Antipodal pointman

What prompted you to join CHAMP?
I was not looking to move at the time. It was an opportunity to move back into a smaller environment yet still have the challenges and rewards that face a dynamic expanding company.

What major initiatives have you overseen since then?
With the growth in the industry over the past few years, I have tried to raise the reporting benchmark in the industry. I was on the Australian Venture Capital Association Valuation Committee that issued valuation guidelines similar to those issued by the British Venture Capital Association and European Venture Capital Association. I then chaired the AVCAL Reporting Guidelines and received an AVCAL Award for Outstanding Service to the industry in this regard. We focused on providing transparent, useful reporting to investors. CHAMP has adopted the valuation methodologies as prescribed by the AVCAL Valuation Guidelines and now the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines. I was instrumental in starting the ?CFOs in Private Equity forums whereby CFOs have an opportunity to discuss and share ideas with each other. This has helped the industry in implementing change and is currently helping with the implementation of IFRS. At CHAMP Private Equity, we have also started having portfolio CFO workshops. This is an opportunity for the CFOs of our portfolio companies to meet and share ideas with each other. We have included topics such as corporate governance, expense reduction, and technical – accounting and tax – updates.

What would you say are the main challenges of your role; what takes up most of your time?
The CFO in a private equity firm is central to the efficient running of the office and the business. I ask myself each day – how can my group add value to our business, be it internally, to our portfolio companies or to the industry? The basics have to be taken care of – and thereafter there are so many areas where we are equipped with the skills to contribute to the success of the firm. I am involved in all the transactions to varying degrees. On the more complex transactions, I may be heavily involved with the structuring and tax issues. The ability to focus on multiple projects at the same time is key to the role.

How is your finance team structured? Do you have any additional staff or outside help?
I have a small, highly skilled team: a compliance manager, a corporate financial controller, a fund financial controller and an IT person.

What type of fund reporting and administration system do you use? And how much emphasis do you place on technology?
We are currently in the process of implementing a customer relationship management system known as DealDynamo by Netage. We looked at a number of systems. Each has its own strengths. Our key objective was to improve our ability to share information across the investment team specifically in regards to our contacts. Accordingly we chose a system that is strong on its CRM capabilities, yet also has the ability to track deals, investors and funds.

The fund reporting at CHAMP has been simplified and systemised as much as possible without the acquisition of a system. All investor correspondence is done via email and we are currently working on adding an investor section to our website.

Are you involved in portfolio management?
I work very closely with the investment team and also with the portfolio company CFOs. I am also heavily involved with the fundraising effort, specifically with the negotiation and documentation of the terms and conditions of a new fund. In addition, all investor correspondence comes from me.