Cost Accountant, Financial Analyst, Plant Controller

ROBERT W. MENSER

***** ****-**** ***** ● North Olmsted, Ohio 44070

216-***-**** ● ********@*****.***

COST ACCOUNTING / FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Cost Accountant / Financial Analyst with over 15-years experience in manufacturing environments. Professional, pro-active leader, team player focused on moving the company in the right direction. Excellent communication skills from the shop floor to the president’s office. Excellent computer skills and a quick learning curve into a company’s ERP system.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Lean Manufacturing • Inventory Control

• Process Improvement • Costing BOM’s / Routers

• Operational Reporting / Analysis • Budgeting / Forecasting / Modeling

• Month and Year End Closing • Journal Entries / Account Recons

• Multi-Site Operations • Capital Budgets

• Project Accounting • AP/AR

• Job Costing • Productivity Improvement

• Training • Employee Relations

• Workflow Planning / Prioritization

• SOX • General Ledger

• Auditing

SYSTEM SKILLS – SAP, HP3000, AS400 (KBM), ORACLE, BRIO

EDUCATION

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION CUM LAUDE

Baldwin Wallace College – Cleveland, Ohio

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Thomas & Betts (formerly Lamson & Sessions) – Beachwood, Ohio 03/2008 – 02/2009

Plastic Piping Manufacturer

COST ACCOUNTANT / FINANCIAL ANALYST

Duties included periodic cost rolls, review and recommending cost changes, month end close for each facility and corporate, improvement of scrap rates, margin review meetings, cost forecasting / variance analysis, corporate assessments for all plants, budgeting for each facility and corporate, and monthly plant performance letters.

• Promoted from Cost Accountant/ Financial Analyst for one plant with some corporate responsibilities to the same position but for 4 manufacturing facilities, one distribution center and additional corporate responsibilities.

• Hand chosen to complete 4-person team that converted the BOM’s and Routers for 13,000 SKU’s from SAP to AS400 (KBM) system.

• Became “go-to” person to solve SAP questions.

• Started lean processing at one plant that ranked machines by efficiencies then ran the most product through based on their ranking which resulted in the reduction of scrap rates from 11% YTD in March to 7% YTD by August.

• Trained all plant controllers in SAP for various period close duties above and beyond what their usual duties were.

• Oversaw cycle count program and investigated abnormal variances.

Stock Equipment Company – Chagrin Falls, Ohio 09/2000 – 02/2008

Bulk Material Handling Manufacturer mainly for Electric Utility Plants

COST ACCOUNTANT / FINANCIAL ANALYST

Duties included monitoring and adjustment of overhead rates, standard / actual costing system that required periodic rolling of standards, monthly and yearly sales and margin forecasting, month end close and financial statement preparation, cycle counting, tax preparation assistance, annual budget preparation. Developed the “Margin Meeting” that served as an autopsy for completed projects during the month that compared proposed costs versus actual costs. This was a small Finance Department consisting of the CFO, an AP/AR person and myself.

• Worked with IT to implement querying abilities into the company’s ERP system, resulting in quicker information gathering and manipulation through Excel. This enabled more timely decision making, numerous cost saving initiatives and revenue recovery.

• Assisted with lean manufacturing techniques through just-in-time inventory and the re-arrangement of the shop floor machinery for a more efficient product flow.

• One of the key drivers of the Quality team.

• Interacted with all departments of the company to ensure the most accurate and predictable long and short-term financial outlooks for the company were current.

• Monitored and trended accounts that resulted in better practices being instituted, alerting other departments of judgment errors, and keeping material and labor costs up-to-date (which kept the sales department cost estimates as accurate as possible.)

First Energy / Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company 01/1978 – 02/2000

Electric Utility

BUSINESS ANALYST

Developed and maintained corporate financial models for Fossil Production Department budgets in excess of $1 Billion annually. Performed budgeting, cost analysis, forecasting and ad hoc reporting.

• Reviewed and investigated variance analyses and generation statistics from 16 coal fired power plants.

• Provided upper management timely costing data and forecasts enabling well informed decisions to be made regarding future projects.

• Member of the capital review committee.

PLANT ANALYST

Developed and maintained budgets, cost variances and expense forecasts for Avon Lake and Lakeshore power plant. Compiled and analyzed various electric generation based statistics.

• Found an avenue to dispose of fly ash that cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from the annual budget.

• Reduced budgets through alternative means (introducing non-electric revenues into the mix) in order to meet 5-year plan targets.

• Utilized budget to actual forecasting skills resulting in variances that were consistently within 2% of budget.

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