Amer Rasul

Amer Rasul is an experienced financial advisor to major Canadian corporations. He promotes business success by fostering a culture of team-building within organizations, harnessing the power of collaboration to accelerate growth and advance transformational change.

Trusted by top CEOs and CFOs in Toronto and beyond, he draws upon exceptional people skills to optimize coordination, cooperation and communication.

Across his quarter-century career, he has worked closely with a diverse array of corporate leadership teams. He has assumed roles as a managing partner and director, as well as senior managerial positions in market sectors ranging from retail to entertainment and financial services. In addition, he has accumulated substantial experience in real estate consulting and software development and implementation.

In his most recent role, Amer Rasul served as Executive Vice President for Altus Group Ltd., a global software and real estate consulting service company with revenues of $735 million and 2,700 employees.

His expertise spans a wide spectrum of financial issues, including:

• Annual operational and budget planning
• Business unit, data, analytics, and reporting
• Merger and acquisition (M&A) due diligence
• Public market capital raise
• Investor and analyst communication
• Capital structure optimization
• Credit facility negotiations
• IFRS accounting, including IFRS 15 revenue from contracts with customers
• Public and listed company reporting
• C-Suite and board-level presentations
• Multi-year strategic planning
• Finance enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation and optimization

Amer Rasul’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Commerce and Economics degree from the University of Toronto, as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from the university’s Joseph L. Rotman School of Management. He is also accredited as a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Information Systems Auditor (by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association) and a Chartered Accountant (by the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants.)

What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?

I am currently working as a fractal CFO for two different clients. So my day starts off with prioritizing objectives and dealing with strategic financial issues that each client might have. I also make sure that I do get in time to exercise and spend time with my family throughout the day, outside of my client responsibilities.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I look at it in the context of the wider macro economy, rather than particular businesses. I look at it from a strategic perspective: where the business is positioned within the economy, and more particularly within an industry segment, and then look at the strategy that the business is looking to implement. Within that, look at ideas that we need to execute. You need a champion within the business leading the implementation of the idea and ensuring that the corporate resources and capacity to execute on those ideas are there. So it’s not only formulating an idea but you need to support it with the appropriate level of resourcing so the idea can be executed. You want to ensure corporate focus and the resources to back up those initiatives.

What’s one trend that excites you?

The commercialization of large language AI models will have very wide repercussions for all Industries and types of work that individuals do within those industries. I think it’s going to enhance productivity, not necessarily reduce employment. It’s a tool that will be implemented across all types of work to assist individuals to be more productive. A small example would be in the realm of computer programming. It’s not that it will take away programming jobs, but it’ll enable programmers to be more productive in creating code.

What is one habit that helps you be productive?

I think making time for yourself through the working day, taking time to exercise or meditate. It definitely helps me maintain my level of productivity.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Looking back I would definitely say that life is a balance. I think as you go through the growth stage of your career, you have to make sure that you balance all the opportunities, not only work but also outside work activities and your friendships. Your business network and your friends network should be maintained so that you have a good balance in life and not overdue one aspect of it.

Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you.

As things are shifting from an economic perspective and from the perspective of global power politics. The rise of China and the decline in other countries, I think that this will eventually lead to some conflict. So I think from a Canadian standpoint we have to be ready. All those periods of change historically when great powers have changed hands it has given rise to conflict or wars, and I think the global community needs to be ready for those sort of conflicts to arise again, whether it’s due to new technologies like AI, the infrastructure that supports the competition for computer chips, or geographical and economic influence.

What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?

Keep a balance in everything that you do including your work and personal life. I think everything in moderation is a good statement: Eat moderately, exercise moderately every day, and keep an open mind about input from your business network and your friends circle. I think that’s probably my mantra.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

I think you always need to take a step back. In those moments of reflection while you’re taking a walk or exercising, you need to pull yourself away from the details and keep focused on the end goals, so you don’t get lost in the trees because of the forest.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?

I think you should always take the opportunity to try something new. Even if it’s outside your comfort zone. I think whether you’re introducing a product to a market or pursuing a new client, you should always strive to do something different and continue to learn. You should never be afraid of change. You should always be open to learning new ways of doing things.

What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?

Sometimes a setback allows you to take two steps forward. I think what you have to keep in mind is any change or distress in an environment or a step back is an opportunity to learn from that experience. Take the lesson from it and move forward.

What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Learn from history, learn from human nature. It’s always good to take lessons from history, such as changes in technology. We’ve been through periods of rapid technological change over the years, whether it was the introduction of personal computers; and prior to that it was mainframes; and prior to that it was automation of factories with various methods. I think what you always want to do is to be adaptable in business and adopt the new technology and don’t try to fight it. Always be adaptable to things that are changing and see how that can enhance what services or products you’re offering.

What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

It’s not one particular software. I think if it’s a calendar system or a mail system, those are basic productivity tools we use day in and day out, and those are things that I use myself.

What is the best $100 you recently spent?

I play a lot of golf so probably buying a new favorite wood, which has tremendously helped my game.

Do you have a favorite book or podcast from which you’ve received much value?

One of my favorite podcasts is from The Economist magazine. They have a daily podcast rounding up the major stories and analysis of the major stories both from a business and political perspective. That’s something that I listened to first thing in the morning.

What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?

I’m more of a reader, so a book I’ve recently read is called Homo Deus. It’s an eye-opening book that I think I want you to read at some point.

Key learnings:

• Everything in moderation.
• Keep a healthy balance between the attention you devote to your professional network and network of friends.
• Learn from history and embrace change.
• Watch the larger trends taking shape in your industry, the economy and the world.