Timo Kasper is Fennoaqua’s Chief Financial Officer, or in his own words, “the financial guy”, responsible for the day-to-day financial routines of the company.

Timo Kasper

“Financial management is a service function, and quality service is its main objective. The clients are, of course, our whole organisation, particularly our key staff, the board of directors, suppliers, financiers, and other partners. Our Finance Business Partner Tiina Ruusunen and a competent team from the accounting office assist me.”

Kasper has been with Fennoaqua since April 2023. He started 1,5 months after Raisioaqua became Alltech Fennoaqua, which allowed him to be involved in the change process, coordination and resourcing following the acquisition.

Time for development

As a result of the acquisition, Fennoaqua’s ERP system was changed on a tight schedule, which meant that some essential functionalities and utility software integrations were not implemented. For these, Fennoaqua had to reorganise manual processes and resources to get things done on a day-to-day basis.

“Many of the functionalities that are default and very common for us Finns, such as e-invoicing for purchase and sales invoices, are not that common in an international ERP environment.”

There is still room for improvement in the current ERP system’s functionality, reporting, creation of forecasting models and development of the whole financial function.

“The finalisation of the collaboration model with our accounting firm is also still in the early stages. The work, roles and responsibilities of the parties involved will become clearer as the integrations and applications, among other things, are put to effective use.”

Kasper’s To-Do list also includes the development of forecasting models and management reporting. This will focus on forecasting and, where possible, improving the turnover rates of significant balance sheet items, thereby ensuring adequate cash flow and working capital. The highly seasonal nature of the sector makes forecasting challenging.

“Fortunately, Tiina Ruusunen joined our finance team in January. With her, we can share the workload and spar with each other in assessing and ultimately implementing various development paths.”

Growth and international cooperation

Fennoaqua has recently experienced strong growth, which also affects the day-to-day work on the finance side. Growth in export markets ties up a lot of working capital, including long payment periods, so liquidity requires daily vigilance.

“Our organisation is small, so I often deal with lost invoices or exchange rate differences on foreign currency payments. After the turn of each month, the first 10 working days are always the busiest. After the turn of the year, we are also busy preparing the accounts, accounting breakdowns and audits for the auditors.”

The Alltech partnership also has an impact on Kasper’s work.

“At times, it shows that one of our owners is American, for better or worse. The people are extremely helpful, professional and knowledgeable in their field, but sometimes bureaucracy complicates even the most straightforward issues. However, Alltech provides clear, well-documented instructions, which is good when putting new things into practice.”

An experienced professional with a long track record

Kasper has a long and varied experience as a financial and administrative expert in several change management projects. He has been involved, for example, in due diligence projects and in the post-acquisition management of an acquisition, where the overlaps between the functions and processes of the acquired and acquiring companies were reduced through integration.

“In addition, I developed a profitability analysis for a small, listed company and a new strategic pricing model to manage the risks identified in the analysis. In the system change project, I acted as a corporate finance expert from tendering and system selection to implementation.”

“My colleagues are a top-notch bunch”

Fennoaqua constantly deals with concrete issues: buying, manufacturing, storing, delivering, and selling.

“I have a long experience in the professional services sector, but I’ve been introduced to and gotten excited about manufacturing as a bystander, i.e. as an auditor. Here at Fennoaqua, the people I work with are an amazing crew. We have a small organisation, and everyone pulls together. We speak our minds without beating about the bush.”

Kasper has been somewhat surprised that, although a large owner deals with many development issues, ready-made solutions or answers that suit Fennoaqua are not easy to find.

“We are fiercely independent and in charge of our own affairs. The hardest part of the practical work has been to prioritise and resource sufficiently. There have been a lot of uncertainties in terms of time and workload. After all, we have implemented huge changes in less than two years: the acquisition, the spin-off, the merger of subsidiaries and the ERP changeover. All this has been done at the same time as we’ve reached double-digit growth.”

Music and relaxation in free time

In his spare time, Kasper travels a lot, often to concerts: together with his wife, he enjoys live music. His musical tastes are wide-ranging, from classical to stadium hard rock.

When asked about his hobbies, Kasper takes a moment to reflect.

“I don’t know if maintaining an old house and a summer cottage can be called hobbies, but it’s not worth thinking of them as work.”

“I am also immensely proud of my two little grandchildren (4.5- and 2-year-old boys). Being a Grandad is probably the coolest thing!”