Clearbeam Finance Gert Jan van Straalen · Interim Finance & Controlling
Interim finance management · Controlling · FP&A

Clear numbers.
Confident decisions.

Gert Jan van Straalen

Interim and consultancy finance for companies in any sector. I can support your CFO or Finance Director, or step in and own a finance function myself as interim country finance manager or head of controlling. I bring twelve years of finance experience in the insurance industry at Hiscox, in international, multi-entity environments. I work remotely from Lisbon with teams across Europe, and further afield, in English, Dutch, German or Portuguese.

Start a conversation See how I can help
  • 12 years in financial services
  • Lead or support: own the function or back up your CFO
  • Multi-entity & international
  • 4 languages: NL, EN, DE, PT
Gert Jan van Straalen
Services

Lead a finance function, or strengthen the team around your finance lead

Four ways to work together. On an interim basis I can own a function myself, below CFO level, or support your CFO, Finance Director or Head of FP&A. Everything here builds on work I have done in the role.

01

Interim country finance manager or head of controlling

When the seat itself is empty, I step in and run the function, not just support it: the finance of a country or branch entity, or the controlling team, reporting to your CFO or group finance. I do not offer interim CFO roles; I focus on the functions below that level that I can own fully. If you need cover rather than a new owner, I can also step into an FP&A or controlling role during a vacancy, absence, restructuring or busy period, supporting your finance lead and keeping the cycle on track.

  • Own the budget, reforecast and expense planning for the entity
  • Monthly control of actuals against budget and reforecast, variance analysis, accruals and month-end
  • Budget conversations with cost-centre heads about current and future plans
  • Reporting to group finance, the CFO or Finance Director and the Board
  • Keeping accounts payable, treasury and local declarations under control
  • Steady leadership through a vacancy, restructuring or transition

Built on preparing the entire budget and reforecast expense planning for Hiscox Germany, supervising accounts payable and treasury for the Benelux, and working closely with the Finance Director and country Finance Managers.

02

Budgeting & forecasting cycles

Run or support an annual budget, reforecast or multi-year plan, from preparation and cost-centre challenge through to Board-level reporting.

  • Annual budgets, reforecasts and business plans
  • Multi-year (e.g. 3-year) budget plans, including in Oracle planning
  • Challenging and analysing business partners' budget inputs
03

Business partnering & fractional support

A senior finance partner for your Finance Director or CFO, part-time or for a set number of days a week.

  • Budget conversations with cost-centre heads about current and future plans
  • Preparation for strategic initiatives, meetings and presentations
  • Day-to-day support in running a finance department
04

Finance change projects

Projects and hands-on delivery when finance is changing, from shaping the change to doing the work until it runs.

  • Organisational restructuring and expense-ratio programmes
  • Process redesign: streamlining budget and reforecast submissions and reconciliations
  • ERP and system changes: the finance side of rollouts, getting budgets, reconciliations and reporting working in the new set-up (Oracle ERP and Planning experience)
  • Cleanup and remediation: bringing reconciliations, accruals and expense control back in order
  • Multi-entity and multi-currency consolidation and reporting across European operations

Engagements can be interim (full- or part-time), fractional, or project-based, and run remotely from Lisbon with on-site visits when needed. Terms are discussed per engagement. Interested in AI agents for finance processes? See AI agents for finance.

Who I help

Companies that need an interim finance lead, or someone ready to step up

I work with companies in any sector, from mid-market businesses to international groups and their country or branch entities. Some need an interim FP&A or controlling lead who owns the cycle; others are looking for a head of controlling or finance director and want someone who can step into that role. To be clear about where I stand: I have run the full budget, reforecast and controlling cycle for a country entity and worked directly alongside a Finance Director, but I have not yet managed a team. Leading a finance function is the realistic next step I am ready to take.

My own background is the insurance industry: twelve years at Hiscox, including Quota Share reinsurance calculations, IPT tax calculations and tax declarations on broker commissions. Insurers and financial services firms get someone who knows their numbers from the inside; companies in other sectors get the same planning, controlling and business-partnering discipline.

