Audit and consultancy phase

What was supposed to be only an audit led me to my first job as a financial manager. I was approached by one of the partners to do an independent audit of their company1, including assets and debts since its inception. Within a month, the CEO asked for a blueprint of what would be an ideal finance department.

In addition to the audit, I built the finance department, its processes and routine from scratch; created the job description, selected and hired a person to do the basics tasks – an assistant – and get the department started. At the end of the audit and consultancy, the CEO, who longed for a more organized company, with well-defined planning and procedures, invited me to work alongside him to restructure it. So, I assumed the role of Manager of the finance, administrative and human resources departments.

Management phase

Changes such as policies, controls, and processes implementation caused tough resistance from employees. However, as tough as this resistance were my patience and persistence in being transparent and presenting each change clearly, explaining what/why/how/when it should be applied. In a few weeks, I gained their trust and, more than that, their support. I considered it as a triumph during my first time managing a team. In this case, a multidisciplinary team of 8 people.

Besides the restructuring project, I designed and implemented the operating flow of the new revenue stream, starting another department from scratch: a sales one. Once again, I built and implemented procedures, controls, and routines, as well as hiring the team and organizing their training. The sales surpassed expectations, representing about 80% of all revenue in less than a year.



1 Vinte1 is a Brazilian company that offers services of project management, planning and event production.