Ronan Kirwan

• Provided consultancy services to organisations and startups on a contractual basis in areas of strategic planning, systems implementation, organisational design, cash management, budgeting and financial reporting.

Hiab manufactures truck-mounted forklifts (TFML) in the US & Ireland for the logistics industry

• Responsible for planning, forecasting, and reporting global financial results for the TMFL division;
• Responsible for the US & Ireland finance organisations
• Key business advisor to the head of the division and to the manufacturing operations director.

Selected achievements:

• Achieved cost reductions of €1.5m in 2021 by implementing targeted KPIs for materials, labour, and overheads.
• Oversaw the transition of accounting and payroll functions to corporate shared services in Bulgaria.
• Led finance project during relocation of manufacturing operations from Ireland to the US.
• Delivered financial planning, forecasting, and reporting, and acted as a key advisor to the divisional VP.

Yapstone is a global payments technology company that services the vacation & rental marketplaces

• Directed a team of 12 encompassing board duties, accounting, financial reporting, controllership, collections, financial planning and analysis, and business support within the international region.

Selected achievements:

• Slashed banking transaction fees by 30% in 2017. Negotiated a new fee structure with a global bank, which delivered year-over-year savings of €300k straight to the bottom line.
• Reduced aged receivables by 70% from 2017 to 2019 by implementing targeted collections strategies. Bad debts decreased from 19 bps to 9 bps over 2 years.
• Implemented business KPIs to track business performance globally. Designed and rolled out a global financial reporting package to the C-level executive team.

Opera Mediaworks is a global internet technology company that runs & manages video advertisement campaigns on its own browser

• Oversaw a team of 18 encompassing sales, account management, financial reporting, controllership, board duties, collections, financial planning and analysis, and business support within the EMEA & APAC regions.

Selected achievements:

• As the first hire, I built out Ireland as an international hub. Recruited sales, account management, and finance teams to support EMEA and APAC markets.
• Led the APAC Region sales teams to achieve revenue growth from zero to €50M over a 2-year period
• Centralised finance function for five locations into Ireland delivering operational efficiencies and faster reporting of results.
• Due diligence and merger of Canadian and South African entities into the group

Yahoo! is a global internet media & technology company (NASDAQ)

• Directed a team of 50 encompassing BPO, revenue recognition, financial reporting (US GAAP), European statutory accounting, controllership, tax management, board duties and business support within the EMEA region.

Selected achievements:

• Cut the cost of statutory accounting by €1M or 50% during my first year by eliminating dependencies on outside service providers and taking the function in-house
• Secured training accreditation from the four major accountancy bodies in Ireland, making Yahoo an attractive employer for talented finance professionals

Self-employed business consultant and tax adviser to SMEs

• Provided outsourced controllership services to small businesses encompassing financial planning and analysis, streamlining operations, tax planning, defining processes and procedures and integrating effective controls into businesses.

Selected achievements:

• Transformed the results of a manufacturing client from being a loss generator to being profitable. This was achieved over 3 years by implementing new disciplines which included targeted sales & marketing strategies, manufacturing cost reductions, KPI measures, regular reporting of results, and availing of the R&D tax credit
• Appointed to the board of mentors of the Regional Development Centre at DkIT in Dundalk, mentoring high-potential start-ups at early-stage business development

Oracle Corporation is a global technology company providing hardware & software solutions to large corporations (NASDAQ)

• Led & project-managed strategic finance projects including offshoring EMEA general accounting from Dublin to India for 50 legal entities, offshoring cash accounting for 250 bank accounts from Dublin to India, and centralizing EMEA statutory accounting and audit from local countries to Dublin.

Selected achievements:

• Designed and rolled out end-to-end statutory accounting and audit processes for 50 legal entities in EMEA, which encompassed centralized audit planning, audit cost tracking, and coordination of multiple stakeholders across different time zones.
• Offshoring of general ledger accounting delivered a 60% F&A cost reduction for the corporation
• Multiple mergers and due diligence work of European entities into the group

• Directed a team of 15 finance professionals to report and analyse the results for Western Europe, Middle East & Africa within 5 working days from end of month. Responsible for finance due diligence and integration of new acquisitions within the region, financial analysis for SEC reporting, internal controls & SOX compliance.