Who

  • Companies hiring an interim FP&A or controlling lead
  • Companies looking for a head of controlling or finance director who is ready to step up
  • CFOs, Finance Directors and group finance teams who need hands-on support
  • Country and branch finance managers in groups

Companies

  • Any sector
  • Insurers and financial services: twelve years of insurance experience
  • Mid-market companies
  • International groups and their country or branch entities
  • Multi-entity and multi-currency set-ups

Region

  • All of Europe as my home base
  • Worldwide, for remote teams anywhere
  • Four working languages: Dutch and English (native), German (fluent) and Portuguese (C1)

Typical situations

  • The budget or reforecast cycle drags on. Weeks of spreadsheet chasing and back-and-forth with cost-centre heads.
  • Pressure on expenses and cost ratios. You need someone who can plan costs and challenge cost-centre heads constructively.
  • A finance seat is empty. A country finance manager, head of controlling or FP&A role is uncovered during a vacancy, absence, restructuring or transformation, and someone needs to own it.
  • Manual, slow processes. Reconciliations, submissions and reporting packs that take too long and could be streamlined.
Track record

What I have done in the role

My in-house experience is twelve years in the insurance industry, in finance at Hiscox (2014–2026), across its German, European and Benelux operations, plus earlier consulting projects at SOLVE Consulting and a transaction-advisory internship at Ernst & Young. The skills below carry over to finance teams in any sector.

  • Budget ownershipPrepared the full budget and reforecast expense planning for a country entity (Hiscox Germany), and controlled actuals against it.
  • RestructuringSupported the implementation of the organisational restructuring of Hiscox Germany.
  • Cost programmesSupported the Group in its expense ratio reduction programme.
  • Business partneringRan budget conversations with cost-centre heads and directly supported the Finance Director with strategic initiatives and presentations. Until October 2026, business partner to the European Marketing & Direct department, with expense analysis and planning support.
  • Multi-entity planningContributed to the Business Plan and Reforecasts for the European business, and supported country Finance Managers with 3-year budget plans in Oracle.
  • Process improvementRedesigned and streamlined the budget and reforecast submission process; managed the delivery of a new automatic reconciliation tool as part of the Finance Transformation Programme.
  • Reinsurance calculationsManaged Quota Share reinsurance calculations and submissions (insurance-specific).
  • Benelux compliancePrepared tax declarations and quarterly and yearly National Bank declarations for the Benelux.

Case studies from Hiscox

Three pieces of work from my role as Financial Planning & Controller at Hiscox Germany (2022–2026), in the insurance industry. The descriptions come from my CV and the figures from my time in the role.

Hiscox Germany · 2022–2026

Running the budget and reforecast cycle

Financial Planning & Controller, Munich

Prepared the entire budget and reforecast expense planning for Hiscox Germany. Managed the budget conversations with cost-centre heads to discuss their current and future plans.

An expense cost base of about 38 million euros across about 35 cost centres in Germany and Switzerland, controlled and managed together with the cost-centre owners in different departments.

Hiscox Germany · 2022–2026

Controlling actuals against plan

Financial Planning & Controller, Munich

Controlled actual expenses against budget and reforecast, and directly supported the Finance Director with strategic initiatives, meeting preparations, presentations and the day-to-day running of the finance department.

Monthly expense reporting to the management team of Hiscox Germany.

Hiscox Germany & Group · 2022–2026

Restructuring and expense ratio reduction

Financial Planning & Controller, Munich

Supported the implementation of the organisational restructuring of Hiscox Germany, and supported the Group in its expense ratio reduction programme.

A Group-wide effort to reduce pure expenses as a share of gross written premium, targeting one percentage point per year; it delivered roughly 0.7 to 0.8 percentage points per year when premium growth missed plan.

Approach

How I work

I run the finance cycle end to end. At Hiscox Germany I prepared the entire budget and reforecast expense planning and controlled actual expenses against it, working directly with cost-centre heads on their current and future plans.

  1. Into your cycle in week one

    I learn your budget, reforecast and reporting timetable: who owns what, the systems and the open issues.

  2. I run the cycle

    I prepare budget and reforecast expense planning end to end and control actuals against them every month, as I did for Hiscox Germany.

  3. Variances with a reason

    Every gap against budget comes with an explanation, agreed with the cost-centre head who owns it.

  4. Reporting leadership can use

    I turn the numbers into Board-level reporting and presentations for the Finance Director.

