Accounting Manager and Financial Professional

RAFAEL L. RIVERA, CPA, MBA

** ******** ***. #*** *********, MD 20850 Tel: 787-***-****, e-mail: ********************.***.***@*****.***

AWARDS

Receipt candidacy for the Industry Manager of the Year Award by the PR Hotel and Tourism Assoc.

Manager of the Year Award at the Radisson Ambassador Plaza.

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

ACCOUNTING, AUDITING, LITIGATION SUPPORT & TAX CONSULTING March, 2016 – Present

Contracts:

1.Walton & Green Consultants, L.L.P. – Provide assurance services to its division 05/18 - Present

2.Berry Newton, CPA, CGMA Assurance and Accounting Services – Audit & Accounting Manager 12/17 – Present

3.Subject Matter (a public affairs company) - Interim Assistant Controller and Consultant 05/17 – 10/17

4.Raffa, PC CPAs – Outsourcing Accounting Senior Accountant 10/16 – 04/17

5.Zayas Morazzani & Co. Certified Public Accountants – Independent Consultant Litigation’s support 03/16 – 10/16

6.Rafael Rivera, CPA, MBA Tax Returns Services provided to other clients as an independent consultant 01/07 - 10/16

HOTEL AND CASINO INDUSTRY May, 2005 – March, 2016

1.Ritz Carlton Hotel and Casino - Assistant Director of Finance 05/15 to 03/16

Highlights:

Within 2 months in the company, recovered $200M in overpaid real property taxes from previous years.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Direct, assigns, and recommends closing entries for monthly financial statement preparation.

Review the balance sheet and P&L before presenting the statements to the regional Marriott Corporate Offices and the owners.

Ensure timely Balance Sheet Accounts Reconciliation, coordinate timely payments to suppliers, and oversee vendor’s accrual process.

Ensure timeliness of collections and accuracy of the accounts receivable’s aging, and on monitoring the daily count process.

Prepare reports to Marriott Corporate Offices such as the Capital Asset Report, Statement of Cash Flows, Financial Variances, Owner’s Distribution, and Monthly Forecast

Coordinate deliveries to external auditors of financial statements, and with the government officials. Revise tax returns prepared by the Accounting Firms.

Assist the Director of Finance in the preparation of the Annual Budget to be presented to Marriott Corporate Offices and owners.

Oversees the tax preparation processes and administration.

Review Marriott Corporate SOPs and assist the Director of Finance to ensure that all processes are in order to support Marriott’s compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.

2.Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel and Casino - Controller 01/14 to 05/15

Assistant Controller 06/05 to 12/13

Highlights:

•Coordinated activities that lead to a $1.77MM, or 53% reduction in costs in 2014 over 2013.

•Reduced insurance premium costs by 42% by reevaluating program costs and engaging agency experts at no additional cost. This study triggered the Insurance Company’s attention to adjust rates.

•Reduced overtime costs by 45% by creating controls over division manager’s payroll scheduling decisions.

Highlights from the Radisson continued…

•Implemented the Recurring Entry Journal on the Company’s accounting system to reduce financial

reporting time from 10 working days to 5.

•Reengineered the Casino Credit department, increasing average collections under 90 days from 40% to 63% of all credit sales vs. previous year.

Duties and Responsibilities:

•Directs and recommends closing entries for Monthly Financial Statement preparation. Review the statements before presenting to the Partners. Prepares the Statement of Cash Flows and monitors compliance of the Capital budget. Keeps Fixed Asset subsidiary, calculates depreciation, tax basis, and write downs. Coordinate capital projects for compliance with budget, insurance, and logistics.

•Member of the Executive Committee. Participate in the weekly meetings to plan and execute the strategic decisions of the enterprise.

•Prepares the budget, reviews it with the GM and presents to the Owners.

•Presents the daily cash position and projects cash balances considering all scheduled payments, standard costs, and period costs projections in order to ensure cash balances will meet obligations, inventories, and planned activities.

