Business Process Consultant, Iraq

Getting site paperwork to head office on time

For Iraqi contractors and oilfield service companies, the gap between site and head office shapes everything else. A storekeeper records receipts on a paper form, a supervisor signs timesheets, a site accountant pays small expenses and keeps the slips. These documents are stamped, bundled and sent to the office when someone travels. By the time they arrive, project costs are already reported without them.

I map this flow document by document:

• Which documents each site produces, and which are actually needed by head office.
• Who prepares and who signs each one, and what the stamp or signature is meant to prove.
• How often documents are sent, by whom, and what happens to items that arrive after the cut-off.
• Who at head office checks that a site's bundle is complete, and how gaps are followed up.
• Which documents could be photographed or scanned at the site, with the paper original kept for audit.

The redesign usually sets a fixed cut-off per period, a numbered register at each site so head office can see what is missing, and a named person responsible for each site's submission. Where client contracts or partner agreements require original documents, those rules are respected and built into the procedure. Even before any system change, this alone makes costs and stock figures far more current. The data side of the same problem is covered on my system integration page for Iraq.

Cash advances and site expenses

Cash remains the practical way to pay for many things at Iraqi sites: local labor, small purchases, transport and fuel. Advances to site staff and subcontractors are therefore routine, and so is the risk that they are paid quickly and settled slowly, or not at all.

I map the advance cycle with finance and site management, then design steps such as:

• Request: a written request stating purpose, expected spend, currency and the contract or cost center it belongs to.
• Approval: limits per role, with larger advances needing head office approval.
• Payment: who hands over cash, in which currency, against which signature.
• Settlement: receipts and any unspent balance returned by a set deadline, checked by the site accountant and then head office.
• Overdue advances: no new advance while an old one is open beyond the deadline, unless a named manager approves an exception.

Expenses without proper receipts are a reality in some places. The process should define what substitute evidence is acceptable, such as a signed statement countersigned by the supervisor, and who may approve it. Your auditors and accountants decide what is acceptable for the books; the process makes sure the decision is applied consistently. The result is a clear list of open advances by person, site and contract at any time, rather than a surprise at year-end. For the broader picture of contract costing, see job costing.

Guarantees, payment certificates and getting paid

Contractors working for ministries, state companies and international operators in Iraq live with a contract cash cycle that has many dates to watch. Bid and performance guarantees must be issued, extended and released. Work must be measured, checked and approved by the client before it can be invoiced. Retention is held and later released against conditions in the contract. A missed date can tie up bank lines or delay payment for months.

I map the cycle from tender to final payment and agree owners for each step:

• Who requests a guarantee from the bank, who records its amount and expiry, and who checks whether it needs extending or can be released.
• Who prepares the monthly measurement and payment certificate, who checks it internally and who submits it to the client.
• How client approval is chased, and when an unapproved certificate is escalated.
• How approved certificates become invoices, and how deductions such as retention and advance recovery are recorded.
• Who tracks retention balances and the conditions for release.

Client portals and document formats differ from one client to another, so the procedure records each client's requirements. Contract interpretation, and any tax deducted by clients, are for your contract and tax advisors. The process ensures nothing waits because nobody owned the next step. Industry background is on contracting ERP, and the Baghdad view is on the Baghdad ERP page.

Two regions, two currencies and a management view

Groups that trade in both federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region often keep a company on each side, and transactions in both dinars and US dollars. Processes need to say clearly which company does what, or the books end up mixing entities and currencies in ways that take weeks to unpick.

The process rules I agree with management and the accountants for each company:

• Entity: which company signs contracts, buys, employs and invoices for each type of work, and how a site serving both is handled.
• Currency: which transactions are priced and paid in dinars or dollars, and who decides when a supplier or client asks to change.
• Rate: who records the rate used for each conversion, from which source finance approves, and where the record sits.
• Intercompany: the document that triggers a recharge between the companies, and the deadline for both sides to record it.
• Reporting: the definitions of revenue, cost and margin each company uses in the management pack, so the group view adds up.

Registrations, taxes and statutory reporting in each region are for your legal and tax advisors there. My role is to make sure the daily processes respect those boundaries. International partners and clients often ask for reporting packs in their own formats; I map who prepares each pack, from which records, and who signs it off before it is sent. The broader structure is covered on multi-company ERP.

Procedures for site teams, owners at head office, then systems

Procedures written for head office rarely work at a site. A storekeeper needs a single page: what to record when goods arrive, what to do when the delivery does not match the order, when to send the register and whom to call. I write procedures at that level, one per role, with the exceptions that actually occur. Your staff prepare Arabic or Kurdish versions for site teams, and the English master stays current.

Each process has an owner at head office who approves changes and a deputy for when the owner is unavailable. Owners review their process when a new contract, site or client format arrives.

Software comes after this. The maps turn into requirements and demo scenarios, the authority limits turn into configuration rules, and the site cut-offs become the basis for testing whether a system works over real site connections. That handoff is covered on my ERP business analyst page for Iraq. Once processes are stable, repetitive steps can be removed, as described on my automation page for Iraq.

The work is remote, with workshops scheduled around head office hours and site availability, and visits only by arrangement. I take no commission from vendors or partners. The underlying approach is on business process consulting, and the Iraq hub and ERP consultant page for Iraq cover the rest.