Mark Smith
Lichfield,United Kingdom
Summary
Accomplished Management Accountant with ACMA qualification and full UK Security Clearance (SC), specialising in SAP S/4HANA Finance implementation since 2015. Demonstrates expertise in C-Suite stakeholder engagement and management, with a proven track record of successful S/4HANA implementations via Brownfield conversion, Selective Data Transfer, and Greenfield using Best Practice Processes and Activate methodology. As a Solution Architect, ensures seamless integration of S/4HANA with platforms such as SuccessFactors, SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), SAP BW, SAP Ariba, SAP Cloud Analytics, OpenText, and Concur. Extensive experience across diverse sectors including Power and Utilities, Advanced Manufacturing, Banking and Financial Services, Consumer Products & Retail, Local and Central Government, Aerospace and Defence, Telecoms, Life Sciences/Pharmaceuticals.
Overview
29
29
years of professional experience
2004
2004
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification
Work history
Owner – Technology Consulting
MHSTA Solutions Limited
2024.05 - 2026.01
- Freelance SAP S/4HANA Finance Architect and Consultancy Services supporting RFP’s, discovery, design, implementation and solution optimisation.
- Project History:
- UK Central Government Finance Transformation- Finance Lead supporting a migration from SAP ECC to an S/4HANA Private Cloud Solution including Finance, Projects and Procurement based on a Selective Data Transfer approach and an MVP scope. Core S/4HANA Solution deployed April 2025. Group Reporting deployed January 2026.
- Global Utility Company - Finance Workstream Lead (working on behalf of a Big 4) delivering Enterprise Structure and Finance S/4HANA design for a greenfield Private cloud implementation. Responsible for functional team preparing and delivering Fit-to-Standard workshops.
Director – Technology Consulting
Ernst & Young
2020.02 - 2024.05
- UK SAP Finance Capability Lead
- Project History:
- Marks & Spencer - Retail Solution Architect for a Greenfield S/4HANA implementation, responsible for RFP response through to bid and securing of the project together with inception and move into design. Scope included S/4HANA Private Cloud on RISE as part of a Business Finance Transformation. Core scope S/4HANA, BW/4HANA, SAP PaPM, SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Business Technology Platform. Currently in Solution design using SAP Best Practice approach.
- Urenco – Power & Utilities - SAP S/4HANA SME supporting a Visioning engagement to help the client define a 5-10 year roadmap to realise their business vision and supporting technology enablement.
- Anglian Water Services – Power & Utilities - Finance Solution Architect engaged to deliver the S/4HANA Finance design and associated developments as part of a Transformation project. Managed a team of 4 consultants as part of the wider project team. Delivery of Fit/Gap Workshops
- Asahi – Consumer Products - Finance Solution Architect leading S/4HANA finance solution design.
- Cadent Gas – Power & Utilities - Finance Solution Architect delivering SAP BPC, SAP Disclosure Management, Segregation of Duties solution, Advanced Financial Close (AFC) and SAP Concur in the S/4HANA landscape. Managed a team of 12 consultants in the on-time and on-budget delivery of the above solutions.
- Cadent Gas – Power & Utilities - SAP Lead on an engagement to investigate issues around Regulatory Reporting. Analysis with the business of data, process and people issues. Documented report provided to the client highlighting key issue areas and potential improvements and mitigation to improve the delivery and quality of Regulatory Reporting to the Gas Regulator.
Owner
MHST Solutions Ltd
2019.09 - 2020.02
- Freelance contractor providing SAP Finance consulting services.
- Project History:
- Electricity Supply Board (Ireland) – Power & Utilities - S/4HANA reporting lead. Responsible for design and delivery of S/4HANA reporting across all Finance processes including Management Accounting and Project Accounting.
Global Team Lead – S/4HANA Finance
AgilityWorks Ltd
2016.11 - 2019.08
- SAP S/4HANA Architect and Capability Lead, responsible for presales, design and successful delivery of SAP solutions. Responsible for Finance presales in UK, Portugal and UAE.
