Neeraj Kakkar

About Neeraj Kakkar

I am an enterprise accounting and controllership executive with more than 20 years of experience leading global finance organizations across Fortune 50 companies including Walgreens and GE.Currently, I lead Walgreens’ enterprise Record-to-Report organization supporting a $100B retail portfolio, overseeing inventory, cost of sales, assets, leases, intercompany, and project accounting across a 175-person global team. I partner closely with the Chief Accounting Officer and executive leadership on complex transactions, finance transformation, and strategic initiatives.Throughout my career, I have built and scaled accounting organizations, modernized finance operations, and supported major strategic transactions including: Orchestrated $10B Sycamore buyout sign-to-close, transferring ~200 properties to PropCo for debt raise, cleaning interco balances, and sunsetting $1Bn AR securitization to factoring—unlocking liquidity in PE transition. Drove $200M P&L optimization at Walgreens, establishing end-to-end Inventory/COS/Rebates processes ($10Bn/$70Bn/$5Bnportfolios), eliminating NVA, and boosting forecast accuracy 15% via cross-tower partnerships (Pharmacy/Retail/DCs). Led Perpetual Inventory rollout and Shrink model revamp, implementing across stores with zero disruptions, reducing P&L volatility 25%, and deploying dashboards/roll-forwards for real-time leadership insights. Built controllership from ground up at GE Digital ($1.2Bn SAAS unit), leading 30-person global team to standardize processes/systems, accelerating closes to LCD +2/3 days, and delivering 20%+ YoY FTE productivity. Directed global Oracle EPM rollout for $130Bn GE Capital, implementing ARM/FCM tools, CoA redesign, and consolidation frameworks—enhancing reporting efficiency and SOX compliance across 13 BUs. Offshore Accounting/Shared Services: Experienced in setting up effective accounting/shared services teams in low-cost offshore locations which can work closely in collaboration with onshore teams delivering high quality output.

Experience

1. Senior Executive Director of Accounting

   Walgreens

   Jun 2024 — Present

   Enterprise owner of Record-to-Report (R2R) controllership for Walgreens’ $100B retail portfolio, leading a 175-person global organization across inventory, cost of sales, fixed assets, leases, AR/AP, intercompany, and project accounting. Serve as senior controllership advisor to the CAO and executive leadership on complex transactions, new initiatives- Led accounting design and process to support a $7B asset-backed lending program to provide liquidity for Privatization- Designed operational processes & opined on accounting for new programs (Lottery, Pharmacy & Retail Initiatives, EV Charging)- Strengthened SOX/ICFR environment through risk assessments, preventing audit issues and supporting executive decisions- Serve as primary executive liaison for external auditors, proactively managing complex accounting judgments and regulatory risk- Built high-performing team via talent development and process automation, accelerating close cycles and operational efficiency- Partnered with FP & A, Tax, and Treasury on forecasting, liquidity and transaction impacts in a fast-paced environment- Established statutory audit framework for Puerto Rico entities (~$1.5B revenue), improving compliance and audit efficiency

Education

• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

  CPA, Financial Accounting, Auditing, Federal Taxation, Business Environments

• Delhi University

  Bachelors, Finance & Accounting

Skills

• Leveraged Lending
• Financial Reporting
• Accounting
• Financial Risk
• Talent Management
• Regulatory Reporting
• Talent Development
• Management
• Us Gaap
• Financial Analysis
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• Financial Systems
• Hyperion Enterprise
• Loans
• Corporate Finance
• Consolidation
• Globalization
• Global Consolidations
• Hyperion
• Analysis