Much more than a Finance Job

by Oh Boon Ping, Apr 24 2009 ASL's CFO lays stress on prudent risk management and competent staff, says Oh Boon Ping.

The role of a chief financial officer goes beyond competency in plain accounting, finance management, compliance and reporting, but also include having the requisite commercial knowledge and interest in the operation of the businesses. Besides the financial functions, the CFO is also expected to assist the chief executive in communicating to investors and shareholders on the financial aspects of the company. So says Lilian Tan, group financial controller at ASL Marine Ltd.

Ms Tan is one of the winners of the Chief Financial Officer of the Year Award this year for companies with a market capitalisation of between $300 million and $1 billion. The award recognises and acknowledges the best in financial leadership in listed companies.

Her company, ASL Marine, is a vertically-integrated marine services group with a strong focus in shipbuilding, shiprepair and ship conversion, shipchartering and other marine related services, where its customers are mainly from the Asia-Pacific, South Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Headquartered in Singapore, ASL Marine now owns and operates three shipyards in Singapore, Indonesia (Batam) and China (Guangdong).

Over the past years, ASL Marine has developed a niche market in building and repairing medium size vessels. The group has the capacity to build vessels of up to 180 metres in length, including offshore support vessels such as subsea support vessels and pipelay/heavy-lift vessels, accommodation barges, cutter suction dredgers, etc.

The Batam yard is well equipped for repair and conversion of all types of vessels including tankers, bulk carriers, container vessels, offshore support vessels, rigs and floating production, storage and offloading vessels. The group currently operates a 20,000 dwt floating dock and a 150,000 dwt graving dry dock in its shipyard in Batam which is one of the few shipyards in the region capable of repairing Capesize vessels. In addition, two new 220 m and 180 m graving docks will be ready in 2009. ASL Marine also owns and operates a fleet of more than 180 vessels comprising towing tugboats, anchor handling tugs, barges and other vessels, providing shipchartering services mainly to customers from diverse industries such as offshore oil and gas, marine infrastructure, dredging, land reclamation, marine construction and cargoes transportation.

During the interview, Ms Tan said that prudent risk and financial management as well as having reliable and competent subordinates are important in managing the company's finances well. In Ms Tan's case, she feels especially good to be part of the management team of ASL Marine where finances are in good order. Given the current global financial crisis and weak economic environment, she will continue working closely with the management to ride out the tough times as well as maintaining good relationship with customers and bankers for their continuous support.

Ms Tan joined ASL Marine in July 2006 and is responsible for the group's accounting, finance, treasury, secretarial, human resource and administrative functions. She is certainly no stranger to the accounting profession as she has more than 20 years experience in finance-related fields. A graduate from National University of Singapore in 1984 with a bachelor in accountancy, she started working in CPA firms and later worked in industries relating to construction, investment holdings, distribution and now in the marine industry.

For the first half ended Dec 31, 2008, ASL posted a 44 per cent jump in earnings to $40.2 million, while turnover went up 17 per cent to $226.3 million. Shipbuilding order book from external customers stood at $663 million as at Dec 31, 2008, comprising 42 vessels with delivery schedules up to financial year ending June 30, 2011.