World

Reasons to Pursue a Career as a Financial Controller

Published

4 years ago

January 23, 2021

Do you love working with finances, numbers, and business? Do you enjoy the prospect of strategizing for a company to create a successful financial future? If so, you may want to consider a career as a financial controller.

Financial controllers are more involved than accountants

There’s nothing wrong with being an accountant. It’s a great career, and many people find it’s perfect for them. However, if you’re forward-thinking, you’ll probably be happier with a career as a financial controller.

Financial controllers perform some of the same duties as accountants, but while accountants only focus on current and past finances, financial controllers create financial strategies to support an organization’s future. Future planning is vital for making sound financial decisions.

Requirements to become a financial controller

To become a financial controller, you’ll need at least a bachelor’s degree in finance. You’ll also need to pass the CMA certification exam.

While the certification exam is difficult to pass by studying on your own, passing becomes monumentally easier by taking a CMA prep course. Specifically, a prep course will help you retain the information and prepare you with practice exams that mimic what you’ll encounter on the real exam.

Once you have your degree and certification, you can start applying for jobs that will support your career as a financial controller. You may need to start with entry-level positions in finance to gain enough experience to become a financial controller. It’s worth the wait and the effort.

More education, degrees, and experience often means a higher salary

You’ll find that organizations often have different requirements for financial controller positions. Some will require a basic finance degree and CMA certification, while others will require multiple degrees along with professional certification.

To increase your salary potential, continue to pursue your education to meet additional requirements. Companies requiring further education and work experience usually pay higher salaries to their financial controllers.

You can work in a variety of industries

What industry do you find appealing? Industrial machinery? Clothing? Cosmetics? Packaged food? Restaurants? In whatever industry you like, there’s a financial controller.

Some people think financial controllers are only for banks and other financial institutions. However, all companies need financial oversight. Without the expertise provided by a financial controller, a company won’t get far. Any large and successful organization — regardless of industry — will have a financial controller.

You’ll be part of the foundation that creates success

As a financial controller, you’ll be part of your organization’s foundation of success. Organizations need financial controllers to:

Strategize finances for the future
Oversee internal financial records and bookkeeping processes
Execute financial strategies for finance teams
Create custom strategies to help an organization achieve set financial objectives
Oversee internal audits to identify errors and fraud
Manage payroll
Manage accounts payable and accounts receivable
Facilitate communications between company departments

All of these tasks are big responsibilities, and that’s why high levels of education and experience are required for the position.

A career with high-level responsibility is extremely rewarding

There are plenty of careers you could pursue in the financial industry. The most common career is becoming an accountant or a CPA. These are both perfectly acceptable careers for those who are satisfied with having low-level responsibility in a company. In fact, you’ll need to work in these fields to get the experience required to become a financial controller.

For example, as a controller, you’ll need a firm grasp on business and accounting, along with years of experience performing detailed accounting and auditing. Being a controller is a highly analytical position and expertise depends on extended, direct experience in accounting and auditing.

If you’re driven to take on high-level responsibility where you are directly responsible for a company’s financial success (or failure), you’ll find that as a financial controller.

How you can become a financial controller

To begin your career as a financial controller, get your educational requirements in order. If you already have your degree, pursue CMA certification. If you’re already certified, search for a position as an assistant controller. Last, if you don’t have a master’s degree, continue your education to get an MBA.

While you’re searching for an assistant controller position, take some online courses to learn financial management software in-depth. You may have gotten by with the basics until now, but as a controller, you’ll need to know your software inside and out.

You won’t become a financial controller overnight. In fact, it takes between 12 and 20 years to earn the title. However, if the position calls to you, then it’s worth every ounce of effort.

World

TRG Chairman Khaishgi and CEO Aslam implicated in $150 million fraud

Published

3 weeks ago

June 23, 2025

Jenny Jackson

In a scathing 52-page decision, the Sindh High Court has found that TRG Pakistan’s management was acting fraudulently and that Bermuda-based Greentree Holdings historic and prospective purchase of TRG shares were illegal, fraudulent and oppressive.

