Shaping Sustainable Growth: The Financial Leadership Journey of Erwantho Siregar

Strategic Finance Leader in Modern Retail

Erwantho Siregar serves as Finance Director at PT Duta Intidaya Tbk, which operates Watsons Indonesia, and has built a reputation as a forward looking leader who combines rigorous financial discipline with a sharp eye for growth and transformation. With experience across multiple industries and markets, he brings a balanced perspective that connects governance, commercial agility and people development into one cohesive leadership approach.

Early Foundations in Finance and Consulting

Erwantho began his career as an assistant consultant, a role that exposed him early to complex business processes and the demands of managing diverse stakeholders. That initial experience laid a foundation in analytical thinking and communication that would later prove essential as he navigated increasingly complex responsibilities in finance and operations.

Over time, he moved into roles that spanned internal audit, internal control and systems implementation, deepening his understanding of how robust processes underpin sustainable business performance. He contributed to SAP system reviews in Japan and Malaysia and played an active role in implementations in Thailand and Indonesia, gaining hands on exposure to how technology, data and controls intersect in multinational environments.

Building Multidimensional Financial Expertise

As his career progressed, Erwantho took on responsibilities in financial accounting, handling day to day transactions and monthly reporting that strengthened his grasp of core finance operations. This phase gave him a detailed view of how accurate recording, reconciliations and timely reporting form the basis for credible decision making in any organization.

He then advanced into business partnering roles at managerial and senior managerial levels, entering the world of financial planning and analysis with a strong understanding of financial reporting, systems, internal controls and business processes. In these positions he was not only interpreting numbers but also translating them into insights that supported business development, stakeholder management and long term growth initiatives.

Leadership Across Industries and Markets

At finance leadership levels, Erwantho became more deeply involved in shaping finance organizations and influencing overall company direction. He has worked with multinational companies in sectors including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, trading and services, which gave him a broad view of different business models and competitive dynamics.

In many of these roles he contributed to turning around businesses to more profitable positions, focusing on restructuring, cost management, business development and competition analysis. Whether in mature or evolving markets, he focused on profitability improvement and targeted cost saving initiatives that protected essential activities while enabling growth.

Core Qualities Driving His Success

Three personal qualities stand out in his leadership journey. First is his ability to balance internal control and compliance with operational efficiency and commercial responsiveness, enabling him to guide stakeholders toward decisions that serve the long term interests of the company. This balance allows him to maintain strong governance without constraining the agility needed to compete in fast moving markets.

Second is his analytical mindset, which he uses to provide practical recommendations for improving topline performance, margin quality and cost structures. He is not content with pure analysis, instead focusing on translating insights into actions and mobilizing teams across departments to achieve company objectives.

Continuous Improvement as a Personal Discipline

The third defining quality in his profile is a relentless commitment to continuous improvement in processes, performance and leadership. He regularly reviews company performance line by line through the profit and loss statement, searching for opportunities to enhance revenue, margins and efficiency without disrupting the core business.

On the organizational side, he places strong emphasis on open communication and inclusive discussion to gain a fuller understanding of issues before making decisions. This approach not only leads to better outcomes but also strengthens alignment and clarity across the organization when new directions are set.

Guiding Ideals: Integrity, Capability and People

Integrity is the central pillar of Erwantho’s professional philosophy, especially in his role as a finance leader responsible for transparency and trust. He believes that delivering financial and non financial results must always align with core values while ensuring that the company complies with taxation, financial, trading and investment regulations.

Alongside integrity, he focuses on continuously sharpening key finance capabilities, from financial and management accounting to forecasting, internal control and risk management. At senior leadership level, he adds strategic thinking, business partnering, digital awareness, commercial insight and cross cultural collaboration to his toolkit, ensuring that finance serves as a strategic partner rather than a back office function.

Championing Sustainable Growth and Learning Cultures

Erwantho’s outlook on growth is grounded in sustainability, both financially and organizationally. He aims to maintain healthy cash flow to support operations and investments, and to pursue top line growth while keeping expenses under disciplined control.

For him, people are the foundation of a strong organization, and he actively promotes a learning environment where team members are encouraged to build their skills and capabilities. Guiding, sharing knowledge and motivating others form an important part of his leadership identity, reflecting his belief that strong teams are essential for long term success.

Navigating Regulatory and Market Complexity

Throughout his career, some of the toughest challenges have involved navigating new regulations and emerging business opportunities. When Indonesia’s National Health Insurance program was launched, pharmaceutical companies needed to submit tenders for drug inclusion, a process that required careful pricing and margin considerations over multiple years.

Working with commercial leaders, he helped develop a strategic framework for pricing that balanced competitive bids with acceptable margins and future tender potential. This framework served as a practical tool for deciding when to participate in tenders and contributed to the successful inclusion of several drugs in the first year of the program and beyond.

