Name: Timo Hellén
Nationality: Finnish
What do you do at Visma and what is your educational background?
I have been working at Visma for ten years and currently my title is Senior Financial Controller & Team Leader. I studied accounting as major and received my Master’s degree from Åbo Akademi University. I have also completed the degree for KLT-accountant. The reason why I chose to study accounting is that I like to work with concrete tasks and problem solving. I would not say that I am mathematically talented, but that is fine since accounting is less about mathematical skills and more about having the ability for logical reasoning.
Visma is my first workplace within the financial industry and I have enjoyed my time here. I work at the International Department of Visma Services Oy (in Visma house of Helsinki), which means that all my clients are international companies with subsidiaries in Finland. My work includes close contact with the client companies’ financial departments abroad. I communicate daily with my customers in English and Swedish.
What are you working with right now?
This time of year is busy for us, since we are working with year-end closings & tax declarations for the year 2014. My team members are doing the ongoing bookkeeping and monthly reporting to our customers. Some of my clients do the bookkeeping themselves, for example in the USA, and then they send the profit and balance sheets for me and I make the Financial Statement according to local Finnish standards.
What is your favourite task?
For me, the most fun tasks are the ones that are the most challenging ones. I am constantly facing novel challenges in my work and I enjoy solving them. I like working as a consult and helping foreign companies in the Finnish market. My responsibility is to function as the local eyes and ears for the financial departments of my foreign customers and keep them updated about the local regulations.
One of my favourite jobs is when someone has already made the bookkeeping abroad and they send me the profit and balance sheets and I convert them according to Finnish regulations. That can be like working as consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. At times these might be quite stressful tasks which demand lot of time and research, but for me it is the best feeling when I get those completed.
My work does not really include routines (except for year-end closings and tax declarations) – instead I get to work with versatile tasks and diverse companies from several countries and different organization cultures – and that is truly one of the best perks of my job. There are constantly new things to learn, which keeps me motivated.
How is it to work at Visma?
Visma has provided me with a good working environment and great colleagues for already over a decade. For me, the best thing has been working in our International Department and with all the international customers. I value the possibility to discuss openly and get support from colleagues. We have a culture of sharing all learnings, both within the own team and with other team leaders. So if someone has for instance has attended a training session, everyone gets the benefit of it and we can all keep our skill levels high.
What is your favourite activity outside work?
I enjoy running, reading, and travelling. I tend to run four to five times a week and for me it is good way to unload stress. I like to travel abroad two to three times a year and see all the corners of our world.