About
A finance career built on control, then extended into systems
Twenty years across audit, accounting, systems implementation and senior finance leadership — with the last decade increasingly spent building the reporting tools and analytics that finance teams actually rely on.
Background
Emmanuel Narh Nartey is a senior finance leader based in the Western Region of Ghana, with more than 20 years of experience spanning statutory audit, accounting, tax compliance, budgeting and senior financial management. His career has moved through progressively larger scopes of responsibility: from audit assistant, to accountant building a finance function from the ground up, to senior systems implementer across multiple countries, to his current role leading the finance function of a large agro-industrial organisation.
What distinguishes the more recent stretch of that career is a second, complementary skill line: the ability to design and build the reporting platforms, monitoring systems and analytics tools that finance and operational teams use day to day. This did not replace the finance leadership — it grew out of it, driven by a practical need to see the numbers faster, monitor operational risk more precisely, and reduce the finance team's dependence on slow, spreadsheet-bound reporting cycles.
He is currently completing an MSc in Business Analytics at the University of Ghana and conducting PhD research in Business Management and Finance at NiBS University, both of which directly inform how he approaches data-driven decision-making in finance.
Leadership & transformation philosophy
Finance leadership, in this view, is not only about producing accurate numbers on time — it is about building the systems that make accurate, timely numbers the default outcome rather than the product of manual effort.
Three principles guide that work:
- Control comes first. Any reporting or automation system has to strengthen — never weaken — the underlying financial and operational controls.
- Build for the people who use it. Dashboards and workflows are only valuable if department heads, operations staff and senior management actually use them.
- Reporting tools should stay close to finance. Reporting tools should remain closely aligned with the requirements and workflows of the finance teams that use them, which helps turnaround time and keeps institutional knowledge inside the function.
Career Timeline
Two decades, five roles
August 2017 – Present
Accounts Manager | Company Secretary Current
Large agro-industrial organisation · Western Region, Ghana
Leads the finance team across monthly management reporting, group reporting, budgeting and forecasting, and the full Ghanaian tax and statutory compliance cycle. Designed and built a live management reporting platform and several operational monitoring systems (fuel consumption, supplier payment control, workforce analytics) alongside core finance duties. Serves concurrently as Company Secretary (since March 2020), supporting statutory filings and company-secretarial administration.
August 2016 – July 2017
Independent Tax & Accounting Consultant
Self-employed · Ghana
Provided independent tax and accounting advisory to three SME clients, including representation during Ghana Revenue Authority audits and preparation of audit responses.
January 2009 – August 2016
Accountant & Senior Systems Implementer
Amadeus Ghana Ltd · part of the global Amadeus travel technology network
Managed full-cycle accounting, reporting and budgeting, and coordinated tax returns and audits. Led the implementation of mid- and back-office systems for eight travel management companies across Ghana and Nigeria — specifying requirements and working closely with software developers through testing, training and go-live — and redesigned workflows to strengthen controls.
August 2004 – December 2008
Accountant
Netco Rockville Ltd · Ghana
Established the accounting function from inception using QuickBooks Premier, including chart of accounts and reporting structures. Produced management accounts, cash-flow and variance reporting, secured VAT-exempt status through direct engagement with the Ghana Revenue Authority, and coordinated internal controls and statutory audits.
January 2003 – July 2004
Audit Assistant
James Quaigraine & Co. · Accra, Ghana
Participated in financial audits, assessed internal control systems, prepared audit working papers, documented findings, and supported statutory compliance engagements.
Qualifications
Education & professional certifications
Education
- PhD, Business Management, Finance — NiBS University, Sep 2023–present In progress
Research stage: Chapter 3. Research focus: SME tax compliance and avoidance detection, and tax knowledge in data-driven decision-making. - MSc, Business Analytics — University of Ghana, Oct 2025–present In progress
Coursework expected complete August 2026. - LLB (Bachelor of Laws) — Mountcrest University College
- MA, Tax Law, Policy and Practice — University of Ghana, 2023
- EMBA (Finance) — University of Ghana, 2010–2013
Professional certifications
- FCCA — Fellow, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (2008)
- ICAG — Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (2009)
- CITG — Chartered Tax Practitioner, Chartered Institute of Taxation, Ghana (2021)
Capability Matrix
Where the experience concentrates
Finance Leadership
- Management & group reporting
- Budgeting & forecasting
- Tax & statutory compliance
- Team leadership
Systems & Transformation
- Reporting platform design
- Workflow automation
- ERP / mid-back-office implementation
- AI-assisted development
Business Analytics
- Operational & workforce analytics
- Exception & risk reporting
- Applied ML coursework (yield forecasting)
- Data-driven decision support
Governance & Compliance
- Internal controls design
- Statutory compliance cycles
- Company-secretarial support
- Audit coordination
Get In Touch
Want the full picture behind a specific project?
Happy to walk through the reasoning, constraints and outcomes behind any of the work.