Designing Flexible Models for Complex Decisions

In another challenging context, he dealt with the shift in Australia toward the use of generic intravenous solutions alongside patented alternatives. The task required comparing different pricing tiers for public and private hospitals while analyzing the cost structure of patent and generic products and the economics of the compounding facility.

He took part in developing a flexible decision model that simulated pricing, margin expectations, volumes and cost scenarios to identify the optimal mix. This approach generated incremental profits and equipped the company with a robust tool for future scenario planning that considered multiple cost and market variables.

Leading Through Organizational Change

Organizational restructuring, whether driven by efficiency programs or mergers and acquisitions, has also been a recurring theme in his professional journey. In these situations he has had to maintain focus on achieving pre set objectives and ensuring continuity in day to day operations despite changes in resources and team configurations.

He approaches change management by balancing operational stability with the need to implement new structures and processes, paying attention to communication and alignment within the finance function and the wider business. This perspective helps teams navigate uncertainty while staying committed to performance goals.

Transforming Cost Structure and Profitability

Among the achievements that stand out in his recent work is a successful initiative to control costs while supporting profitable growth. Rather than cutting expenses indiscriminately, he championed a strategy that prioritized essential operational and capital spending while continuing to invest in revenue driving activities.

The outcome of this approach was a situation where operational cost growth remained less than half the pace of top line revenue increase. Operating income as a percentage of sales improved significantly, rising from under 1 percent to above 4 percent within a year, illustrating the effectiveness of targeted cost management aligned with growth priorities.

Strengthening the Balance Sheet and Solvency

Another notable accomplishment involved strengthening the company’s balance sheet by optimizing the use of bank loans. He focused on keeping loan levels as low as feasible and minimizing the duration of borrowing while still ensuring sufficient funds for operations and store expansion.

By carefully planning drawdowns, loan periods and early repayments funded from operating cash flows, the company achieved a marked reduction in its debt to equity ratio, declining from 38.2 to 14.5 within a year. This result reflected better solvency, lower interest expenses and a stronger financial position to support future growth.

Professional Recognitions and Credentials

Erwantho’s impact has been recognized externally through several accolades. He has been named among the 10 Best CFOs From Asia 2025 by Trade Flock and listed as one of the Successful People in Indonesia 2025 by The British Publishing House. These recognitions highlight both his technical contributions and his broader leadership influence in the region’s business community.

His formal qualifications underline a commitment to professional excellence. He holds the Chartered Accountant designation in Indonesia, is an ASEAN Chartered Professional Accountant, and is a Certified Management Accountant with ICMA Australia as well as a Certified Practising Accountant with CPA Australia. This combination of credentials demonstrates his dedication to maintaining global standards in finance and accounting.

Vision for the Future of Finance Leadership

Looking ahead, Erwantho aims to help his organization reach new heights in market share, profitability and shareholder value. He sees the finance function as a catalyst for strategic growth and intends to continue guiding the company toward stronger financial performance and broader market presence.

A central part of his future agenda is developing the next generation of finance leaders. By identifying and nurturing talent, he wants to build a finance organization that remains competitive in an environment shaped by rapid technological change, evolving regulations and shifting consumer expectations.

Advice to Emerging Leaders in Finance

For aspiring leaders, his counsel starts with building strong core capabilities in their chosen field. In finance, this includes accounting and reporting skills, understanding of systems and processes and a solid level of IT acumen that enables professionals to work effectively in digital environments.

He also highlights the importance of stakeholder management and business understanding. To him, business partnering is more than analyzing figures, it involves offering guidance, highlighting issues and contributing to both day to day tactical decisions and longer term strategic plans across the organization.

Skills for the Modern CFO Landscape

Erwantho observes that the role of senior finance professionals has evolved considerably over the past two decades. While safeguarding company assets through accounting, internal control and risk management remains fundamental, CFOs today must also shape strategy and influence major investment and commercial decisions.

He identifies long term strategy development, business partnering, digital proficiency, commercial insight, adaptable leadership across generations and a regional or global perspective as key capabilities for modern finance leaders. These skills allow finance professionals to contribute effectively in increasingly competitive markets and in organizations that operate across borders.

Mindset, Networking and Lifelong Learning

Beyond technical skills, he places great emphasis on networking and continuous learning. In his view, engaging with professional communities, regulators and financial institutions is essential to stay ahead of changes in regulation, digital innovation and market practices.

He encourages finance professionals to remain curious about technological and digital advancements and to pursue ongoing education and certifications as part of their career journeys. Knowledge, in his perspective, is dynamic, and staying relevant means continuously updating ideas and ways of working to match current realities.

Through this blend of integrity, analytical rigor and human centered leadership, Erwantho Siregar exemplifies the modern finance leader who not only manages numbers but also shapes the trajectory of organizations and people entrusted to his care.