The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ICC Academy or ICC.
About the interviewee:
There are trade practitioners who know the rules, and then there are those who have spent nearly two decades making sure every shipment, document, and customs declaration is exactly right.
Based in Finland, Tanja Kokko is an Export and Accounting Specialist at Tecwill Oy, a specialist manufacturer of concrete mixing plants. Over 18 years at the company, she has covered financial administration for Finnish parent company and subsidiaries in Poland and Canada, documentation for complex cross-border industrial shipments, and a period as Finnish-Russian technical translator – work that sharpened the linguistic precision she brings to every contract and export document. In 2026, she formalised that expertise with two ICC Academy certifications: the Export/Import Certificate (EIC) and the Incoterms® 2020 Certificate.
In this interview, Tanja speaks candidly about what export operations actually involves day-to-day, how accounting and logistics thinking intersect in practice, and why a practitioner with nearly 20 years of experience still chose to pursue a formal certification.
From the accounts desk to export operations
What does a career built on export operations really look like from the inside?
You’ve spent over 18 years at Tecwill Oy managing everything from financial operations to customs clearance and project logistics. For someone just starting out in export operations, what does the day-to-day actually involve that job descriptions tend to leave out?
A big part of working in export operations is making sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes. This kind of work is not visible but it’s essential to keep everything running smoothly.
Things also don’t happen instantly. Different time zones mean you can wait a long time for answers, and sometimes it takes a few days to resolve something. You also learn to navigate cultural differences: email etiquette alone varies significantly, with some cultures preferring a direct, informal approach, and others expecting something much more formal.
Perhaps most importantly, plans can change very quickly – if a shipment gets stuck somewhere, you react immediately and find an alternative solution on the fly together with your team.
Your role spans both accounting and export – two areas that are often treated as separate functions. How do they intersect in practice, and why does understanding both make you a stronger operator?
Understanding both functions means I can see beyond individual phases to the entire product delivery chain and understand how each phase affects impact one another.
When reviewing a sales contract, I can evaluate risks and terms from a delivery perspective while simultaneously considering accounting requirements such as payment terms. I’m familiar with the invoicing and tax reporting processes, and I handle export documentation to ensure smooth deliveries – so the two sides of the role inform each other constantly.
Incoterms® 2020 Certificate
You’ve handled financial administration for subsidiaries in Poland, Canada, and previously Russia. What’s one thing about cross-border financial operations that surprised you early on, and how did you adapt?
What surprised me most overall is that every country truly has its own unique specialities and regulations – even ones you might expect to be similar.
Finland and Poland are both EU members, but Poland uses the Split Payment Mechanism, which we don’t have in Finland. In Canada and Russia, tax reporting is quarterly, whereas in Finland we work monthly. Cheques are widely used in Canada, but essentially non-existent in Finland. Canada also has provincial taxes on top of federal ones. In Russia, the volume of documentation I handled was considerable.
Adapting comes down to understanding and accepting these local specifics rather than expecting uniformity.
Read: ‘How international trade specialists help small exporters’
Earning the credentials
Why did a practitioner with 18 years of experience choose to get certified?
You completed the Export/Import Certificate (EIC) from ICC Academy in January 2026 and followed that with the Incoterms® 2020 certificate in April. After nearly two decades in the field, what prompted you to pursue formal certification at this stage of your career?
I attended an export financing seminar where a representative from ICC Finland mentioned the ICC Academy programmes. I became interested immediately – the EIC certificate stood out as the most relevant to my work, covering how to successfully conduct cross-border transactions. Earning the certificate was genuinely valuable: it gives me a way to demonstrate my knowledge in the field.
I found the EIC programme so comprehensive that I decided to keep going and earned the Incoterms® 2020 certificate next.
The EIC covers a broad range of topics – CISG, letters of credit, bank guarantees, global logistics. Which area was most eye-opening relative to what you already knew from hands-on experience?
Two core courses were my favourites.
The first, ‘Financing and Security Devices’, covered the differences between documentary credits (letters of credit) and other trade finance solutions. The interactive format helped me build a thorough understanding of the LC process and the roles banks play in a documentary credit transaction – more structured than anything I’d picked up in practice.
The second, ‘International Logistics and Sourcing’, let me go deeper into the traditional marine bill of lading – what a mate’s receipt is, what a clean bill of lading actually means. Since completing the programme, I can also readily identify logistics abbreviations like the surcharge codes CAF and BAF when they come up in my day-to-day work.
