Audit, Accounting Management, Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions

Fawzia Ashraf

408-***-**** ad3k0d@r.postjobfree.com

Professional Summary

Worked up the ranks from an A/P Clerk to several Management positions.

Over 30 years of Management Experience at several levels of Accounting & Finance, Controlling, Treasury, Risk Management.

Strong Expertise in negotiations with suppliers of products & services related to various Business areas (including Employee Insurance & benefits), resulting in significant cost savings.

Hands on experience in A/P, A/R, Treasury, Fixed Assets, Consolidated Financial Statements, Payroll, G/L, Banks & Intercompany reconciliations.

Experience in European & US GAAP.

Improved the monthly, quarterly & yearly closing process & preparation of Financials to 3-5 days in several companies.

Prepared Financial Reporting for domestic and foreign entities.

Responsible for preparing and taking the leadership role in yearly Financial & SOX Audits.

Designed and implemented several tiered Sales Compensation Plans.

Improved overall performance in different functional areas by assigning clear roles & responsibilities, fostering teamwork & cross training.

Partnered with & achieved collaboration & effective communication between the different functional areas, such as, Finance, Legal, Treasury, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Order Entry, Payroll & HR.

Experienced in SOX & Financial Audits, in Malaysia, Germany & Eindhoven.

Conducted SOX Risk Assessment, wrote reviews, & narratives with flow charts, test plans & participated in the remediations process, achieving full compliance.

Consulting experience in different industries and conducting due diligence during mergers & acquisitions.

Experience with setting-up startups and taking companies public.

Good at working under pressure & meeting simultaneous deadlines.

Best performance is in fast passed, dynamic environments.

Well versed in preparation of policies and procedures, including SOX Compliance.

Energetic, motivated team player with a very adaptive & professional positive attitude.

Participate in ongoing learning and professional development to keep up with evolving Industrial guidelines, SEC regulations & SOX requirements.

Education

MS in Logistics

California State University-Northridge - Northridge, CA Jun-1989 – Aug-1991

MBA in Accounting

California State University-Northridge - Northridge, CA Aug-1985 – May-1989

Bachelor's degree in Accounting and International Finance

University of Maryland-College Park - College Park, MD Aug-1982 to May-1985

Work Experience

Accounting & Auditing Contractor

Financial Excellence, LLC - Santa Clara, CA Jan-2016 - Present

Conduct Financial Audits for accuracy and compliance in several companies.

Offer recommendations to reduce ares with financial risk.

Determine ways to cut costs and improve profitability, including assessing efficiency and productivity of Internal staff.

Review company policies in reference to business activities and make recommendations to improve and align with company's vision.

Review the policies and procedures with an external perspective (including GAAP and SEC regulations) and bring new ideas and processes to meet and exceed company's goals.

Good at working under pressure and tracking simultaneous deadlines to ensure that clients achieve final and consolidated reporting according to schedule.

Worked with external Auditors to ensure clients compliance of year-end Financial and SOX Audits.

Conduct quarterly reviews to access the company's risks and efficacy of its risk management efforts.

Set up company on quick books, including setting up of all GL Accounts.

Direct interaction with vendors, banks, and customers.

Prepared monthly, quarterly, and yearly financial statements, incl. narratives.

Reconciled all Balance sheet accounts incl. Bank Accounts.

Performed & later trained individuals in A/P, A/R & Payroll functions.

Prepared all employee hire and layoff packages incl. calculation of accrued PTO.

Input payroll data in ADP & processed bi-monthly payroll.

Interacted with management via monthly presentation of key financial dashboard.

SOX Consultant

ID Technology - San Jose, CA Oct-2005 – Dec-2015

SOX audit Lead; with a staff of 7 consultants.

Performed SOX Compliance audit to verify the financial statements of the company and the processes involved in creating the statements.

Rewrite policies and procedures for various Accounting and Operational roles.

Determined SOX Internal controls ensuring data security and accurate financial reporting.

Ensured 404 SOX Compliance requirements; including all financial reporting backed by “Adequate” Internal controls.

Tested the effectiveness of the internal controls to be compliant with the Control structure.

Made recommendations for compliance and remediations needed to pass the yearly Financial and SOX Audits.

Trained individuals in A/P, A/R, G/L & purchasing to optimize efficiencies in the month end cycle, financial & SOX audits and cost efficiencies.

Controller Sep-1999 - Nov-2005

AboveNet Communications-San Jose, CA

Responsible for G/L, A/P, Treasury and Consolidated Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Consolidated monthly Domestic and Foreign Entities (Europe & Asia).

Compiled Data & wrote the narrative for quarterly SEC Reporting, for the Consolidated Entity

Actively involved in the acquisitions and merger of PAIX, Site Smith, FGE Japan KK, AboveNet Germany, AboveNet UK, AboveNet Australia, AboveNet Taiwan & Japan.

Converted PAIX and Site Smith from Oracle 11.03 to 11.9 creating Essbase for data gathering & developed the Financial Reporting formats in Hyperion.

Conducted due diligence of foreign entities as well as performed, Purchase Accounting, Foreign Translations in European, Japanese and US GAAP.

Played leadership role in yearly audits with D&T.

Hired & trained individuals in a/P, A/R, G/L, Payroll, Fixed Assets, and Balance sheet reconciliation.

Created a cross trained team of knowledgeable and motivated individuals.

Corporate Accounting Manager May-1997 - Jun-1999

The Mac-Neil Schwendler Corp-Pasadena, CA

Responsible for A/R, A/R, Fixed Assets and Payroll.

Took the company public and did the SEC filing.

Implemented SOP 97-2 and SOP 98.8, resulting in revamping the “recognition of Software revenue” over a period of 8 months, until full compliance.

Solely responsible for 10K & 10Q filings and all SEC narratives.

Documented & implemented new detailed Policies and Procedures based upon efficiencies across all the finance departments and Payroll.

Responsible for all Bank reconciliations, Inter-company reconciliation, Capitalized Software, Fixed Assets & all Balance Sheet Reconciliations on a monthly basis.

Accounting Manager Dec-1993 – Mar-1997

Philips Broadcast Television Systems

Responsible for Month-end Close & Reporting Monthly Financials to Philips Electronics Headquarters in New York, Broadcast Television Headquarters in Gresham, Germany & Philips Headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands and the Broadcast Television Systems Internal Management.

Improved month-end cycle from 10 to 3 days.

Reconciled and processed Inter-Company balances and Cash transactions through the Multilateral Clearing.

Responsible of re-organizing and formulating an efficient, cross trained Finance team.

Responsible for Business Taxes & Sales and Use Taxes in 11 states.

Assisted in re-organizing and closing the Semi Valley office and consolidate data with the Salt Lake City Office.

Controller Sep-1990 – Dec-1993

20th Century Plastics-Los Angeles

Managed A/P, A/R, Payroll, Cost Accounting & Debt Compliance.

Responsible for month-end close, Consolidated Financials & all Banking and Cash transactions.

Prepared monthly Covenant & Borrowing Base Reporting.

Maintained and participated in Venture Capital Financing meetings, which included requirements and review of Covenants.

Responsible for selecting and implementing employee health Insurance plans, worker’s comp plans & 401K plan.

Upgraded to Ask Manaman System & adding MRP & Fixed Assets to the new system.

Fully responsible for yearly audits with PWC.

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