Meet Kelly Aubeso, Business Controller in Brazil

My interest in finance started early on. At 16, I became a finance trainee in an international company producing machine tools. Over time, my responsibilities grew and before I left the company, I had progressed into team leader for a large group. I thereafter spent some time abroad to improve my skills in Spanish and English. After returning to Brazil, I started to work for a German manufacturer within cooking equipment and appliances and thereafter headed into the tech-industry as a finance coordinator.  

I wasn’t actively looking for a job but one day a headhunting agency contacted me. They were looking for a Business Controller Assistant who was fluent in English. They mentioned that the role was in Atlas Copco, and so I started digging into what Atlas Copco was all about. I was amazed by the information I found online, for example, the size of the Group, its values, growth opportunities, and not least the financial solidity.  

I got the job, so in 2013 I started my work as a Business Controller Assistant in the Mining and Construction area in a Customer Center in Sao Paolo State, in Barueri. This part of the business is today known as the company Epiroc, as it was divested in 2018. 

I learned a lot in my role as Business Controller Assistant, not only about the Group as such, but especially about our reporting process. The controller I worked closest to was a great mentor and colleague. Fast-forward to 2017, a position as Business Controller for a newly acquired brand opened and I jumped at the opportunity. In this role, I was responsible for integrating this brand into the Group together with an Integration Manager, also from Atlas Copco. The company was a family-owned business with approximately one hundred employees. I must say that this experience was priceless, my personal growth was huge. 

After two years working with the acquisition, I started as a Business Controller in our Product Company here in Brazil. Here screw compressors, generators, and light towers are produced, just to name a few of our products.

During the integration process of the acquired company in 2017, my job was to implement all the best practices and lessons learned in our Group and share this with the team in the acquired company. It was amazing to see how much transparency we were able to bring, just by implementing our standard reporting pack and procedures.  

It was a challenging journey, approaching the people in the acquired company, building trust, bringing people onboard. Overall, it was a lot about being honest and explaining that we were not there to change everything, we respect people and existing structures. I went in with the approach; "We are here to do better, we want to make this company better, let's do it together, and let’s watch the results".

I believe the learning here is continuous, I’ve been in the group for eight years and still learn every day. I’ve received a lot of support from the Group to grow professionally and had the opportunity to participate in several seminars abroad, for example in Antwerp, Belgium in Compressor Technique’s Business Area Headquarter. I got to know many other business controllers from many different countries in the world, received important trainings and learned about good benchmarks and what is expected from us. We also have an inhouse learning center called The Academy, with very good trainings. And of course, you can always learn from other colleagues.    

I think we have a family culture, it’s very supportive and we learn a lot from each other. The thing that stands out for me, is our ethical standards, and our concern for sustainability. To me it’s highly important and meaningful to work in a company that takes sustainability seriously. For example, the way we do business, and that we are concerned about the impact that we have in society and on the environment.