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This time in our series “Yexpert Stories”: Robert Hüsken, our Financial Manager. He tells us more about the story behind the figures in the Finance department.
Dull figures? No, not at all. At least not at Yex. We’re looking more and more at the story behind the figures here. When I joined Yex seven years ago, I was the entire financial department all by myself. Now our team has six employees. And that growth has also changed the way we work. Whereas previously we were mainly involved in retrospective reporting, now we are much more proactive. We analyse the figures, support the commercial department, help devise marketing solutions, take a critical look at, for instance, turnover and gross margins, and discuss the company’s future strategy. Clearly, a huge challenge.
I love watching Yex’ customers and suppliers becoming more like partners, and relationships become ever tighter. The Finance department can also contribute to this. For example, by responding properly to questions from suppliers and, above all, by paying on time and as agreed. Because we have our financial administration in good order, suppliers can count on fast and careful settlement. This is greatly appreciated by our business associates. They know exactly where they stand with us. And of course this is what we expect from our customers as well.
At Yex, we really work as a team. The Finance department has frequent and regular contact with the Purchasing and Sales department. As a result, we are well aware of what’s going on in the company and we are able to respond quickly when necessary. We also keep each other on our toes. On more than one occasion, this leads to healthy discussions. And yes, those discussions are not always pretty. Not a problem as far as I am concerned, because we can still learn a lot from each other. At the end of the day, we are all targeting the same goal.
And when it comes to learning from each other, the same applies to the mix of young and ‘old’ in the Finance department. At 55, I am the oldest and I can genuinely learn a lot from a recently graduated colleague. Hopefully the same applies the other way ‘round. I have been in the financial profession for about thirty years and I notice that the young guard takes a different view of some things. For example, we have started to chart data using so-called dashboards. That is typically something that my younger colleagues are a better at. Quite something, isn’t it?
We also get this fresh perspective from our interns. In recent years, we have almost always had an intern in the department, and that’s great. It has happened a couple of times that an intern has become part of our team. For us it’s nice to hire someone who has already experienced what it’s like to work for a company like Yex. Because really, the AGF sector has to suit you. I myself think it’s great. I really like the dynamism that characterises this sector. But as a starter on the labour market, it’s good to discover during an internship that this is not a 9-to-5 job. We have relationships all over the world, so you can occasionally expect a message or email outside ‘office hours’. If you can’t handle that, this is not really the place for you.
Over the next few weeks, our department will be busy with the budget for the coming years. Always a challenge, but more so than ever due to corona. We have no idea what lies ahead of us. Before the end of the year, everything will certainly not be normal. By the way, corona has changed the way we work. We have started to do things more digitally and notice that we print much less, for example. That is a positive consequence for the environment in any case…which also fits in nicely with our sustainability objectives.