- Project History:
- Northern Gas Networks (Leeds) – Power & Utilities - Solution Architect for a green field S/4HANA 1610 implementation using SAP Activate methodology and utilising SAP Best Practices across Finance, Supply Chain, Work Order Execution, Sales and Human Resources. Managing a team of onshore and near shore functional consultants implementing S/4HANA modules including Finance suite, Sales and logistics.
- Leonardo (Edinburgh & Basildon) – Aerospace and Defence - Finance Architect on a system conversion from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA 1809. Responsible for the conversion of Customers, Vendors and Employees to Business Partners together with the conversion to SAP S/4HANA Accounting. Responsible for change management to the business as part of the transformation and resolving any issues. Solution went live in March 2019 on time and on budget.
Finance Capability Lead and Solution Architect
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
2013.05 - 2016.11
- SAP Financials Architect and Capability Lead, responsible for design and delivery of SAP Financial solutions. Responsible for the UK SAP Finance Capability including recruitment, solution offerings, staff management and presales.
- Project History:
- BAE Maritime Services (Portsmouth) – Aerospace and Defence - Finance Solution Architect managing the Business Planning, Finance and Project areas through blueprint and solution design. Responsible for 3 consultants and working with the business in developing their finance transformation business case and solution roadmap. Solution included conversion to S/4HANA 1511 and implementation of SAP Project Portfolio Management (PPM).
- Selex ES (Edinburgh) – Aerospace and Defence - S/4HANA Lead Finance Architect on a Proof of Value (POV) in migrating to Simple Finance (1503) and performed the conversion to SAP Accounting.
- LeasePlan Ireland (Dublin) – Financial Services - Solution Architect in the successful rollout of the LeasePlan UK solution across two businesses - an insurance company and IT services company.
- LeasePlan (Slough) – Financial Services (Leasing) - Finance Architect (Purchase-to-Pay, Record-to-Report and Order-to-Cash) on a global rollout across 30 countries for the world’s largest car leasing company.
Managing Consultant (World Class Financial Management)
HCL Axon
2011.11 - 2013.05
- Project History:
- Leo Pharma (Copenhagen) - Pharmaceutical - Finance consultant (R & D Stream Finance Lead) on Project Globe set-up and initial blueprint. Included facilitating AS-IS workshops and initial solution design based on HCL-Axon Pharma template.
- Renaissance Capital (Moscow and London) - Russian Investment Bank - Lead Finance Architect for an SAP Financials implementation for a Global Russian Investment Bank in order to facilitate financial transformation and to meet IFRS reporting standards for Financial Instruments. North America, Africa and SE Asia.
Senior Business Consultant (SAP FICO, BPC and BI)
Logica UK
2008.10 - 2011.11
- Provision of SAP Solution Architecture, Presales, Consultancy services and business process enhancement/transformation.
- Project History:
- United Utilities (Warrington) – Power & Utilities - Finance Solution Architect for a major re-implementation of SAP together with additional new functionalities such as New General Ledger, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Invoice Management, Flexible Real Estate and Business Planning and Consolidation.
- Systemax Inc (New York and Wellingborough) - Retail and Distribution - Finance and Integration Manager for a European roll-out of a US SAP Finance & Logistics template. The project involved the roll-out of a US configured SAP system to the UK, Germany, Holland, Italy and Spain.
- Warrington Borough Council (Warrington) - Local Govt - Lead Finance and Integration consultant for an implementation of a Finance, Project Systems/Investment Management, HR/Payroll and SRM solution.
- Isle of Wight Council (Newport) - Local Govt - Lead Finance and Integration consultant implementing a Finance and SRM solution across a full lifecycle.
Senior Consultant (FI/CO and BI)
Atos Origin UK Ltd Systems Integration
2007.04 - 2008.10
- Provision of SAP Consultancy and business process enhancement.
- Project History:
- The Civil Aviation Authority (Gatwick) - Air Licensing - BI consultant for an implementation of an SAP ECC solution.
- AZ Electronic Materials (Stockley Park) - High Tech Manufacturing - Leading a Global Sales and Finance Forecasting Project implementation using SAP BI-Integrated Planning technology.
