EDUCATION

   Master of Science, Accountancy

   Bachelor of Science, Finance

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  Senior Accountant – Compensation, Benefits & Equity Plan Accounting

Accomplishments

• Joined newly restructured compensation accounting team and within three months generated significant time savings and work efficiencies by consolidating numerous compensation accounting spreadsheets into a couple main accounting schedules which resulted in exceptionally better internal controls around data changes, more dynamic analytical capabilities and greatly reduced the number of workpapers required to support monthly journal entries and reconciliations.
• Designed, built and implemented a dynamic and multi-functional spreadsheet for newly issued equity plans that enabled our team to accurately document and record equity amortization, per-unit valuations, income distributions, mark-to-market calculations, forfeitures and repurchases in a single accounting schedule that could be easily updated and replicated on a monthly basis as opposed to the numerous inefficient files we inherited for the old equity plans that were being phased out.
• Excelled in an extremely challenging and complex accounting environment that operated in two separate accounting systems which involved understanding how various compensation-related expenses flowed between the Nuveen and TIAA ledger systems as well as being able to quickly and frequently trace back originating journal entries after the complicated consolidation process occurred.
• Skillfully coordinate with various business leaders to diligently prepare forecasts for budget planning cycles related to compensation expenses, benefits and equity plans within required deadlines.
• Analyze variable compensation expenses and identify key drivers of monthly results including reporting to various business units on forecast variances to actuals.
• Entrusted to securely handle extremely confidential employee compensation data on a daily basis and prudently share sensitive information with appropriate individuals when required.

  Risk Manager – Purchase Valuation (2016 – 2017)

• Calculate expected losses on purchased loan portfolios to determine ALLL (allowance for loan and lease losses) reserve on a quarterly basis for performing term loans and revolving loans ensuring complex and dynamic computations are accurately performed. Successfully replaced outdated risk parameters with new Commercial and Retail models to align General Allowance methodology with critical regulatory requirements and business policies.
• Determine and validate PCL (provision for credit losses) on BMO’s $30 billion acquired portfolios for performing and credit impaired loans, booking multi-million dollar charges (or recoveries) against the bank’s operating income on a monthly basis to ensure BMO Harris holds a sufficient and adequate amount of capital in the allowance reserve account.
• Identify significant changes to credit for non-performing loans to ensure amounts and timing of recoveries and periodic payments are correctly captured in cash flow re-estimation model, approving US GAAP and IFRS PCL results for the Purchased Credit Impaired (PCI) portfolio.

  Risk Analytics & Reporting Senior Analyst (2014 – 2016)

• Produced Risk and Purchase Valuation reports under US GAAP and IFRS for various Board, Committee and Regulatory audiences across a broad range of measurements including PCL, ALLL, amortization, credit/rate mark, reservations, charge-offs and recoveries; presenting results and advising senior management of any significant changes in the magnitude and quality of risk components being reported and delivering quarterly material considerably earlier in less than half the allotted time.
• Generated instrument level data files on a monthly basis for distribution to Risk Reporting and Purchase Valuation teams, significantly enhancing database system by improving data accuracy and quality, automating data transformation and correcting or modifying VBA code as needed. Implemented techniques to drastically reduce file production run time by 95% allowing management to more quickly measure impact of changes to inputs and risk variables on financial results.
• Conducted in-depth data dependent analysis of credit/risk elements by extracting loan level data using Business Objects, SQL and ODBC connections through Access to identify, analyze and correct data discrepancies between the bank’s loan booking systems and the newly created data warehouse designed to enhance and create new reporting capabilities for risk statements and disclosures.

  Investment Securities Analyst (2011 – 2014)

• Responsible for ensuring the accuracy of investment valuations and adherence to pricing policy for thousands of securities across a wide variety of asset classes on a weekly and monthly basis for CNA’s $45 billion investment portfolio.
• Recorded daily security purchases, sales and income receipts across 25+ high-volume investment portfolios that support CNA’s long term, short term, speculative and hedging trading strategies.
• Developed and implemented a team wide process that cut in half the time spent manually investigating over a thousand custody transactions a month by extracting source data to analyze and resolve forecast and cash discrepancies substantially faster.
• Processed investment and trade information from Bloomberg to the accounting system for mortgage/asset backed securities, syndicated loans and other financial instruments, as well as booking distributions, exchanges, splits, mergers, options, call schedules and other unique transactions as needed.
• Researched and promptly resolved cash and security breaks between accounting records and custodian records.

  Treasury Accountant (2008 – 2011)

• Ensured all bank transactions across 30+ operating bank accounts that support the company’s various reinsurance, real estate, retirement, health, life, group, surety and international operations posted to the ledger accurately.
• Created database to more effectively and efficiently identify potential owners of more than 400 transactions a month not automatically posted by rule sets, reducing the position’s work load by 50%.
• Analyzed the operational risks of the PeopleSoft Finance system upgrade and a paperless Electronic Funds Transfer environment, advising software engineers on our general ledger requirements and thoroughly testing the new system for a successful launch that eliminated the need to manually review and approve over 11,000 electronic payment requests a year totaling over $9 billion.
• Performed monthly asset and cash reconciliation analysis of balance sheet and income statement accounts.
• Provided courteous and exceptionally recognized customer service to a wide range of business units in researching bank or ledger discrepancies, investigating missing payments and locating receipts.

  Accountant

• Proficiently performed month-end closing duties that involved reconciling general ledger accounts with bank statements and creating corresponding journal entries where appropriate.
• Determined annualized impact of price change in raw material costs for subsequent year purchases based on current year usage and minimum purchase requirements.
• Provided payments to vendors and was responsible for accurately posting cash receipts daily in three accounting systems for company with revenues over $45 million a year.
• Assisted with major inventory and accounting system conversion that consisted of accurately classifying and recording raw material and manufacturing costs into an extensive inventory archive.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Proficient in Microsoft Excel and Access with extensive skills in pivot tables, advanced formulas, functions, macros, custom forms, conditional formatting, data management and data manipulation. Vast experience with Oracle PeopleSoft, SAP Business Objects, Google G Suite, QuickBooks, PowerPoint and VISIO. Robust familiarity with SQL, Bloomberg Terminals and Hyperion/Essbase. Computer literate individual with the demonstrated ability to quickly learn and adapt to new technologies.

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Resourceful problem solver – Versatile thinker, skilled in analyzing complex problems and formulating the most optimal solution. Adept at learning on the fly and dealing with ambiguity.
• Excellent write and communicator – Extremely effective technical writer, frequently recognized for producing understandable and easy to follow documents and procedures for difficult and complex processes.
• Flexible and adaptable – Expert in multi-tasking and prioritizing, assimilating quickly in transitions and switching roles as needed to maintain productivity.
• Detail-oriented and conscientious – Keen eye for data errors and inconsistencies, striving for flawless output.