The Sindh High Court has further directed TRGP to immediately hold board elections that have been overdue and illegally withheld by the existing board since January 14, 2025.

In the landmark ruling, the Sindh High Court has blocked the attempted takeover of TRG Pakistan Limited by Greentree Holdings, declaring that the shares acquired by Greentree, nearly 30% of TRG’s stock, were unlawfully financed using TRG’s funds in violation of Section 86(2) of the Companies Act 2017.

“Having concluded that the affairs of TRGP are being conducted in an unlawful and fraudulent manner and in a manner oppressive to members such as the Petitioner (Zia Chishti), the case falls for corrective orders under sub-section (2) of section 286 of the Companies Act,” Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry concluded.

The case was brought by TRGP former CEO and founder Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti against TRG Pakistan, its associate TRG International and TRG International’s wholly-owned shell company Greentree Limited. In addition, the case named AKD Securities for managing Greentree’s illegal tender offer as well as various regulators requiring that they act to perform their regulatory duties.

The case centred around the dispute that shell company Greentree Limited was fraudulently using TRG Pakistan’s own funds to purchase TRG Pakistan’s shares in order to give control to Zia Chishti’s former partners Mohammed Khaishgi, Hasnain Aslam and Pinebridge Investments.

According to the case facts, the Chairman of TRG Pakistan Mohammed Khaishgi and the CEO of TRG Pakistan Hasnain Aslam masterminded the $150 million fraud. They did so together with Hong Kong based fund manager Pinebridge who has two nominees on TRG Pakistan’s board, Mr. John Leone and Mr. Patrick McGinnis.

According to the court papers, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis set up a shell company called Greentree which they secretly controlled and from which they started buying up shares of TRG Pakistan. The fraud was that Greentree was using TRG Pakistan’s funds itself. The idea was to give Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis control over TRG Pakistan even though they owned less than 1% of the company, lawyers of the petitioner told the court.

This was all part of a broader battle for control over TRG Pakistan that is raging between Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis on one side and TRG Pakistan founder Zia Chishti on the other side. Zia Chishti has been trying to retake control of TRG Pakistan after he was forced to resign in 2021 based on sexual misconduct allegations made by a former employee of his. This year those allegations were shown to be without basis in litigation that Chishti launched in the United Kingdom against The Telegraph newspaper which had printed the allegations. The Telegraph was forced to apologize for 13 separate articles it published about Chishti and paid him damages and legal costs.

After Chishti resigned in 2021, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis moved to take total control over TRG Pakistan and its various subsidiaries including TRG International and to block out Chishti. The Sindh High Court’s ruling today has reversed that effort, ruling the scheme fraudulent, illegal, and oppressive.

It now appears that Zia Chishti will take control of TRG Pakistan in short order when elections are called. He and his family are now the largest shareholders with over 30% interest. He is closely followed by companies related to Jahangir Siddiqui & Company which have over a 20% interest. The result appears to be a complete vindication for Zia Chishti and damning for his rivals Aslam, Khaishgi, Leone, and McGinnis who have been ruled to have been conducting a fraud.

TRG Pakistan’s share price declined by over 8% on the news on heavy volume. Market experts say that this was because the tender offer at Rs 75 was gone and that now shares would trade closer to their natural value. Presently the shares are trading at Rs 59 per share.

According to the court ruling, since 2021, shell company Greentree had purchased approximately 30% of TRG shares using $80 million of TRG’s own money, which means that that the directors of TRG Pakistan allowed company assets to be funneled through offshore affiliates TRG International and Greentree for acquiring TRG’s shares – a move deemed both fraudulent and oppressive to minority shareholders. The Sindh High Court also found illegal Greentree’s further attempt to purchase another 35% of TRG shares using another $70 million of TRG’s money in a tender offer.

The ruling is a major victory for the tech entrepreneur Zia Chishti against his former partners and the legal ruling paves the way for him to take control of TRG in a few weeks.