- Camelot Group (Watford) - Lottery provider - Finance team lead for finance element in a retailer management solution around CRM. Facilitated workshops across CRM and Finance functions.
- Findel (Hyde) - Education supplies - Supporting the finance team with regards to design and configuration of management planning solution, CO-PA and CO-PCA.
Principal Applications Consultant (Finance)
Ajilon Consulting ERP Services Division
2006.06 - 2007.04
- Lead Finance consultant for the provision of ERP Consultancy, strategy, support and maintenance to hosting and fully managed services.
- Project History (Current):
- Anglian Water (Huntingdon) - Utilities - BI Testing team. Responsible for the in-depth testing of business-critical reports as part of an SAP-ISU implementation.
- Southern Water (Worthing) - Utilities - Responsible for the design and creation of a number of CATT Scripts required to create mass data to be used in the delivery of training to the user population as part of an SAP-ISU implementation.
- UK Hydrographic Organisation (Somerset) – Aerospace and Defence - Provision of workshops in order to deliver a Blueprint to create additional Company Codes required by the business.
Senior Business Consultant (Finance)
LogicaCMG Plc (Enterprise Services)
2004.08 - 2006.06
- Provision of SAP consultancy to Local Government bodies, Aerospace and Defence and Utility suppliers including responses to Invitation to Tender (ITT), implementation and support.
- Project History:
- Liverpool City Council (Local Govt) - Lead Finance Consultant for a Finance and Logistics implementation. Full project lifecycle including coordinating and leading Blueprint workshops, design and configuration of the solution, unit and integration testing, preparation for go-live and post go-live support.
- Barnsley Metropolitan Council, South Yorkshire (Local Govt) - Lead Finance Consultant for a Finance and Logistics implementation. Full project lifecycle from blueprint through to post go-live support including design and configuration. A full finance solution was implemented covering FI-AP, FI-AR, FI-GL, PS/IM, Grants Management, FI-AA and TR-CM.
SAP FI/CO Consultant
Roc Consulting (SAP Implementation Services and Support)
2002.09 - 2004.08
- Provision of consultancy to pre-sales with the preparation of bids and estimates. Development of presentations and demonstrations for potential customers. Post-sales consultancy in developing additional work and support contracts.
- Project History:
- Proximus (Belgacom Mobile) Brussels (Telecoms provider) - Lead Consultant implementing a templated billing solution.
- UTS Telecom, Curacao (Netherlands Antilles) (Telecoms provider) - Lead Consultant implementing a templated billing solution.
- Cable & Wireless (West Indies) (Telecoms provider) - Lead Consultant implementing a templated billing solution.
- Eastlands Benefit Administration, Basingstoke (Financial Services) - Lead consultant on the migration of the SAP Accounts Payable and Receivable functions from Eastlands in Basingstoke to National Grid Transco in Newcastle.
- Mobilkom Telecom, Vienna, Austria (Telecoms provider) - Lead Consultant implementing a templated billing solution.
- Intec Telecom Systems, Woking (Telecoms software provider) - Lead consultant responsible for the design and implementation of a Financial Consolidation solution using SAP ECC-CS.
SAP FI/CO Consultant
Ascent Technology (SAP Value Added Reseller)
2001.07 - 2002.05
- Financ consultant for the financial accounting and controlling modules of SAP R/3 I was responsible for both pre-sales (demonstrations) and post-sales (implementation and support) of SAP software. A standard project implementation methodology was used for contracted solutions. Below are a list of the main projects and responsibilities whilst in the role:
- Project History:
- Bookham Technology, Abingdon (Optical Networks)
- Fujifilm, Hemel Hempstead/Peterborough (Electronic Imaging)
- Servomex, Tunbridge Wells (Gas Analysis)
SAP Implementation Finance Team Lead
Alstom Transport Service (Transport/Manufacturing)
1999.09 - 2001.06
- Alstom Service decided to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP) system in a £5 million investment project. This was to support the Finance Transformation of the business. I was appointed to the project team when SAP was selected as the software for the system.
