Professional Summary

A Milwaukee-based, hands-on, 25-year accounting and finance professional, and former-business owner, who drives results with a commitment to best practices, superior modeling and professional development. He is an excellent addition for a small or medium-sized business needing either a temporary CFO or Controller, or a part-time professional on an ongoing basis, particularly for a business:

• Quickly needing a professional to step in due to a planned or unplanned departure,

• Wanting to professionalize and upgrade their accounting and finance department, or

• Needing leadership or support for a particular project.

 

He has meaningful experience with taking the form of process improvement and controls to increase efficiency and improve accuracy; optimizing the use of your ERP with supplemental Excel models which are clear, concise, and support good decision-making; and focusing on education and support to develop effective and engaged team members. His view of differentiating effort into working both “in” and “on” the business, also extends into project work related to strategic planning and execution, optimizing cash flow, protecting company assets, profit improvement, technology upgrades, and transaction support.

 

Besides the timeliness and accuracy of executing key initiatives, having him on your team means having a team member who supports continuous improvement for the company and the individual, with a contagious attitude of positivity and encouragement.

 

Business, Function, and Project Leadership

 

Corporate Leadership

• Served in the “Office of the President” with the COO and EVP Sales.

• Coordinated strategic planning, corporate values and KPI development.

• Culture shift driver to accountability and collaboration, from “command and control.”

• Led company restructurings due to economic change and customer losses.

• Began corporate shift to lean and continuous improvement.

• Company lead to a Board of Advisors and trusted partner to ownership.

 

Accounting Operations

• Full budget process, with GL manager input, connection to strategic initiatives, presentation to leadership, and monthly analysis reporting with GL detail to budget owners.

• Comprehensive month-end closing process, for one or more entities, with intercompany transactions as needed, for faster decision-making.

• Cash management responsibility balancing fixed versus variable financing and repayments.

• Preparation of monthly standard, reversing and adjusting journal entries.

• Reconciliation process for every balance sheet account to a sub-ledger or support schedule.

• Maintenance of GL support schedules, including fixed and intangible assets for depreciation, amortization, additions, and disposals; prepaids, accruals, tax, lease, and working capital.

• Development of an automated review of key P&L accounts to ensure monthly accuracy.

• Capital appropriations policy creation with accompanying ROI/payback models and signoffs.

• Business insurance lead with brokers for carrier policy selection and approvals to minimize cost while providing appropriate risk coverage.

• Percent of completion revenue recognition.

• Expense approval matrix implementation by function and GL.

• Royalty agreement management and payment calculations with support.

• State sales tax reporting and voluntary disclosure agreements for missed payments.

• Sales commission and bonus plan creation and calculation.

• Periodic inventory cost rollups, LIFO reserve entries, and FIFO and average cost review.

• A/R collections process and tracking, including policy for payment terms and credit checks.

• A/P payments and approvals process for checks, ACH, and wires.

• Cash controls implementation through authorizations policy and bank fraud deterrents.

• Team member credit card management and expense reporting to GL process.

• Payroll approvals, timesheet validation, 401K deferral, and match validation.

• Inventory physical and cycle counting process development and oversight.

• Managed cash flow and asset-based lending banking relationships.

• Weekly reports to ownership with sales updates, forecasts, cost and margin changes, capital investment opportunities and overall business health.

• Lease accounting ASC 842 entries.

• Prepared personal property tax returns, and issued 1099-MISC.

 

Financial Reporting and Analysis

• TB-driven monthly and YTD P&L, balance sheet, cash flow with PY and budget comparisons.

• Monthly TTM P&L, division P&L, rolling budget, gross margin, and SG&A analysis.

• Monthly MD&A report to stakeholders, plus quarterly Board presentations to PE owners.

• EBITDA adjustments tracking; and EBITDA, goodwill and equity rolls to PE owners.

• KPI reporting.

• 13-week cash flow forecasting for cash requirements planning.

• Make versus buy decision-making model development.

• Customer profitability template for quoting and customer review.

• Activity based costing implementation for better informed pricing and cost-out opportunities.

• Excess and slow moving inventory reporting, with inventory reserve analysis.

• Inventory adjustment and P.O. variance analysis for continuous improvement.

• Daily sales and line of credit reporting.

 

M&A Transaction Support

• Decision analysis process facilitator to select an investment bank for company sale.

• Primary company contact and support for Q of E, legal, tax, and banking teams.

• Due diligence lead for data, questions, and analysis.

• Management presentation support and delivery to potential buyers.

• Purchase agreement, disclosure schedules and lease agreement review.

• Post-transaction opening balance sheet, including valuations of inventory, fixed assets, goodwill, and other intangible assets.

 

ERP Systems Implementation / Project Management

• IT strategic plan to increase efficiency, reliability, security, and recoverability.

• Infrastructure overhaul of data servers, e-mail server, backups, routers/switches, access points, VPN, physical access, contingency and recovery plans, and conversion to fiber.

• Two ERP upgrades for Manage 2000 (an EPICOR product).

• Shipping system upgrade for Collect 2000 (connected to Manage 2000).

• Conversion of an acquisition from QuickBooks into Sage 100.

 

Audit and Compliance

Timely completion of data requests for:

• Internal and external accounting audits and accounting reviews.

• Quarterly and annual federal and state income tax returns, including an R&D tax credit.

• 401K audit and census validation.

• General liability and workers compensation annual insurance audits.

 

Sales, Marketing and Other

• Marketing department overhaul. Increased sales opportunities and built brand identity by creating and managing a “360-degree Marketing” program centered on web, social, SEO, content, mobile, ads, and end-user outreach.

• New division launch with responsibility for P&L, budget, cost negotiation, distributor programs, retail pricing, hiring and training salespeople, advertising and promotions, new product launches, and inventory control.

• Customer profit improvement planning with changes to pricing, program and product mix, and direct participation in retail customer business and line reviews.

• New product development stage gate process support.

• New product launch plan development.

• Team member onboarding and offboarding processes to support HR.

• Patent and other IP management.

• Customer contract, operating lease and legal agreement review and modification.

• Fiduciary committee for retirement plan investment choices and structure.

• Startup business launches.