The fractional good life

With Begin Capital, Molotkova’s primary focus is on financial reporting and audit-ready documentation. She supports Martingale Plaza with budgeting, tax planning, legal documentation and market analysis. For Freeway Games, she oversees the outsourced external accountants, makes payments, checks VAT returns and provides reporting.

Good time management is the secret to being an effective fractional CFO, she says. ‘From the beginning you need to plan how you’re going to do it. If several of your projects have the same closing date every month, it will be very difficult to support all of them. My projects are all very different, so I can ensure there is no overlap in terms of timing.’

She is also a member of the M&A CFO Club in Cyprus. Recently, she was invited to teach a payroll course for the community, which she sees as a new and interesting stage in her career. ‘I like sharing practical knowledge,’ she says. ‘It is a different kind of professional development for me.’

Moscow time

Anna originally trained as an auditor. While still a university student in Moscow, she was taken on as an intern with an audit firm that later became RSM Rus (part of RSM International), staying on with the firm after graduating.

During her time with RSM Rus, her work included complex projects with large volumes of data that served international clients. ‘Audit gave me a very strong foundation,’ she recalls. ‘It taught me discipline, attention to detail, professional scepticism and the ability to understand different businesses quickly. I also learned that good finance is not just about numbers. It is also about trust and judgment.’

While she was at RSM Rus, she started studying for the ACCA exams, inspired by the example of one of her managers. In total, it took her around 15 years to qualify (she did so last year) as she needed to juggle her studies not only with her work but also raising a family, moving countries, learning Greek and building a new life in Cyprus.

‘For me, ACCA was both a professional goal and a personal challenge,’ she says. ‘It was a way to improve my English, develop international accounting knowledge and grow beyond Russian accounting standards.’

Her family supported her throughout the journey, especially her husband. ‘I could not have done it without my family,’ she says. ‘My husband supported me in very practical ways. It was not just emotional support; he really helped me create time and tools for studying.’

Cyprus-bound

In 2015, she took an in-house finance role with UCTAM RU, part of pan-European banking group UniCredit. Her aim was to see ‘finance from the inside of the business’. She also wanted a change from the high-pressure lifestyle of audit. ‘I moved from checking other companies to being responsible for finance inside the business,’ Anna says. ‘It helped me become more practical and business-oriented.’

An even bigger step followed in 2018, when her husband was offered a job in Cyprus and the family relocated. She continued to provide limited, part-time support to UCTAM RU but quickly landed a role with Cyprus-based fintech company TMS SolarWeb, whose Solar Staff and Mellow platforms help businesses to manage and pay international contractors. Starting as a financial analyst, she ended up becoming deputy CFO in practice, taking over most of the operational finance work, including bank payments, budgeting, know-your-customer procedures, planning and reconciliations.

She credits her ACCA studies with easing her transition into Cyprus’s financial community. ‘ACCA helped me move from a Russian professional environment into a European and international one,’ she says. ‘It improved my English, broadened my mindset and gave me confidence. In Cyprus, the qualification is highly respected.’

Subsequently, Anna joined a large private group in Cyprus as finance lead for a division with more than 30 subsidiaries in real estate, construction, education and events. ‘Because the businesses were different, I had to learn quickly and adapt all the time,’ she says. By the time she left to become a fractional CFO, she was managing a team of more than 10 people.

Balance and diversity

The appeal of being a fractional CFO was to improve her work-life balance while taking on diverse projects. ‘I work with different industries, different teams and people with different mindsets,’ she says. ‘I like finance to be practical. Good finance should not only record the past but help the business to make better decisions.’

She plans to continue developing as a fractional CFO, finance consultant and finance leader. ‘I enjoy supporting businesses that need stronger finance processes, better reporting, clearer controls and practical financial advice. I also want to continue developing my Cyprus VAT expertise.’

Anna loves the outdoor activities available in her adopted country (she became a Cypriot citizen last year), from hiking and horse riding to camping, swimming and dragon boat racing. She and her family also participate in local events, such as festivals. ‘I love Cyprus,’ she says. ‘People here are open, kind and warm. I like the balance between professional opportunities, family life, nature and community.’