When Syntese A/S’s former CFO passed on the torch, a young financial consultant, Ege Boysan, stepped in as the interim CFO. However, the temporary role quickly became permanent when Ege accepted the position of CFO for the large Danish pharmaceutical company, Syntese A/S. With approx. 150 full-time employees, 30 consultants, and a product sold and shipped to almost every country in the world, Syntese’s new CFO needed both training and assistance:
“There has been a lack of CFO experience as it is my first CFO role, and I needed a mentor who would not only develop me into a CFO profile but also help clean up the accounting errors caused by my predecessors. I needed a highly experienced consultant who could take the job from day one and wouldn’t require much onboarding time,” Ege Boysan, CFO at Syntese A/S says, and elaborates:
“I needed someone to rely on. Someone to be there for me; to check if what I was doing was correct and correct me if there were any issues, but I also needed someone to do a historical clean-up of Balance Sheet & P&L errors, including booking Fixed Assets, Accruals, VAT, and setting up processes to keep the Finance team under control moving forward, as well as communication with external auditors. I needed Michael,” Ege says with a smile.
The exactly right consultant at the right time at the right price
When you sit with Ege and Michael, there is no doubt that the match between them is good. They complement each other, joke around, and share personal jargon.
“There has always been great chemistry between me and Michael, both professionally and personally. We got to know each other on a personal basis, and that makes everything easier when you have a great dynamic between two people. We complemented each other very well, and that’s made us a great team, which is awesome,” says Ege, smiling, to which Michael adds:
“Being someone’s mentor sounds so nice. I’d never tried that before, but having the opportunity to share my knowledge and witness his growth into the CFO role has been a truly rewarding experience for me. It’s especially meaningful to support someone as good and capable as Ege”.
But the chemistry goes beyond the personal level. Ege describes Syntese’s finance department – after the cleanup work – as “a pile of historical mess,” but emphasizes that Michael quickly identified the problem areas and asked the right questions, creating security and trust in the department:
“I needed the exactly right consultant at the right time at the right price – and that was Michael. He knew exactly where to look and always asked the right questions to get the full picture. Michael heard the stories and addressed the existing challenges at first, but after a significant clean-up, he also pinpointed new errors that needed to be solved. He has been the exact right consultant from the start with his experience, can-do attitude, and likable personality,” Ege explains.
Michael played a crucial role in achieving the company’s goals by both cleaning up historical errors and identifying new areas that needed attention. He prioritized the most urgent needs and developed processes that ensured control and continuity – and this is reflected in the results:
“We have created an extensive controlling file together that reconciles all our Balance Sheet & P&L accounts, as well as providing specifications for each account,” Ege says proudly, and elaborates:
“We surely managed to not only clean it up but also put in processes and controls so that I can sleep comfortably even after Michael leaves us. With Michael, I had the confidence to take on the CFO role on a permanent basis.”
A close collaboration with both consultant and partner
The collaboration between Right and Syntese arose due to a recommendation from a colleague in the industry. It became clear that partnering with Right allowed Syntese to access highly experienced talents at a competitive rate compared to other market providers, which ultimately influenced their decision to engage with Right.
But it wasn’t just the price that made the collaboration stand out. Value, partner engagement, and competencies also played a significant role:
“The partner David and I have developed a strong rapport based on trust and consistently delivering robust results – I was never pushed into buying; instead, I was offered more than I could have asked for”, Ege notes, and adds:
“Right has been the perfect match with the challenges we have seen, and the improvements we needed to make, to strengthen the Finance organization. Michael prioritized our urgent needs and addressed the burning platforms while resolving the old issues one by one. Every time we corrected a historical mistake in our books, Michael also developed a process to make sure we stay under control,” Ege explains, continuing:
“Honesty and transparency have been the remarkable values of our cooperation with Right – they possess highly experienced consultants who have solved many similar problems in their careers, they go straight to the job instead of trying to upsell any unnecessary services, and the prices are the best in terms of value for money compared to industry peers and what you receive in return. Right has always been understanding and flexible with the contract extension of Michael’s services and prioritizing our needs before leaving for another client.”
The collaboration between Syntese and Right – and especially between Ege and Michael – underscores the importance of daring to use experienced profiles to learn and grow both as an individual and as a company. It can be the key to solving complex challenges and ensuring strong future development.
“Everything has exceeded our expectations, the only bad part is that I will not be able to work with Michael at the office once he departs,” concludes Ege.
