EXPRO_Michael_Bentham6z7bj by Débora Martins

EXPRO_Michael_Bentham6z7bj

Débora Martins

Jun 28, 2025 12:55 AM

Summary

Introduction to Podcast (00:09): The host introduces the podcast "Expro People Unplugged" with guest Michael Bentham, Principal Accounting Officer and VP of Finance at Expro.
Michael’s Career Journey (00:52): Michael shares his background, detailing his 23 years at Schlumberger with extensive international experience before joining Expro in 2017.
Importance of Team (03:27): Michael emphasizes the critical role of his team in achieving financial objectives, which includes regional controllers and finance managers across various functions.
Challenges in Finance (04:48): One major challenge is balancing regulatory requirements with the need for timely financial information while maintaining cost efficiency, especially as a public company.
Simplifying Finance (05:43): Michael discusses misconceptions about finance, explaining that corporate finance operates similarly to personal finance, ensuring income exceeds expenditure.
Leadership Tips for New Managers (07:48): He advises on knowing one's budget, understanding spending commitments, and knowing available financial support resources.
Personal Insights (10:33): Michael reflects on his biggest influences (his parents), proudest moments (the birth of his daughter), and an unusual talent—his passion for aviation and charity work through flying.

Transcript

Welcome to Expro People Unplugged, the podcast where we dive deep into the stories and the people that make Expro a dynamic and innovative place to work. Get ready to connect, learn and be inspired as we explore all things Expro together. Today we're delighted to be joined by Expro's Principal Accounting Officer and Vice President of Finance, Michael Bentham. Hello, Michael. Good afternoon, Kate. How are you?

I'm very well, thank you. Thanks for joining us. Now, we hope to be able to entice you to open up a little bit about your career, your experience and maybe the valuable lessons that you've learned along the way and any top tips for our listeners today. And of course to debunk some of the myths about finance. So, Michael, we give everybody a chance to tell us in around a minute or less, the journey to your current position. So, maybe you could

give us a minute's route to your role. Let me see. I joined Expro in 2017 after 23 years with Slumberier in various international controller roles and a stint in corporate treasury. I was lucky enough to be in 11 locations around the world. Started in Gatwick in the UK, then moved to Stavanger in Norway, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, then to Moscow in Russia, then after Ugansk, which is in Siberia, also in Russia, then Paris in France, back to Gatwick in the UK, back to Moscow

and then Houston, and then finally London prior to leaving Slumberier in July of 2017. I then joined Expro as the Chief Financial Officer based here at Houston and post restructuring, but before the merger with Franks, I took the Principal Accounting Officers and VP Financial and I've been doing that ever since. So, you're a jet setter then. So, you've travelled around the world with your career. What's

been the best place that you've lived or worked so far then, Michael? Wow. Well, I guess you start to become quite practical when it comes to moving around. I have to say, I've really enjoyed all of the locations that I've worked in, but I have to say, here in the US, purely practical matter, it's a very easy place to live and family are happy and so I'm happy. Great. And the most exciting or perhaps interesting twist that your career path has taken so far?

Probably moving into the oilfields services environment back in 1994. I went into a reporting role in the UK and then I've spent 30 years working all around the world. As you say, I've met some of the most amazing people. I mean, prior to that, I was a plant controller for Hughes Aircraft Company in the UK and I assumed I'd stay in the UK for all of my working life. But I went to join Schlumberger, I really had no idea what was about to happen.

So, it really did open up the world to you and now you're happily settled in Houston. So, you clearly in your role have a full awareness of all aspects of finance and accounting across the whole organisation. A couple of points I wanted to ask, can you maybe give us a quick overview of what the main responsibilities are within your role and how important are the team around you to help achieve your objectives?

So probably the best way for me to describe what my areas of responsibility are is to cover which parts of the finance organisation I'm actually responsible for. So, in my capacity as the VP of Finance at the sharp end, the four region controllers, that's Leandro, Suntai, Abhishek and Mukesh, who manage all the geographical finance function, are my functional reports. To complement that, the product line controllers through the global product line controller

Mark are also my functional reports. And then on the sort of principal accounting officer side, my direct reports are the manager of the Financial Shared Services Organisation in Dubai and Colombia, that's Mike Azela. They deal with the transactional side of finance, accounts payable, treasury transactions, all of the field accounting and payroll where it's actually housed in the shared services. Then we have the director of SEC reporting,

Mike Zhao, who's also here in Houston. He's responsible for all of our financial reporting requirements as a US public company. And then last but not least, we have Vankatesh, who's the FP&A manager, the financial planning and analytics manager, and he deals with all of our internal financial reporting budgets and monthly analytics. Wow, so it's quite a network. What would you say would be the most challenging aspects

of your team's job? I think with Expro as a public company, the demands on the finance organisation for timely accurate information through the rigorous control environment create significant challenges. And as we look to balance that regulatory must-haves with the internal analytical requirements for management, we're doing that all with this task of cost efficiency. So I would say, yeah, that's the key. And I'm just going to bring you back. I mean, you asked how important

are the team? I really have to say that my team are everything in terms of meeting objectives. Without their support, I would simply be unable to deliver what was required. Well, that's great to hear. That's excellent. Now, those of us that are not particularly trained in finance or no good with numbers might have some misconceptions about the whole role of finance. How do you begin to simplify finance and its importance to the business,