Project Accountant
Alstom Transport Service (Transport/Manufacturing)
1998.08 - 1999.08
- I was explicitly responsible for the project accounting duties of six new train rolling stock Test and Commissioning contracts worth in total a value of £20m. The role was reporting to the UK Finance Director, and Contracts Project Manager.
Plant Accountant
Dana Spicer-Axle Europe (Automotive)
1996.09 - 1998.08
- I was responsible for the accounting function of the ‘Witton’ manufacturing facility where light axles for customers such as Jaguar, LDV and Metrocab were produced.
Education
Associate Member Chartered Institute of Management Accountants -
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
BA (Hons) Accountancy - undefined
UCE Birmingham
BTEC National Diploma in Business & Finance - undefined
Sutton Coldfield College of Further Education
IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation - undefined
SAP S/4HANA Financials Certified Consultant - undefined
Skills
- Qualified Management Accountant (ACMA)
- Full UK Security Clearance (SC)
- SAP S/4HANA Finance certified with experience of implementing S/4HANA since 2015
- C-Suite stakeholder engagement and management
- Implementation of S/4HANA via Brownfield conversion from ECC, Selective Data Transfer and Greenfield using Best Practice Processes and Activate methodology
- Solution Architect ensuring integration of S/4HANA with SuccessFactors, SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), SAP BW, SAP Ariba, SAP Cloud Analytics, OpenText and Concur
- Integration with non-SAP systems
- Power and Utilities
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Banking and Financial Services
- Consumer Products & Retail
- Local and Central Government
- Aerospace and Defence
- Public Sector / Local and Central Government
- Telecoms
- Life Sciences/Pharmaceutical
Certification
- SAP AC100E – SAP S/4 Simple Finance Add-on (2015)
- SAP AC210 – New General Ledger (2004)
- SAP BW305 – BW Reporting & Analyses (2007)
- SAP BW310 - Enterprise Data Warehousing (2007)
- SAP BW317 – Integrated Planning (2007)
- SAP BPC310 – SAP BPC Application Configuration
- SAP BPC311 – SAP BPC Application Configuration
- SAP BPC 320 – SAP Business Planning and Consolidation
- SAP BPC 330 – SAP BPC for Netweaver
- SAP BPC 340 – SAP BPC focus on Consolidation
- SAP FS253 – SAP Banking (2014)
- SAP Cash Flow Management for Banking (2014)
Timeline
Owner – Technology Consulting
MHSTA Solutions Limited
2024.05 - 2026.01
Director – Technology Consulting
Ernst & Young
2020.02 - 2024.05
Owner
MHST Solutions Ltd
2019.09 - 2020.02
Global Team Lead – S/4HANA Finance
AgilityWorks Ltd
2016.11 - 2019.08
Finance Capability Lead and Solution Architect
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
2013.05 - 2016.11
Managing Consultant (World Class Financial Management)
HCL Axon
2011.11 - 2013.05
Senior Business Consultant (SAP FICO, BPC and BI)
Logica UK
2008.10 - 2011.11
Senior Consultant (FI/CO and BI)
Atos Origin UK Ltd Systems Integration
2007.04 - 2008.10
Principal Applications Consultant (Finance)
Ajilon Consulting ERP Services Division
2006.06 - 2007.04
Senior Business Consultant (Finance)
LogicaCMG Plc (Enterprise Services)
2004.08 - 2006.06
SAP FI/CO Consultant
Roc Consulting (SAP Implementation Services and Support)
2002.09 - 2004.08
SAP FI/CO Consultant
Ascent Technology (SAP Value Added Reseller)
2001.07 - 2002.05
SAP Implementation Finance Team Lead
Alstom Transport Service (Transport/Manufacturing)
1999.09 - 2001.06
Project Accountant
Alstom Transport Service (Transport/Manufacturing)
1998.08 - 1999.08
Plant Accountant
Dana Spicer-Axle Europe (Automotive)
1996.09 - 1998.08
BA (Hons) Accountancy - undefined
UCE Birmingham
BTEC National Diploma in Business & Finance - undefined
Sutton Coldfield College of Further Education
IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation - undefined
SAP S/4HANA Financials Certified Consultant - undefined
Associate Member Chartered Institute of Management Accountants -
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants