I'm Alessandro Ratzenberger: Business Controller and CFO based in Zurich. I help companies get their finance function right. Accurate numbers, clear reports, and the forward visibility leadership needs to make decisions.
I spent 15 years in operational finance at Dufry Group and Bomi (UPS Group): one of the world's largest travel retail companies. I didn't advise on finance from the outside. I was inside the operation: running month-end close processes across multiple business units, building management reporting systems from scratch, delivering budgets and forecasts to senior leadership, and implementing cost-saving initiatives that delivered measurable results.
It was enterprise-scale, complex, multi-unit controlling: the kind of experience that teaches you how a professional finance function should work when everything is at stake.
After 15 years, I made a deliberate choice: to bring that operational capability directly to businesses that need it. Because I'd seen firsthand how much impact a strong controlling function has on the quality of decisions, and how many companies are running without one.
Now I work as an independent Business Controller and CFO. I step into companies and build or run the finance function: the monthly close, the reporting, the budgeting, the forecasting, the board preparation. Part-time, interim, or project-based: whatever the situation requires.
I've also distilled my 15 years of hands-on experience into a set of professional Excel templates for accounting education and business operations. Explore them here.
I don't just produce reports: I explain what the numbers mean and what to do about them. I close the books AND present to the board. Most controllers can do one. Most CFO consultants can do the other. I do both.
I work inside SAP, Abacus, Bexio, and Excel. I configure the reporting, set up the close process, and build the templates. I don't deliver recommendations on slides: I deliver working tools you'll use every month.
Dufry Group and Bomi (UPS Group) wasn't a startup or a consultancy. It was a complex, multi-unit, multi-million CHF operation with real deadlines, real auditors, and real consequences for late or inaccurate numbers. That's the standard I bring.
| Experience | 15+ years in operational finance, business controlling, and financial leadership |
| Most recent role | Business Controller, Dufry Group and Bomi (UPS Group) (multi-million CHF operations, multiple business units) |
| Certification | SAP Business Analysis (Professional) · CPE Certification, NASBA-Accredited (Registry #140940) — 26.8 credits: Financial Accounting (11.4), Excel for Finance (8.8), Excel for Accountants (3.8), Excel for Accounting (2.8) |
| Systems | SAP, Oracle, Trinity TMS, Basware, Diebold Nixdorf, Advanced Excel |
| Languages | English (fluent), Italian (native), Spanish (native), Portuguese (native), French (working level), German (working level) |
| Location | Zurich, Switzerland |
| linkedin.com/in/alessandro-ratzenberger |
The month-end close isn't optional, and neither is the deadline. If I commit to delivering management reports by working day 10, they'll be there.
A P&L without commentary is just a spreadsheet. Every report I deliver includes the what happened and the why, in language leadership can act on.
Whether I'm with you for 3 months or 3 years, everything I build is documented and transferable. The goal is a finance function that works, not one that depends on me.
References from former managers and colleagues at Dufry Group and Bomi (UPS Group) are available on request. I'm also happy to connect you with current clients for a reference conversation.
Contact me to request references →A quick conversation is the fastest way to find out. Book a 30-minute call: I'll ask about your situation, you'll ask about my experience, and we'll both know if there's a match.
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