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Summary of Qualifications

Financial Professional with a track record of mentoring and motivating any size team. Proficient at applying best practices from broad industry experience or providing practical solutions to situations as they may arise.  Supported strategic planning by validating the plans; linking them to the financials and providing candid feedback.  Thereafter, developed the strategic financial plans, tactical plans and policies to support the corporate objectives.  Acted as a navigator to the business units and executive management by providing financial and/or operational direction through effective communication, be it verbal, on the back of a napkin or through the formal reporting process. 

CAREER PROGRESSION

2017Present

Finance, Accounting and Tax Professional | Business Advisor

NENO VUKOSA PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION

Providing a variety of custom services to owner managed businesses.  One stop firm providing solution including bookkeeping,  compliance, tax preparation & planning along with business consulting services.

19982003

Controller

The Graphicshoppe Limited - Research, Financial and Commerical Printer

Lead Accounting and Finance team reporting to the Owner and President of privately held Toronto based financial printer with growth aspirations.

Skills

Computer Skills - Proficient on both Mac and PC platforms.  Advanced user of Excel with good knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite.  Experienced user of QuickBooks, Navision and Dynamics (now combined under Microsoft), Sage Business works and Sage Business Vision (now combined under Sage Cloud Services.  Accomplished user of ERP systems for mattress manufacturing and full implementation knowledge of ERP modules available for newly acquired package.

Organized and Systematic - Methodical approach to planning or taking action, while utilizing high tech methods (One Note or Outlook) as well as low tech methods (Moleskins & File Folders) to stay organized.  Organized accounting and finance into five broad categories; transactional, information management, compliance, financial reporting and value added reporting & services. Please refer to file located below -  "Portfolio Section - The Pyramid" - Each block is built on a solid base below it.

Mature Leadership - One life lesson the years have taught me - "None of us is smarter than all of us" - Having superior leadership skills means that I know when to lead and when to follow;  when to talk and when to listen, thereafter though, always decisive in my opinions and actions.  The best relationships (regardless of title, gender age or culture) revolved around the simple notion of mutual respect and candor, even if we never agreed on anything.

Focused and Multitasking Ability - Disciplined to work on one item at a time while fully capable of shifting focus quickly due to the demands of the current business environment. Utilized a checklist (See "Portfolio Section - Master Checklist" ) with linked documents to provide focus on the details but never loosing site of the big picture.

SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

Transaction Accounting
  • Management and Control - Ensured that all transactions are processed on a timely and regular basis.  Simplified and automated functions wherever possible and eliminated any bottlenecks. Set up systems of checks and balances to ensure the accuracy, validity, reliability and completeness of all information.
  • Cash - Validated all banking transactions through online banking with regular (daily or weekly) reconciliations when operating with minimal cash reserves.
  • Accounts Receivable - To facilitate collections, systems and processes were structured to ensure 100% invoice accuracy and timely delivery of invoices.
  • Credit - Adopted industry specific policies but also utilized best applicable practises from other industries.
  • Collections - Immediately flagged any slow paying customer for evaluation.  Next actions needed were judged on a customer by customer basis.
  • Inventory - Utilized or created exception reporting which would highlight areas of concern, utilizing criteria like inventory turns, safety stocks, or reorder points.  Next actionable steps followed quickly thereafter.
  • Accounts Payable and Purchasing - Streamlined processes by utilizing systems, especially those with a requisition system where all purchases are approved by the appropriate authority in advance of a purchase order.
  • Cost of Sales - Evaluated and improved job cost, standard cost or other variant systems, by developing a solid understanding of each cost driver.  Simple reports with clear action steps proved to be the most valuable source of information.
Information Management
  • Data Management and Control - Ensured that all data (that was practical) was maintained and secured in central databases with adequate backup systems.  This enabled the gathering of any information through report writers and a data dictionary.  Trained or coached individuals to create standardized reports to efficiently retrieve any information required for any type of regular reporting be it for Compliance, Financial or Dashboard purposes.
  • IT Management - Solid understanding of the development and/or purchase of computer solutions to create processes and manage information.  Typically favour purchased solutions since in-house development is usually under estimated with the project never really maturing.  Further to that, In-house development usually requires large commitment of time and resources.
  • Payroll Management System - Eliminated the use of a cumbersome payroll process by implementing a Canadian Based Cloud Payroll Service.  Eliminated excel spreadsheet time clock capture and old punch card system. Implemented biometric system in the first case and an in-house developed package operated on a networked desktop computer with one of the first touch screens produced.
Compliance Matters
  • Management and Control - Generally viewed as a non-value-added part of any enterprise, proactive management reduced the resources needed by never going into firefighting mode due to imposed deadlines along with the threat of fines and/or penalties.
  • Pension Committee - Maintained documentation required per Ontario Pension Laws in advance, reduced time required during a compliance audit.
  • Statutory Reporting - Ensured timely remittance of; Payroll taxes, Sales taxes, Statistics, etc. so as to avoid being flagged and fined by government authorities.
  • Contract Management - Removed auto renewal clauses in supplier contracts to eliminate renegotiation of penalties for early termination.
  • Government Compliance Audits - Maintained a standard package of information which allowed for easy retrieval of support documentation.
  • Personnel and Compensation Management - Ensured proactive management of personnel issues including annual salary and performance reviews, mandatory training and pay equity matters.
  • Corporate Compliance - Created, maintained and enforced a corporate delegation of authority matrix   Wherever possible, created automated systems to control the process.
Financial Reporting
  • Income Statements with Budgets or Forecasts, Variances and Explanations - Prepared various formats including ones separating controllable versus non-controllable expenses or variable versus fixed expenses, in a concise format to assist with focus for specific management purposes with accompanying variances and explanations where warranted.
  • Balance Sheets - Produced basic reports with a month to month one being the most informative. added additional metrics summarized below on a month to month basis.  These included, Current Ratio, Debt to TNW, DSO, inventory turnovers and Quick Ratio only to mention a few.  Not only were these analytics required for the banks, but they highlighted potential problems, or they highlighted trends that could be problematic.
  • Statement of Changes in Cash Position - Always prepared a detailed analysis of all the relevant line items on this report along with explanations and/or actions to deal with any issues.  Everyone wants to know - "Where's the cash!"
Value Added Reporting and Services
  • Linking Strategy to Financials - Budgets were built up or down to physical tangible measures on a line by line basis.  For example, sales were drilled up from units sold times selling price.  It was a product, or it was a service.  Either way, they were further broken down by customer, sales rep, territory and/or other measure. Further analytics could now be done.
    • Question 1 - Was it realistic or was it blue sky planning?  - Was there demand?
    • Question 2 - Do we have the necessary resources to supply it?
  • Dashboards and Key Performance Indicators - After truly learning about the business and growth, conceptualized and created simple usable dashboards connecting business activity (KPIs) to financial information to suit the individual users and/or provided coaching to facilitate their individual learning.
    • Sales Support - Worked with sales management to produce reports that provided information that would lead to better decisions.  Tracking win/loss information (including reason for loss) on all quoting was used to adjust pricing and/or product offering on future quotations.  In one instance, it showed we never got the work despite being competitive in every category.  So, we stopped quoting the work, as we were just being used as a benchmark.
    • Operations Support - Worked with operations management to produce reports that would provide actionable direction.  Usually far more straight forward, output had been targeted at a percentage of potential machine or human output.  However, complications arose when there was not enough work or when there was a dependency on another resource.
  • Business Risk - Identified, evaluated and managed risks where possible.  Foreign Exchange, Interest Rates, legal, environmental, political, technological and market.  Included ongoing information on dashboard reporting where applicable.
Established and Maintained Ongoing Professional Business Relationships
  • Banking and Lenders - Set up Operating Lines, Term Loans and Credit Card Programs to meet the demands of the company in the short term and long term with different classes of lenders.
  • Audit Firm - Effective and Efficient engagements including preparation of Notice to Reader Statements, Audited Statements and Corporate Tax Returns.  Actively engaged tax experts to look for tax reduction opportunities.
  • Lawyers - Engaged the best lawyers in their respective fields with successful outcomes settled, with minimal net cash outlay.
  • Insurance Agents - Annually reviewed all corporate, property, automobile, general liability and specialty coverages; to balance costs of coverage to the costs of potential claims for risk averse enterprises and for those who are less averse.
  • Benefit Carriers - Utilized trusted consultant to get quotes on existing plans.  Strongly considered moving from traditional plans to health spending accounts to create a uniform dollar benefit to all while limiting overall cost.

EDUCATION