Export/Import Certificate (EIC)
Incoterms® rules are often described as straightforward but misapplied frequently in practice. After completing the ICC Academy programme, what’s one rule or distinction that you now see differently – or that you think more practitioners get wrong than they realise?
EXW (Ex Works) is, in my view, the most frequently misused delivery term. Under EXW, the seller has no obligation to load the goods – delivery is completed simply by placing them at the buyer’s disposal at a named place. EXW is best suited to domestic trade where there is no intention to export. In international trade, buyers are generally advised to use FCA (Free Carrier), under which the seller bears responsibility and costs for obtaining export clearance, simplifying things considerably for the buyer. I’m honestly surprised by how often companies still default to EXW in international trade.
CIP (Carriage and Insurance Paid To) is another common source of confusion. Delivery and the transfer of risk occur when the goods are handed over to the first carrier – not at the final destination. That makes it essential to specify both the place of delivery and the place of destination clearly in the contract.
Incoterms® 2020 Certificate
Working across borders
How do you manage trade operations when every market plays by slightly different rules?
Customs clearance for industrial equipment – like the concrete mixing plants you’ve handled for Russia – involves a lot of moving parts. Can you walk us through how you approach preparing documentation for a complex cross-border project delivery?
Early preparation and planning are the foundation for everything.
Customs officials need to see that all the separate components belong to one single, functional plant. That means preparing very detailed technical specifications and instructions explaining how the technical parts connect – and it’s always a team effort that requires different areas of expertise. Local customs brokers need to be contacted proactively to verify requirements before the cargo leaves.
On the documentation side, you need the right HS codes, and commercial documents – invoices, packing lists – must be prepared with extreme care: correct weights, correct truck numbers, no errors. Export and import formalities need to be in order, and you also need to ensure the right documents come back to you for bookkeeping after the delivery.
The logistics planning adds another layer. Concrete mixing plants travel in multiple trucks, and because of the weight and dimensions, special transport permits must be applied for well in advance. Timing matters too – loading has to be planned around the right days of the week to avoid trucks getting held up at borders due to public holidays or weekend restrictions.
Read: ‘What a senior international trade finance career looks like’
You work across Finnish, Polish and Canadian regulatory contexts. How do you keep track of what’s required where, and how do you build in checks to avoid costly errors?
We work closely with local bookkeepers to stay on top of regulations and get expert advice when needed. I also join webinars regularly to stay informed about new requirements. That combination helps us act quickly and ensures our local operations stay compliant.
Precision as a professional value
What does it take to be truly meticulous in international trade?
You describe yourself as meticulous and highly precise – qualities that matter a great deal in trade documentation. Can you share a moment where attention to detail caught something that could have become a much larger problem?
Accuracy is something I treat as essential in daily work – everywhere, every day.
It requires an understanding of complex delivery chains and the ability to see the big picture, because even minor mistakes can create problems at any point along that chain, or at minimum cause unnecessary extra work.
A small change to one clause in a sales contract, for example, can affect many others – creating discrepancies or introducing risks that weren’t there before. Similarly, every detail in export documentation – amounts, names, HS codes, weights – needs to be 100% accurate to avoid problems during transportation and customs clearance.
You also worked as a Finnish-Russian technical translator, handling manuals and control system terminology. How has that linguistic precision shaped the way you approach trade documentation more broadly?
During my time as a Finnish-Russian technical translator, I learned that consistency of terminology throughout a document – across operation manuals, maintenance guides, and the rest – is essential for avoiding misunderstandings. That discipline carries over directly into trade documentation: using the same terms in a contract and in export documents prevents mistakes downstream and keeps deliveries on track.
Looking ahead
What does the future of export operations look like for practitioners entering the field today?
Trade terms, documentation standards, and compliance requirements keep evolving. How do you stay current, and what resources or habits have served you best for keeping your knowledge up to date?
I attend webinars regularly, and if I encounter something new or need to verify a specific requirement, I’ll actively go and look for the answer. I read newsletters from reliable sources, and as I mentioned, staying in close contact with local bookkeepers keeps us current on what’s changing in each market.
If you were starting your career in trade operations today, what would you focus on learning first to set yourself up for long-term success?
Start with the basics you’ll use every day: Incoterms® rules, international payment terms, and the core documents of international trade – understanding exactly when to use a proforma invoice versus a commercial invoice, for example.
Beyond the rules and terminology, you need to accept that things change constantly, particularly around global regulations and compliance. Stay proactive: know how to find reliable information and know which sources or experts to consult when you need to verify something.
My motto has always been: whatever you do, do it well.
