.

The benefits Conor can deliver to his EFM clients take many forms.

Structure and balance are high on his list (with the right people empowered to do the right things for the best outcome) as are extracting value from information and making sure it reaches those who need it, so they can make effective decisions such as supporting his Finance colleagues through the sometimes-lonely process of modeling whether new product ideas will – or won’t – fly in practice.

In short, Conor knows what true growth looks like and how Finance should underpin it – and, like all EFM practitioners, he’s there when you need him, without the burden on your business of a permanent salary bill!

In his own words

Conor says: “I am excited about working with EFM’s SME clients to help them put their Finance function at the core of their business success and to ensure Finance has a voice at the table to inform the business’s fortunes.

I’m pleased to be able to bring big-brand, international experience to bear on the challenge, but at the same time I look forward to understanding each business individually and translating those insights into performance uplift and business growth.”

Click here to view Conor Forde’s EFM Profile.