Financial Expertise, a Requirement for a Managing Director
“I was born in Damghan in 1964. In prime of youth after the beginning of the imposed war with Iraq, I went to the warfronts in 1981 and after 15 days, I was injured and became a war disabled. After high school and obtaining my diploma in auto mechanics, I was employed by the National Iranian Gas Company as a specialist in water, power, and steam at Shahid Hasheminejad Refinery in 1984. In 1991, I graduated from an accountancy course of the Islamic Azad University, Mashhad branch. After a year, I was transferred to the gas supply District 4. Due to disability, I was exempted from mechanical work and was transferred to the finance department.
I continued as sales accounting expert with the finance department of gas operations District 4 from November 10, 1985 and in early 1996, I was appointed as official in charge of salaries and wages of District 4 pipeline department. I was then transferred from Mashhad to Tehran and started to work as a bookkeeping expert and accountant with the National Iranian Gas Company. I have also worked as deputy director of Finance and Maintenance Department and member of board of directors of Semnan Province Gas Company for three years, as project control manager with the Tehran Province Gas Company for eight months, as director of the Finance Department of the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company, and finally as head of the Public Accounting Department of the Gas Engineering and Development Co.”
The above is the résumé of Abolfazl Ashrafi, head of the Public Accounting Department of the Gas Engineering and Development Company. He considers himself a diligent person and maintains that human beings should endeavor toward realization of their goals as long as they are breathing.
Explaining about his careers, he says, “The Financial Management Department has been made up of such subsidiaries as developmental projects accounting, commodity accounting, budget accounting, control, credits, expenses, and general accounting. General accounting, in turn, consists of treasury accounting, property accounting, salaries and wages accounting, documents accounting, expenses, current contracts, and notifications accounting and is responsible for all current tasks of the company."
Mr. Ashrafi, head of the Accounting Department, also maintains that bookkeeping and final accounting are other duties of his department, adding, “Our department is mostly in contact with clientele. In fact, all the affairs related to receiving or paying money through treasury and payment of current expenses are among duties of this department.”
He noted that financial expertise is a requirement for any managing director and could be one of the most important factors behind profitability of a company.
Ashrafi added, “If instead of engineering expertise, a managing director has financial expertise, he would be able to stop losses and increase productivity and quality of the work.”
He also talked about his willingness to implement specific projects after his retirement, adding, “For certain reasons, I would like to retire early and engage in activities profitable to the public. If financially well-off, I would gather a group of people to both create jobs and serve my country.”
Ashrafi maintains that social, economic, and cultural security and eradication of unemployment are his aspirations. Explaining about correction of consumption pattern, he says, “Our social culture should be corrected first because there are surplus costs in our lives which strain the country’s resources. We must spend money as the need arises.”
“When I was working with District 4 in Mashhad, there was a case of embezzlement. We implemented a method. If a subscriber intended to file a case, they should have gone through a long procedure and met many people. Therefore, I proposed to correct that in order to save in time. It was a difficult task to get my boss to do that. However, it happened and the output increased, but one year later, I was transferred and the old methods was reintroduced,” he says.
Asked about the relationship between the boss and subordinates, Mr. Ashrafi noted, “I believe that if a boss puts himself in his subordinate’s position, he/she would heed their demands and the relationship would become friendly. In that case, subordinates would be able to talk freely about their problems and this will greatly facilitate the work.”
Mr. Ashrafi has a daughter and a son and is interested in swimming, mountain climbing, and volleyball. As the last word, he wishes peace and calm for all.
Public Relations Department of Gas Engineering and Development Co.