Michael? Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, many people see finance and accounting as some kind of mystic art. And yet, in reality, you know, we all manage our own finances. We do the accounting in our daily lives. Essentially, we ensure funds that are coming in are higher than or at least equal to the funds that are going out. And for companies like Expro, this is no different. However, we have shareholders who invest in the company and have expectations

as to what return they want on their investment. As a company, we need to ensure that the funds in exceed the funds out, such the excess or the surplus meets the expectations of our investors. I think finance is primarily involved in recording the company's inflows and outflows accurately and in a timely manner based on accounting standards. And for Expro, those accounting standards are called US GAAPs. That's United States Generally Accepted Accounting

Principles. You know, that information is provided to the investors through the public accounts we produce. You'll hear the term 10Q and 10K, so they can monitor how their investment is performing. And in addition, finance provides internal management with financial information to allow them to track the performance of their piece of the business. And obviously, ideally, the controllers also work as part of the management team as business

partners to ensure that the financial aspects of decisions being made locally are taken into account. As with all professions, we have our own terminology, you know, P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, accruals, provisions, et cetera, which inevitably causes confusion for the non-finance community. However, at the end of the day, we're essentially carrying out household financial management, but just on a slightly larger scale.

Yeah, yeah, that's interesting to hear. And if I'm a new manager, for example, and I'm pretty new to managing a budget, what would be your three top tips for me? Sure, I think, well, firstly, I'd say, know what your budget is. Understand the key drivers for the budget. Is it headcount, payroll-related items, T&E, materials and supplies, et cetera? I mean, secondly, I'd say, recognize that cost control and managing a budget happens

when you decide to commit to spend money at headcount or raising a purchase order. You know, when you look at the financial reporting at the end of the month, it simply tells you what you've already done. At that point, it's too late not to spend. Simply, you know, simply ensure that as you look to commit spend, that you're comfortable that that item is a business critical item. And then probably finally, I'd say, know who provides you with financial

support, whether that's a country controller, a region controller, product line controller, a field accountant in one of the SSOs. These people are there to help you, and it's really important that you know who they are. That's really comforting, actually. So there is support available on a daily basis, on a regular basis, and you just need to know who to get that from, yeah? Absolutely, absolutely. In your role specifically then, Michael, what would you say would be the key traits

or characteristics that you need to perform well in the leadership role that you're in? I suspect there are more than three things to be an effective leader. However, I think for my role and for any managing role, there are a couple of things that I would say stand out. First, engage with your people, understand what drives them, understand what motivates them to be the best that they can be. As I said earlier, my success or failure is down

to my team's success or failure, and I'd like to think I know my team and they know me, which I believe develops a trust and a working environment that gets the best out of everybody. I think secondly, when things are not going well, or going well for that matter, let people know. Unfortunately, we do tend to focus on the problems and fixing things, so I suspect we don't do enough patting on the back for a job well done. But as I

said, as a manager, I believe you need to create an environment where mistakes aren't punished, people feel comfortable to tell you when things have gone wrong, so you can actually fix them without it becoming a big drama. In my opinion, the concept of waiting for the EDP at the end of the year to flag things that you have problems with is not a good way to manage people. Timely, constructive feedback, I think is the best way to get the

right results. And then finally, talk the talk and walk the walk. As managers, we need to lead by example, ensuring that our teams know what the company direction is, what decisions have been made and the direction is determined. Even when we don't wholly agree, it's our responsibility to ensure that everyone is going in the same direction. Who would you say has been the biggest influence in your career so far, Michael, and why would

that be? I have to say it's my parents. My dad was a factory worker for the Ford Motor Company in the UK and my mum was an office administrator. They worked really hard to ensure we had what we needed in what was a challenging economic environment at times in the UK. And they were adamant that I should get a degree in the professional qualification so I could avoid many of the struggles that they had had to go through and hopefully get

to do the things that they'd not been able to do. That's nice. And the proudest moment in your life? Really easy. The birth of our daughter, Sabrina, in October of 2003. Oh, that's lovely. That's really nice. And the best piece of advice you've ever been given? Someone once told me that remember to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. It seems obvious when you say it out loud, but I think it's a useful practice whether the message you've got is good or whether

the message you've got is bad. And that said, there's another one I was told, which is happy wife, happy life. I think we'll all concur with that. Excellent. Now I'll just go slightly off-piste here and ask you finally, what's the most unusual or interesting talent that you have, Michael, that most people do not know about? I obviously believe this is an unusual talent that I have, but it doesn't mean that everybody

else would. So aviation is one of my passions. I've been a pilot. I've been flying for the best part of 20 years. I've around 1,600 hours of flight time. And I'm fortunate enough to have a share in an airplane here in Deuster. Besides those family trips that I do, both my aircraft partner and I are involved with a charity called Angel Flight South Central, which provides help to cancer patients receiving treatment at one of Houston's hospitals.

And the charity works with pilots to either bring patients to or take them home after they've had treatment here in Houston. Oh, that's just marvellous. What a fantastic thing to give back. Well done you. And flying, my goodness, how often do you manage to get out and fly? I think, you know, I like to at least two or three flights a month is my target, obviously just to stay proficient and competent. But yeah.

And so will the people of Houston know what to look out for when they see a light aircraft buzzing about? Little dot in the sky is probably the best way to describe it. Oh, great. That's great. I look forward to getting a flight with you the next time I'm in Houston, if that's okay. Absolutely. Excellent, Michael. Well, it's been a pleasure to get to know you. I really appreciate your time today. Thank you very much for joining us.

My pleasure. Thank you very much. We'll be learning more about the people and the passions that bring Expo together in the next edition of Expo People Unplugged, coming up very soon. We do hope you'll join us. And if you'd like to get in touch, we'd love to hear from you. Just email us at employee.enquiries at expo.com.

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