8NOVEMBER 2023OPINIONIN MYBy Alan Jia, Finance Director - ANZ, Amer Sports A JOURNEY OF AMBITION AND GROWTHGraduating from Monash University, Alan Jia encountered various challenges that shaped his professional path. From Graduate Accountant to Finance Director, Jia acquired professional expertise and demonstrable success across different disciplines covering all aspects of finance and management from compliance and reporting, cost management, inventory lean management, production/operations analysis, and more. Having a robust career aspiration and a firm set of values, he is on the journey of actively pursuing his career goals. Currently, Jia serves as Finance Director at Amer Sports. Please share with our readers your career journey and current roles and responsibilities.After graduating from Monash University, I landed in my first job as a Graduate Accountant at Centro Properties Group, gaining exposure to fundamental financial accounting and reporting, particularly in audit activities, as well as accounts receivables and payables. In November 2011, I got an opportunity to become a financial accountant with Clenergy, a solar energy company that has grown to become a major wholesaler in Australia and is now listed on the Shanghai stock market. During my time at Clenergy, I joined as a financial accountant and was promoted to senior accountant, where I led the finance team and shared service team in China. Over the course of almost five years with Clenergy, I used the time to assess my career direction while accumulating knowledge and skills. The opportunity then arose for me to join AGL Energy, the largest energy company in Australia, as a financial accountant in the custom market and new energy area, in light of my background in the solar energy experiences. At AGL, I not only strengthened my teamwork skills but also gained significant exposure to SAP implementation, including S/4HANA and ECC, which turned out to be a good experience for me in leading a team for an SAP S/4HANA system implementation in my next position. Later I joined as a financial controller for a pharmaceutical company with operations in the Netherlands, APAC, and Australia. There I led a project team in the successful implementation of S/4HANA for the entire business. During my four years as financial controller, I gained valuable experience managing teams, partnering with various departments, and actively contributing to the organization's strategic direction as an executive committee member. This period allowed me to refine my leadership abilities. Eventually, I got into Amer Sport's Australian and New Zealand business. It is a global company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with a diverse portfolio of renowned brands such as Arc'teryx, Salomon, Wilson, Peak Performance, Atomic, and Armada. Here in Amer Sports I work as the equipment finance director for the Australian, and New Zealand business. We collaborate with shared services in Poland, and provide business partnering support to local trade, commercial teams, customer service, and supply chains. We focus on growth and expanding into direct-to-consumer channels, including e-commerce and retail in which I am actively involved in strategic planning and directorship.What are some of the challenges your organization faces and how do you overcome them?The most important part of financial planning and business planning is determining the right direction and go-to-market strategy. A product suitable for one market, not necessarily finds the right niche in another market. For example, ski board or snowboard popular in Europe and Japan may not find the same niche in Southeast Asian countries or China. Our open-to-buy process includes various go-to-market procedures to assess and approve the seasonal products for different years causing it to be complex and comprehensive process. This is one of the most value-added activities I got engaged into. It involved business partnering, strategic leadership, risk management, and other significant responsibilities. One of my primary contributions is providing financial insights through extensive financial modeling and analysis
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