  5. Agentic AI Finance

    Simpler processes, carefully automated

    [coming soon]

    I streamline submissions and reconciliations as I did with the budget and reforecast submission process, and automatic reconciliation tool at Hiscox. I'm learning agentic AI for finance now, starting small with pilots where I approve every output.

Growing practice

AI agents for finance processes [coming soon]

AI agentic finance for finance teams is in progress and coming soon: AI agents that support FP&A, budgeting, forecasting and controlling workflows, with people approving every output.

Alongside my finance work, I am working with AI agents to improve financial processes within companies, such as reporting, reconciliations and variance commentary. It is a growing practice, and I am open about where it stands.

Read about my AI work
About

Gert Jan van Straalen

Financial Planning & Controller with twelve years of progressive finance experience across FP&A, controlling and accounting in international, multi-entity environments. Specialist in budgeting, forecasting, expense management and variance analysis, with experience owning the full budget cycle from preparation through cost-centre challenge to Board-level reporting. Experienced in partnering with Finance Directors and senior stakeholders on strategic initiatives, organisational restructuring and finance transformation programmes. Motivated by precision, collaboration and driving impactful financial outcomes.

All twelve years of my in-house career have been in the insurance industry, at Hiscox: from Benelux accounting and treasury, through European business planning and Quota Share reinsurance calculations, to running expense planning and controlling for Hiscox Germany. For interim roles I can support a CFO or Finance Director, or own a function as country finance manager or head of controlling.

Behind the name: straal is Dutch for a ray or beam of light, and it sits inside my surname. Van Straalen points back to Straelen, a town on the Lower Rhine near Venlo, once written Straalen in Dutch. That is where Clearbeam Finance gets its name: a clear beam of light on the numbers.

Experience

  1. May 2022 – Oct 2026

    Financial Planning & Controller

    Hiscox · Munich, Germany
    • Prepared the full budget and reforecast expense planning for Hiscox Germany
    • Controlled actual expenses versus budget and reforecast
    • Supported the implementation of the organisational restructuring of Hiscox Germany
    • Supported the Group expense ratio reduction programme
    • Led budget conversations with cost-centre heads; directly supported the Finance Director
    • Until October 2026, business partnering to European Marketing & Direct: expense analysis of the department's cost centres and support with its business planning
  2. Sep 2020 – May 2022

    Financial Planning Junior Analyst

    Hiscox · Lisbon, Portugal
    • Contributed to the Business Plan and Reforecasts for the European business
    • Supported country Finance Managers with 3-year budget plans in Oracle
    • Redesigned and streamlined Budget & Reforecast submission processes
    • Managed Quota Share reinsurance calculations and submissions
  3. Sep 2017 – Sep 2020

    Accountant Benelux

    Hiscox · Lisbon, Portugal
    • Monthly control of Benelux expenses against budget and reforecast
    • Supervised accounts payable and treasury; booked monthly accruals
    • Prepared tax and National Bank declarations for the Benelux
    • Managed delivery of a new automatic reconciliation tool within the Finance Transformation Programme
  4. Aug 2014 – Sep 2017

    Accounting Administrator Benelux

    Hiscox · Lisbon, Portugal
    • Accounts payable, treasury, bank accounts and cash-flow systems
    • Transformed and accelerated internal system reconciliations
    • Periodic National Bank reporting and IPT tax calculations
  5. Jan 2011 – Aug 2012

    Project Manager

    SOLVE Consulting · Rotterdam, Netherlands
    • Led consulting projects for Erasmus University's social enterprise consulting organisation, improving efficiency for non-profits in the Rotterdam area
  6. Jun 2011 – Sep 2011

    Intern, Transaction Advisory

    Ernst & Young · Netherlands
    • Supported M&A projects and due diligence; cost of equity analysis
Contact

Let's talk about your finance team

Whether you need interim cover, support through a budget or reforecast cycle, a finance partner for a few days a week, or extra capacity for a finance project, I'd be glad to hear from you.

Available from November 2026

Email

[email protected]

Phone

+351 926 526 571

LinkedIn

linkedin.com/in/gertjanvanstraalen

Location

Based in Lisbon, Portugal · working remotely with teams across Europe and worldwide · English, Dutch, German and Portuguese