"Always proactive and responsible... always comes up with solutions and recommendations for improvements."
— Irfan Ahmed, Group Chief Financial Officer
My approach to the numbers
I'm a Staff Accountant who handles multi-entity books, reporting and payroll, and builds the tools that automate them. Currently at Edtech Ventures, I handle financial records, payroll, and tax compliance for venture-backed entities with capital exceeding $3M, working across NetSuite, QuickBooks, Manager.io, TimeTrax, and TriNet — and I'm comfortable owning everything from monthly close to Budget vs. Actual analysis and MBR/QBR reporting.
Recent work includes building a ~$400K revenue amortization model to align deferred income recognition, consolidating multi-source financial data to identify $90K in cost savings, and securing over $2M in venture funding approvals through annual budgeting across multiple entities. I like turning messy transaction data into a clean, defensible set of books — and explaining what the numbers mean to people who aren't accountants.
Where I've worked
A track record across venture-backed startups, consulting, and event management — always anchored in clean books and reliable numbers.
Staff Accountant
Nov 2023 – PresentEdtech Ventures LLC, Austin
- Managed financial records, payroll, and tax compliance for venture-backed entities with capital exceeding $3M using NetSuite, QuickBooks, Manager.io, TimeTrax, and TriNet.
- Prepared and posted monthly financial statements; supported MBR/QBR reporting with Budget vs. Actual analysis.
- Built a revenue amortization model (~$400K) to align deferred income recognition, and identified $90K in cost savings consolidating multi-source financial data.
- Automated recurring financial reporting by integrating QuickBooks, HubSpot, and Stripe data feeds into real-time dashboards, improving visibility into revenue, sales, and cash flow for leadership.
- Developed annual budgets across multiple entities, securing over $2M in venture funding approvals, and oversaw $2.8M+ in annual cash flow.
Account Officer
Feb 2023 – Oct 2023Think Higher Consultants, Melbourne & Karachi
- Generated daily sales invoices totaling AUD 100,000+ monthly with accurate revenue tracking.
- Managed accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll for all employees.
Account & Event Manager
Mar 2018 – Dec 2021Elysium Event Management, Karachi
- Managed accounts, financials, and inventory records; planned and executed events end-to-end, including vendor logistics.
Things I've built
Tools I designed and built to replace manual finance and HR work.
Finance Dashboard
Problem: Monthly reporting across portfolio companies was assembled by hand.
What I built: An executive dashboard tracking budget vs. actuals, AP/AR, revenue, operating expenses and EBIT, fed by QuickBooks, HubSpot and Stripe.
Result: Leadership sees current numbers on demand.
Employee Time Off Tracker
What I built: An app where staff request time off and managers see balances and approvals in one place.
Result: 214 active employees synced from the Employee Data Hub, with public holidays applied across 3 countries.
Employee Data Hub
What I built: A single hub for employee records: designation, department, company, location, work type, employment type, status, contact details, monthly salary, hire date and tenure, with CSV and Excel import and export.
Result: 271 employees on file across 8 companies.
Where I can help
Four things I'm brought in for most often, each with a clear scope.
Automated Dashboards
A live view of revenue, cash and budget vs. actual, built from your QuickBooks, Stripe and HubSpot data. No more rebuilding the same spreadsheet every month.
You get: one dashboard, connected data feeds and a walkthrough video for your team.
Month-End Close
Bank and card accounts reconciled, transactions categorised and the books closed on a fixed schedule each month.
You get: reconciled accounts, a P&L, a balance sheet and a short note on what changed and why.
Reporting & Budgeting
Budget vs. actual analysis and monthly or quarterly review packs that leadership can read in five minutes. I've built annual budgets across multiple entities and a ~$400K revenue amortization model.
You get: a monthly reporting pack, plus an annual budget if you need one.
Payroll & Compliance Support
Payroll processing and organised records in TimeTrax and TriNet, so filings have the documentation they need.
You get: payroll run on schedule and records your tax preparer can use straight away.
Tools I use
Platforms and software I work in day-to-day, from payments to payroll to the books themselves.
What colleagues say on LinkedIn
I had the pleasure of working with Zain Ul Abidin at WorkForce Institute, and I can confidently say he's someone any team would be lucky to have.
Zain is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to finance, financial analysis, budgeting and reporting, but what really stood out to me was his professionalism, reliability and willingness to work collaboratively with others. He's adaptable, communicates well, and always approaches his work with a thoughtful and solutions-focused mindset.
I really enjoyed working with Zain and would happily recommend him to any organisation looking for someone who is not only strong technically, but also a great person to have on the team.
Working alongside Zain at Cloud Institute and WFI with me leading Marketing, him on finance, gave me a perspective on him that not everyone gets to see: what it actually looks like when a finance person is genuinely easy to work with.
In cross-functional work, finance can sometimes feel like a blocker. Zain was the opposite. He walked alongside the process, not against it. Whether it was contracts, reporting, or just a question that needed an answer, he was always available, and if he didn't have an update yet, he'd tell you that too. No silence, no runaround. Just honest, consistent communication.
That combination of transparency, ethics, and genuine willingness to help is rare.
Highly dependable resource. You can easily bank on him. always proactive and responsible in taking up and concluding his tasks. always come up with solutions and recommendations for improvements.
I highly recommend Zain Ul Abidin, an outstanding Staff Accountant at Edtech Ventures. His expertise in financial analysis, budgeting, compliance and Excel-based financial modeling, paired with his strong communication skills, make him a valuable asset. Zain's professionalism, adaptability, and team-oriented approach consistently deliver exceptional results. Any organization would benefit from his dedication and forward-thinking mindset.
Zain is nothing short of a magician when it comes to task alignment. His research skills are like a finely tuned instrument, and when you entrust him with a task, you can rest assured it will be executed flawlessly. If you are seeking some who can not only get things done but also elevate them to a whole new level, Zain is your Ace Card. Zain, your ability to transform challenges into opportunities is a testament to your remarkable talents.
Let's talk numbers
Location
Karachi, Pakistan