Manager Management

DARREN R. COWAN

*** ******** ***** *****

(***) *21 - 0529 Larkspur, CA 94939

********@*****.***

Ifindable

Director of Finance

(January '14 -

Current)

o Solely responsible for Financial Statement Preparation (BS, P&L, CF)

including multiple unit consolidation and eliminations.

o Create and implement finance and department headcount structure and

policies and procedures.

o Manage all FP&A and budget functions including monthly

flash and annual forecast.

o Manage relationships and be the outward liaison for all

domestic and international vendors.

Lucasfilm

Sr. Manager, Production Finance - Animation

(March '09 - January '14)

o Created actionable financial analysis and meaningful

information to division and company leadership.

o Changed the Production and scheduling approach for episodic

television. Pitched a plan that was approved by the CEO that brought

on additional overseas vendors which allowed the division to utilize

domestic capacity in parallel with overseas output. This yielded a

savings of $13M per season in our episodic production of Clone Wars.

o Completed budget and schedule scenarios for episodic and feature

projects in development for Executive Leadership. Offered council and

directional support to Executive Management in regards to all

financial aspects of new and existing projects.

o Changed Purchase and Capital Purchase process to provide a more

automated process in accordance with company policy and SOX which

enhanced time efficiency and competitive bids.

o Managed all accounting and reporting for animation division. Provided

monthly variance and KPI analysis. Complete Quarterly Flash and

adjustments to AOP.

o Streamlined tracking, processes and meaningful reporting for FP&A,

IS, IT, Production Engineering, R&D, Facilities and Legal by creating

an automated reporting system within TM1.

o Handled all financial aspects of negotiations (financial analysis,

parameters, contract drafting and amendments) with talent and overseas

3rd party production companies.

o Built a company-wide project automated commitment system to provide

projects and corporate departments more accurate reporting, providing

FP&A a more accurate cash flow/forecast and streamlined purchasing for

divisions.

o Developed Transfer Pricing models and schedules regarding studios in

Singapore and Taiwan. Completed Transfer Pricing supporting

documentation and write-ups for Company Tax Return.

o Completed cost benefit analysis of creative changes in order to

facilitate additional revenue for consumer products based on audience

testing.

o Managed team of 2 Sr. Production Accountants and 1 Jr. Production

Accountant, as well as, assist in the management and development of 1

Production Accountant and 1 Manager of Finance in the Singapore

Studio. Generated/Managed annual production budgets of $156M - $200M

in a $1.4B organization.

Independent Consultant

HBO

(March '08 -

September '08)

o Managed an internal staff of three, as well as 10

external Production Accountants.

o Produced policies and procedures for all aspects of

business.

o A key player in an ERP system upgrade from Lawson to

Oracle.

o Implemented Foreign Hedge Accounting policy and

procedures

Live Nation/J. Paul Getty Trust

(November '06 - March '08)

o Implemented new business tools and procedures that lead

to continuous process improvement.

o Created overall world-wide tour business plans used on various

artists. Produced business plans based on Arena or Amphitheatre.

These business plans were used in negotiations and deal structuring

with artists and tour management.

o Negotiated tour costs with artist's business management

representatives. Concluded show expenses based on contractual and

artists' needs during individual performances.

o Managed materials related to the production and implementation of the

annual budget. This included creating and disseminating materials to

staff on fiscal policies and budget administration.

Fox Television Studios (1 Year Contract)

Director, Production Accounting

(November '05 - November '06)

o Managed all financial transactions, reconciliations, A/P, A/R, cost

analysis and month-end preparations for Development, Productions and

ad-hoc projects; Managed external productions and internal financial

analysis and administration through created and implemented policies

and procedures and following GAAP and SOX guidelines.

DARREN R. COWAN

8346 Sale Ave

(818) 621 - 0529 West Hills, CA 91304

********@*****.***

Fox Television Studios (1 Year Contract) - Continued

o Created budgets for productions both foreign and domestic. Used State

payroll practices, guild and union rules; working closely with the

legal department. Presented budgets for fiscal year projections and 5-

year plan.

o Analyzed and facilitate all foreign and domestic incentive programs,

working with outside legal council, government agencies and external

auditors. Provided financial recommendations to Executive Management

regarding cost effectiveness of given programs.

o Ensured compliance of Fox policies and procedures, GAAP and SOX

guidelines. Performed review for production accountants and staff.

o Automated monthly project cash-flow process to improve timeliness of

roll-up into Five Year Plan.

o Maintained standard billing practices for A/R. Prepared variance

analysis for billed vs. collected vs. write off amounts and how it

relates to cost status and license fees.

o Completed weekly Cost Status reports for all development, and

productions, forecasting production final cost and variance analysis,

used to prepare company ultimates.

Disney ABC Cable Networks Group

Sr. Manager, Production Finance (March'04 - November '05)

o Promoted to Sr. Manager after first year.

o Responsible for the management of both internal and external financial

transaction preparation and analysis pertaining to all aspects of

development and production for original programming; and assisted with

overall management and administration of the department.

o Hired and supervise production staff for foreign and domestic

projects.

o Lead the Production budgeting process. Provided council to

Production, Legal and Distribution departments regarding the financial

integrity of project budgets.

o Managed all financial aspects of all third party production companies,

including account transaction activity, reconciliations, tax returns

and cost verification audits.

o Coordinated incentive filings/reimbursements, as well as internal

company reimbursables.

o Pre-Bought foreign currency. Approved and implement adjusting journal

entries with Treasury for foreign currency.

o Reviewed and monitor production's financial and management reporting, including daily, weekly and monthly production deliverables (cash

flow, cost reports, EFC variance analysis).

MTV Networks

Business Manager (January '02 - March '04)

Production Accountant

(September '00 - December '01)

o Examined, maintained, reconciled and recorded all financial

transactions including contractual payments, purchase orders, union

and non-union payroll, petty cash, payables, receivables and accruals

related to numerous productions.

o Facilitated all financial transactions pertaining month-end and year-

end close packages.

o Completed weekly variance reports in various styles based on audience,

providing overages, savings, risks, opportunities and an estimated

final cost for the Director of Finance, Director of Series &

Development, V.P. for Made for TV Movies and the V.P. of Production.

o Implemented the P-Card system. As a replacement to Petty cash, I

created a P-Card system that gave enhanced visibility to project spend

as well as control risk. Worked with American Express to map P-Cards

to ERP system. This system saved the company over $5K per month in

lost and misspent petty cash.

o Lead monthly meetings to give temporary freelancer accountants a

working knowledge of accounting procedures, GAAP and SOX compliance.

Continued to develop and train those individuals assigned to me on any

given project.

o Provided an Actual Report upon completion of each production with

variance analysis of expenditures and a narrative explanation of

expenditure vs. business plan vs. production budget and overhead.

Other Experience

Fox Sports Net Sr. Production Accountant

(January '98 - September '00)

California Pizza Kitchen Sr. Accountant

(January '97 - January '98)

EDUCATION

University of Southern California

Bachelor of Science, Business-with emphasis in Accounting and Marketing

1997

TECHNICAL

Platinum, AS400, DS2, Excel, Word, WordPerfect, PowerPoint, Lotus 1-2-3,

JD Edwards, Visual Max, Movie Magic, Vista, Scheduall, TM1, SAP,

Peoplesoft, Access, Oracle, Lawson, PSL

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