•Keeps banking relationships, monitors loan balances, accrued interest, and escrow disbursement. Work with external auditors and consultants with areas such as tax bases, tax credits, adjustable rate mortgage interest accruals, leases, supplier’s contract compliance, and cash, debt and legal confirmations.

•Represent the Property on tax inquiries, audits, and other special engagements with the Department of Hacienda (Treasury) and the Municipalities in matters such as sales tax, income tax, and municipal taxes such as Municipal License Tax, Beverage, and Health.

•Keep up the property in compliance with the latest changes in Tax Laws and rulings and inform impact to owners. Assess, calculate, forecast and formulate strategy to hedge the impact. Establish control procedures in order to facilitate Sales and Use, Personal Property, Real Property, Municipal License and other tax returns. Prepare SUT returns on a monthly basis.

•Directs the Casino Credit Department and its personnel. Evaluates the legitimacy of customer credit, accepts or rejects credit, reviews credit limits, adjusts limits when necessary, and collects the debt. Establishes policies and procedures and assure compliance with OCIF, OFAC, and PR Tourism Regulations.

•Implements and manages the Recurring Entry Journal on the computerized Accounting System to minimize errors and facilitate preparation of journal entries to all accounting personnel. Leads the bank reconciliation process.

•Review weekly Union worker’s payroll and biweekly payroll before submitting it to the service provider. Monitor payroll costs and utilization trends. Directs meetings with unit managers to obtain explanation on a weekly basis of all the overtime incurred, and to ensure this expense is minimized.

•Prepare lease versus buy analysis. Discuss concessions with vendors and ensure compliance with terms and conditions. Assist GM in evaluating financial implications of benefit plans, 401-K’s, construction projects, and conducts meetings to evaluate vendor’s offerings and cost structures.

TOLLS & TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY

Transcore, Inc.-Finance Manager 07/04 – 04/05

•Assume leadership in all financial matters of the Autoexpreso project at the post-implementation phase.

•Lead the Daily Reconciliation Support General Manager and operation management with financial planning and management.

•Manage the Accounting Staff, including the Accounting Manager. Review and approve timesheets for payroll

•Review and approve the bills to be paid.

•Report compliances of metrics from the financial aspects of the contract with Puerto Rico Highway Authority.

BANKING & INSURANCE INDUSTRIES March 1994 – July, 2004

1.Scotiabank - Assistant Finance Manager 09/01 to 07/04

•Prepare the Net Interest Margin Report, narrate volume, rate, and day variance.

•Maintain the financial modeling system.

•Prepare Asset/Liability management risk reports to ALCO, project fluctuations of market rates and make recommendations according to results of financial analysis.

•Made use of Duration analysis, Market Value of Equity, Shocks and Ramps, and Fair Value of investments, loans, and deposits to forecast financial results of the financial institution.

•Negotiate commitments to each branch’s Annual Budget with managers.

2.Cigna Insurance Company (purchased by ACE Insurance) –Accounting and Collections Specialist 08/97 to 09/01

•Prepare the NAIC Statutory Financial Statements.

•Prepare the Lead Schedules.

•Ensure monthly collections from agencies and follow corporate procedures to apply payments.

3.El Fenix Insurance Group – Reinsurance Accountant 03/94 to 08/97

•GAAP and statutory financial statements, A/R, A/P, general ledger, taxes, payroll analysis, budget, forecasting, cash management.

•Supervise a team of two reinsurance accountants.

•Quarterly preparation of Reinsurance liquidation, statistics, NAIC’s Annual Statement of Property and Casualty Companies

EDUCATION / MEMBERSHIPS

MBA/Accounting, - Inter-American University of PR

BS, Business Administration/Finance, University of Dayton, Ohio

Former member of the Business Valuation and Forensic Accounting Committee of the Puerto Rico Society of Certified Public Accountants. Conduct and coordinate Forensic Accounting Seminars for the CPAs through the Committee.

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