Support Specialist Technical

Madia Garga-Shannon, MBA

**** ********* **, *********, ** 28269

Tel: 704-***-**** Email: **********@*******.***

Education:

Master’s degree, Management

Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT

Bachelor’s degree, Finance

Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT

Certifications:

HIT Implementation Support Specialist- Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, OH

Plan Certificate of International Management

USAID Rules & Regulation: Grants & Cooperative Agreement

Skills:

Excel (Pivot Tables, Vlookups, IF)

SAP/ SAP BI

JD Edwards

PeopleSoft

MS Office

Grant Reporting

Internal Control

Security and Safety

Project Control

Investment Accounting

Business Administrator

Royalty Funding

Operations management

Procurement & Purchasing

Financial Analysis

Budget Report & Preparation

Professional Experience:

Plan International May 2016 to Dec 2023

Country Financial Emergency Specialist (Ukraine Hub- Seconded) June 2023 to Sept 2023

Prepare the financial reports for emergencies projects.

Provide technical support to implementing partners in terms of administrative and financial reporting and ensure the timely liquidation of advances.

Ensure that donor procedures, policy and accounting procedures as provided in the Operations Manual are followed.

Supervise all aspects related to the accounting recording of project expenditure and the verification of financial reports produced by project partners to ensure compliance with procedures and if necessary, provide specific support.

Establish a work plan (monitoring and support) for the financial activities of all project partners.

Make a monthly report of the monthly closure for each partner.

Review monthly with the project manager and financial director on the financial status of projects

Actively participate in the preparation and conduct of accounting audits and in the preparation of an action plan to mitigate the risks identified following each audit.

Ensure the implementation of audit recommendations.

Training of Romania Country Finance Manager (CFM) and other finance staff

Financial Emergency Specialist (Niger- Seconded) Dec 2020 to June 2021

Prepare the financial reports for emergencies projects.

Provide technical support to implementing partners in terms of administrative and financial reporting and ensure the timely liquidation of advances.

Ensure that donor procedures, policy and accounting procedures as provided in the Operations Manual are followed.

Supervise all aspects related to the accounting recording of project expenditure and the verification of financial reports produced by project partners to ensure compliance with procedures and if necessary, provide specific support.

Establish a work plan (monitoring and support) for the financial activities of all project partners.

Make a monthly report of the monthly closure for each partner.

Review monthly with the project manager and financial director on the financial status of projects

Actively participate in the preparation and conduct of accounting audits and in the preparation of an action plan to mitigate the risks identified following each audit.

Ensure the implementation of audit recommendations.

Country Accountant (Liberia) May 2016 to Dec 2023

Manage a team of three direct report and 2 indirect reports by ensuring the general financial management and reporting and internal controls are always adhered to.

Participate in annual budgeting; budget monitoring and reporting on Country Office Cost Centers

Work closely with program area managers in budget preparation.

Oversee all grant financial budget for donor compliance.

Monthly cost recovery from grants, ensuring that such recoveries are charged to the respective grants monthly in accordance with the SLE cost recovery guideline/policy.

Review all grant financial report for accurate cost allocation.

Payroll reconciliation: – reconciling all the SAP payment related GL accounts to actual payments to the bank.

Monitor cash and bank balances to avoid bank overdraft and overdrawing of cash book.

Review of Payment/Journal voucher packages and ensure they are in line with Plan OM procedures/controls, and confirming that account lines used are the correct

Work directly with partners to ensure compliance to Plan financial policies and review/prepare liquidation reports.

Working closely with the Grant Accountants, ensure that overhead costs are recovered monthly and charge to the grants.

Support CFM in rolling out organizational policies and procedures such as OM and other financial procedures and ensure compliance by all employees.

Additional Experience:

L’Oreal USA, Solon, OH- Financial Analysis

Supports the departmental financial functions by managing the flow of data entry into financial systems, prepares various financial schedules and related reports for the budget and trend.

Manage indirect expenses by monitoring and reporting monthly spends approval of purchase requisition as well as preparing journal entries.

Manage GR/IR activity by reviewing open goods receipt for indirect and purchases.

Reconcile Destructions by monitoring and tracking destruction request, inventory write-off and physical destructions.

Monitor and track all re-work by identifying root cause of rework.

Temporary labor tracking by monitoring and reporting of monthly spend calculation of FTE headcount as well as accruing of expenditures incurred but not yet realized.

Assist with yearly budget and trend preparation.

Approve purchase orders, manage cost control, and conduct budget meetings with department heads Create/maintain reporting, analyze the FX impact in the P&L.

Philips Medical System, Highland Heights, OH- Staff Accountant

Support the settlement team with goods receipt while responding to vendors’ inquiries for the North America region.

Perform monthly analysis on goods receipt.

Perform month-end closing on vendor accounts and reconciliation.

The Merck Group, Charlotte NC- Procure-to-Pay Analyst

Support the settlement team with goods receipt while responding to vendors’ inquiries for the North America region. Perform monthly analysis on goods receipt while reporting to senior management on status.

Super End-user on the PTP financial in SAP and train the trainer.

Support technical strategies that improve operational effectiveness and productivity across functional areas within accounts payable and procurement.

Work closely with developing team in developing standardize processes for accounts payable.

Actively participate in meetings with payable and oracle team and business areas to track and resolve issues.

The Shaw Group, Charlotte, NC- Project Accountant II/Supervisor

Managed and trained accounting staff of 3, review labor cost allocation and analyze cost trend for projects, budget to actual as well as related expenses, managed full cycle accounts payable, aging, cash flow, check run, G/L reconciliation, and client billing.

Ensure accurate billing in according with contracts and revenue; employee timesheet for accuracy, reconcile project costs, billings, and advances to general ledger monthly.

Coordinate monthly reports on projects while assisting management with month-end closing.

Prepared cash flow and accrual analysis and report on projects ROI. Prepared reports for clients and managers, prepared monthly project report, participated in the preparation of operational and personnel budgets for approval and monitor spending for adherence to budget, recommends variances as necessary.

Worked with purchasing department to identify and capture vendor discounts when available.

Improved labor cost reporting for better reconciliation of monthly account

Compass Group, Charlotte, NC- Staff Accountant/Supervisor

Managed and trained accounting staff of 8 on accounts payable research.

Prepared weekly cash flow analysis, managed the ACH cash disbursement and 1099 filing along with the encashment process.

Developed, implement, and maintain systems procedures and policies including accounts payable functions to ensure adherence to company guidelines.

Participated in the preparation of operational budgets for approval and monitoring spending for adherence to budget while recommending variances as necessary.

Contributed to the development of a database in Access to reduce the research process of the team.

Develop research manual and policy for department.

Connecticut Innovations, Inc., Rocky Hill, CT- Staff Accountant/Finance Associate

Conducted monthly, quarterly, and yearly analysis on portfolio investment for senior management, analyze financial statements from start-up companies for reporting purpose, and managed full cycle accounts payable and receivable, ACH and check disbursement, and 1099 filing.

Prepared monthly cash forecasting, cost tracking, client billing and investment accounts reconciliation.

Prepared monthly project cost allocation, trenches, amortization, and ROI on investments.

Reconciled and analyze employees’ expenses and procurement cards.

Reconciled investment activities, true-up calculations and adjusting journal entries.

Streamlined the tracking of management travel and the processing of expense reports.

Participated in the due diligence process of start-up companies.

Participated in the development of project management and allocation.

Participated in the development of criteria of valuation methods, the development and operation of the investment software (Equityworks) for reporting purpose and overseeing monthly valuation of 40 companies with an approximately value of $250 million.

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