Sassoon Saleh, FCA MIoD About Us

I am a Chartered Accountant and worked for many years as a Specialist Financial and Business Adviser at the UK Competition Commission (CC), which was absorbed into the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) in 2014. I worked on many investigations where my skills, experience and expertise were important to decisions regarding utility regulation, mergers and monopoly situations, effecting very large UK and Global businesses.

My expertise combines financial, legal, economic and business skills in a single package, so I can help businesses succeed in a wide variety of projects. I have also helped businesses involved in competition investigations in the private sector. My 18 years' active experience in this specialised area is used to help their managements achieve their objectives, at least trouble to their business, and taking account of opposition from other parties.

I work with economists and lawyers in the competition field, to better help their clients achieve their goals on a value-added basis. All clients have benefitted from my involvement on their side.

I also provide business services to senior managements, including business analysis and planning expertise; cost analysis, and financial/operations management. I offer forensic accounting skills to businesses needing this external expertise.

I can also help businesses deal with problems caused by, for example, recessionary conditions and the need for business reorganisations. I have also worked with businesses seeking to grow organically, or by flotation and acquisitions.

Competition & business specialist

You can contact Sassoon (Sass)
by phoning on
020-8202-9796 (London), or

email S.Saleh@btinternet.com

I worked as a specialist on complex investigations,

(which required me to use my broad experience and skills) eg -

Monopoly/market investigations:

Click on links
below for more information:

UK Banks - this involved examination of competition by the largest UK banks in their services to Small and Medium Businesses (SMEs). The banks included Barclays, Lloyds TSB, National Westminster Bank, RBS and HSBC. Remedies were recommended, and in 2008 the OFT reviewed them and recommended they should be withdrawn because competition had improved.

The travel trade - this included examination of Thomas Cook, Airtours, Thomson Travel Group and their related airlines and tour operator businesses

Birds Eye Walls - this is well-known subsidiary of Unilever pic. Work involved understanding its distribution systems in the supply of ice cream over the UK.

The Ice cream industry in the UK - this included investigation of the activities of the major ice cream suppliers in the UK which included Walls, Mars, Nestle, and Treats; and how they competed with each other.

Mobile phones - this included examining the sales and pricing of Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile (now remamed), Orange and BT. Price controls on some call charges were recommended.

Insurance and banking sector - dealing with Payment Protection insurance, and Motor insurance to 25m private motorists in the UK

If you are effected by competition investigations, please click on the links shown above (to the left) and see more information about my activities in the competition field, eg in mergers, regulatory affairs, OFT market investigations, anti-competitive conduct, or training your people in these specialised areas.

I also worked at Ernst & Young and BDO Stoy Hayward before joining the Competition Commission, where I specialised in services, such as:

business & strategic planning,
financial modelling, and cashflow forecasting,
flotations, due diligence, and venture capital fund raising,
new start-ups, acquisitions, and
efficiency enhancement projects.

I can help your organisation in any of these areas.

During the UK recession of the early 1990s, I worked to help small & medium sized businesses (SMEs) survive difficult trading periods, and/or negotiate better terms and facilities with their lenders. If you click the link marked
‘strategic planning and surviving recessions’, you will see useful information
to consider in these very important areas.

In order to demonstrate my value to an organisation, I sometimes provide my specialised skills and services at a discounted charge for a period. For example, this might arise:

where an organisation needs a good 'outsider' to work-on important projects
that 'insiders' and external advisers are not satisfactorily progressing; or
where for a variety of reasons, insufficient attention and resources
are committed to resolve issues which can have serious detrimental
effects; or
where some situations are complex, and management need someone
with an eye for detail to unravel the complexity and get to
practical solutions.

Situations where I might assist your organisation:-

My versatile background and contacts can also be very valuable to your organisation. For example, please get in touch when:

your key people are over-committed on too many projects at the
same time and you need extra skilled resources to resolve
business problems (eg interim management); or
you have issues where my forensic accounting, negotiation, project
    management and business expertise can help you achieve
     successful results; or
you want to apply six-sigma techniques to improve customer satisfaction
in your products/services, and thereby improve returns;
you are involved in mergers/acquisitions or post-acquisition integration
programmes.

Please also contact me if there are areas of 'risk' in your business where you want a cost-effective independent review, or you want to make better use of your IT information systems.

If you are in management and are reading about me, a question to ask is whether you really have 'a full team and the required skills' to meet all realistic scenarios effecting your business in the foreseeable future? Some situations are rare, but when they happen, your business needs to have real strength to get-by.

If you think about recently failed or failing large businesses, you will realise that many developed a dangerous 'culture of complacency', and/or lacked sound 'quality of thinking' at critical points in their organisational structure. These are serious weaknesses where my work as an 'outsider' can positively assist your in-house management team.

You can contact me by phone (shown above) to discuss any issues on a confidential basis. Alternatively click on the e-mail link next to his picture (shown above) to send a message. Assuming this arrives, Sassoon aims to respond within 24 hours.

NOTE: Once I start to work with clients, I provide my mobile phone number for more immediate access.

Sassoon Saleh, FCA MIoD

NOTE - In 2010, the Government announced its intention to merge the Competition Commission with the Office of Fair Trading to create the Consumer and Markets Authority (CMA). The aim of the merger was to ensure a more dynamic and flexible use of competition tools (eg powers to impose remedies) and resource (eg people and technology), and also create a single advocate for competition policy in the UK and internationally. The CMA became active in April 2014, and has significant powers, effecting businesses in the UK.

My style and approach to work:-

The following tells you about my competencies and approach on assignments, where I apply my financial, legal, economic and business expertise in a single package:-

Project management – here I can manage projects, use PM techniques and deliver the benefits. I ensure the objectives are understood, and communicated to relevant interested parties. I build relationships with other people to ensure the tasks are done well, to plan.

People management – here I seek to understand the business objectives so that I can communicate roles and actions well, and ensure accountability is exercised in a fair and practical way. I seek advice as needed, and ensure what I do gets approval from the necessary decision-makers in a timely manner.

Analysis and use of evidence – here I understand and use evidence/information to ensure good decision-making. For example, I seek evidence and analysis that supports decisions that lead to the planned outcome. I apply judgement and experience to identify what is important, and disregard irrelevant issues. I use tools to assist in decisions and financial models, or data analysis to support areas of judgement, as necessary. I recommend actions for approval and implementation. I work in partnership with other specialists, as needed. I also present results of my work, orally, or in writing in ways to ensure the recipients understand the points, and what contribution they may need to make to final decisions and outcomes.

Financial management – here I use resources, and work to budgets to ensure good value for money. Variances are explained, or corrective action applied. I seek to identify areas of risk, and minimise such potential concerns by action, or putting in place additional protections, and limits on potentially risky behaviour. I seek to ensure financial decisions are soundly supported to minimise surprises, and results of my work are within the constraints imposed by the organisation. If changes are needed to plans, I seek approval for additional resources as soon as possible.