Financial Analysis & Reporting, Treasury, Cash Managment, Foreign Exchange, Los Angeles

I have had over 20 years of experience in budget development and financial statement preparation. I began my career with the public accounting firm of Deloitte & Touché in New York after graduating from Columbia University. I was responsible for the annual financial budget and the monthly financial statement preparation at WTOL-TV in Toledo as Controller, as Director of Finance for the Subscription Television Division as Time-Warner, Inc. in New York and the cash flow forecast at FedEx in Memphis. While at FedEx, I was responsible for global cash management performing both domestic and international cash management functions including establishing the cash position daily by 9:00 a.m. in order to go out on the market and either invest in bank repurchase agreements or borrow commercial paper to cover a short position. Many times I had over $250 million invested in commercial paper that required calling major Wall Street firms such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as early as possible in the morning in order to secure the best market rate. I was also evaluated on the portfolio performance and was required to beat the Fed Funds rate. I made over 50 Federal Reserve wire transfers or CHIP payments daily to over eighty foreign countries. I also was responsible for the purchase of foreign currency for either payment that were not in US dollars or to fund FedEx foreign operations world wide. On a daily basis, I transferred in excess of $200 million dollars but on some days that figure was in excess of one billion dollars when paying lease payments. I administrated all aircraft lease agreements and payments. FedEx had several hundred aircraft lease agreements with total annual payments in excess of $5 billion dollars. FedEx owns or leases over 6,000 aircraft and has more aircraft than China. I was responsible for about a third of all disbursements at FedEx, which is a $21 billion dollar company. I was also responsible for cash flow forecasting and I have worked with very sophisticated Excel models. This forecast was sent directly to the Chief Financial Officer that used this projection to make significant financial decisions including the issuance of debt or equity on a long-term basis. I was also responsible for all State and Federal tax payments that were sent via ACH. On a daily basis, I made an average of 50 tax payments. Our weekly Federal tax payments were generally in excess of $20 million dollars. I worked with all 50 state tax departments in setting up the bank accounts and wire transfer information for payment. Every state has different requirements and penalties for non-compliance. I also did the bank fee analysis for all FedEx bank accounts and on an annual basis saved the company in excess of $100,000 by finding errors or negotiating fee reductions. While at FedEx I was involved with the study and review of numerous proposals for a Treasury Work Station which is a complex software program that assists in cash management including automatically dialing into the numerous bank accounts and obtaining a balance so that early in the morning we would have available cash balances. The actual implementation is the equivalent to converting to a new software general ledger package since every time money is moved or a wire transfer is made, it requires a journal entry. I made over 1,000 general ledger journal entries each month at FedEx. Since cash management effects numerous other departments including accounting, finance, operations, accounts payable and cash applications, etc., the study and implementation of the Treasury Work Station required a team effort. Perhaps the biggest challenge was trying to get all of the various departments, divisions and companies within the FedEx Holding Company on board and working together to make the system work. It required constant documentation, e-mails and meetings over an 18 month period just to implement the new system. Complex Reports Written One of the more complex reports that I have presented was the FedEx cash flow projection that was presented to the Chief Financial Officer and the Board of Directors on a quarterly basis. I worked with an elaborate excel model that used the revenue projections from sales, the book expense projections from the budgeting department and the capital expenditures from capital budgeting group and converted the book revenue amount into a cash flow figure by adding the non-cash items such as depreciation and deducting a projected amount for accounts receivable that would be booked but actual cash not received. The model used an historical percentage average to determine projected outstanding receivables at the end of each quarter. I spent at least a third of my time updating the actuals on a daily basis so that we had a better actual projection for the quarter. The cash flow projection was used by the Chief Financial Officer to make significant funding and purchasing decisions including whether to repurchase stock, issue debt or delay major capital purchases such as additional aircraft. Computer Applications All most all of my reports and analysis were done with Excel and power point including the cash flow projection, bank fee analysis and daily cash position calculations. I have used various main frame systems including AS 400, PeopleSoft, Peach Tree, Quick Books, TPS and Internal Revenue Service tax software. My skills include: Team Player- In order to be successful you need people working together to accomplish the goals of the organization. Integrity- It is imperative to the success of any organization that the members have a high degree of integrity and honesty in order to gain respect and trust in the organization. People Skills- Success also requires that the team have a sense of concern for the well being of others and the organization as a whole. Communication Skills- People need to know what the goals and expectations are of them and the organization in order to have a clear vision of the objectives and be able to improve their skills in order to meet those objectives. Problems can not be resolved unless others are aware of the obstacles that are limiting the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. While at Time-Warner, Inc., I did several significant marketing studies including the detail cost analysis of acquiring a new subscriber and the associated cost of installation of the cable equipment. Based on the cost analysis and the monthly revenue per subscriber, I was able to determine the number of months before the fixed costs was covered and the profitability break-even point achieved. This study resulted in several significant marketing changes that eventually were adopted by the cable industry. When we charged the full cost of marketing and installation to the customer at the point of sale, we not only covered our fixed cost immediately and therefore, realized an immediate break-even point, but we also reduced customer churn. By charging an installation fee, customers perceived a greater value to the service and were more likely to retain the service and it also eliminated customers who would request free installation and then not pay for the service. Initially, our customer numbers went down but we realized greater profitability and much lower churn and accounts receivable.

Accountant

Los Angeles, CA