Chartered Accountant with the ICAI. Head of Finance at Company Al-Asrar Al-Jadidah for Computer, in Jeddah. Sitting CFA Level 2 in November 2026. B.Com and PGP ESG.
What I do, day to day: VAT and tax, the monthly close, and a fair bit besides: an HR system, vendor costs, audit coordination, and lately a warehouse relocation.
A few results: roughly 50,000 SAR a year off HR admin after a new HR system; around 40,000 SAR a year off the corporate tax bill; about 10,000 SAR a year of fuel VAT recovered; four days off each quarterly close after rebuilding the consolidation; a VAT ruling secured from the tax authority; overpriced vendor contracts found and renegotiated. Nothing dramatic. Mostly leaks closed and time handed back.
Recent work: putting in an HR system and retiring manual steps; recovering fleet-fuel VAT into the ZATCA return; renegotiating overpriced vendor contracts; rebuilding the 2019-era group consolidation so every figure traces to a source.
Background: grew up in Buraidah; schooled in Kerala; five years in audit in Bengaluru: CA articleship, then assurance at EY; now in Jeddah. Languages: Malayalam, English, Hindi, Arabic.
Open to finance roles across Saudi and the GCC. Email: hello@sanhan.co. I also keep working notes on the blog: Notes.
Head of Finance at Company Al-Asrar Al-Jadidah for Computer, in Jeddah. VAT and tax, the monthly close, and a fair bit besides: an HR system to put in, vendor costs to question, an audit to see through, lately a warehouse to move.
Chartered Accountant with the ICAI; I sit CFA Level 2 this November. Before Jeddah, five years in audit: three of articleship, then assurance at EY.
SAP Business OneZenHRZATCA VATIFRSLocal Content
Jeddah, 2026
SC 03 · By the numbers
A few numbers.
50,000SAR/yroff HR admin, after putting in a proper HR system.
40,000SAR/yroff the corporate tax bill, from tighter expense capture and planning.
10,000SAR/yrof fuel VAT recovered that had been slipping through.
−4daysoff each quarterly close, after rebuilding the consolidation.
Nothing dramatic. Mostly leaks closed and time handed back.
SC 04 · The work
Three things, up close.
2025 · Tax & VAT
A ruling, in writing.
One VAT treatment sat in a grey area. Rather than guess, I took it to the tax authority and got a formal ruling, then built the quarterly compliance and filing around it.
Ruling secured2025 · Vendor costs
Vendors, re-priced.
A cost audit across our active vendors turned up contracts running three to five times over the going rate. I renegotiated the worst of them and reset the terms.
3–5× over market2024–25 · The close
Rebuilding the close.
Our group consolidation hadn’t really been examined since 2019. I rebuilt it so every figure traces back to a source, and the quarter now closes about four days sooner.
−4 days / close
The path: four places, then the roles
THE MAP · WHERE I'M FROM
Four places.
Buraidahwhere I grew upKeralawhere I went to schoolBengaluruwhere I trainedJeddahwhere I work now
INT. THE BACK OFFICE · DAY
Paradise Floorings
where I started.
My first job, before the CA. Day-to-day accounting, the monthly close and MIS for the partners, the daily cash and bank deposits, stock counts, and the indirect-tax and partners’ income-tax filings. A small business where every entry passed through my hands, a good place to learn what the numbers are actually made of.
2016Accountant cum Cashier
INT. THE AUDIT FLOOR · NIGHT
The articleship
where I trained.
V K Niranjan & Co., Chartered Accountants
T R Chadha & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants
Nageswaran & Co., Chartered Accountants
Three years of CA articleship across three Bengaluru firms. On the Canara Bank central statutory audit I travelled to corporate, circle and regional offices across India; I also worked the internal audit of the Reserve Bank of India’s Bangalore office, a forensic audit for the Karnataka Government, the internal audit of IIM Bangalore, UNDP assessments for NGOs and ICFR for the Schneider group, plus GST migration, tax audits and bank stock audits. Where the discipline came from.
2017–20CA Articleship · Bengaluru
INT. ASSURANCE · BUSY SEASON
Ernst & Young
where I learned the standard.
Advanced Analyst in Assurance, on the audit team for Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail, a listed company. I ran statutory and consolidated audits for listed and unlisted clients across sectors under Ind AS, set procedures from the risk assessment, handled fieldwork independently, and reviewed the juniors’ work so it held up to manager and partner review. Picked up two “I Am Exceptional” awards along the way.
2020–22Advanced Analyst · Assurance
INT. ON RETAINER · DAY
Filoi Business Consultants
where I advised.
Freelance senior consultant. I built and rolled out SOPs for a manufacturing client, working with leadership to tighten daily processes and make the reporting clearer. I redrew the org chart and reporting lines, and ran financial trend, variance and accounts-payable analytics that fed straight into their budgeting. Mostly: getting finance into the planning early, instead of bolted on after.
2022–24Senior Consultant
EXT. JEDDAH · PRESENT DAY
Al-Asrar Al-Jadidah
head of finance.
Head of Finance since 2025: VAT and tax, the group close, an HR system to put in, vendor costs to question, the statutory and local-content audits to see through, and right now a warehouse to move. The decisions move slower here and matter more; I’m still learning to carry that without rushing.
2025–nowHead of Finance
A field note
SC 06 · From the field notes
“The numbers to worry about are the ones that look perfectly clean.”
