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New report: Finding and keeping today’s finance dream team

Competition for great finance and accounting talent—always stiff in Silicon Valley—is heating up as the economy improves and companies ride the waves of ever-shrinking business cycles. Companies are leaning more and more heavily on CFOs to take on strategic planning, resource allocation, capital structure management and more—and they need expertise that can support business decisions at all levels of the finance organization.

Who’s hot? Business-savvy finance pros who understand strategic and tactical financial planning, statistical analysis, M&A due diligence and debt and equity accounting, according to Wanted: Finance Superstars, RoseRyan’s latest intelligence report. And smart companies will be on the lookout for people who are attuned to risks and opportunities, and have experience and communication skills that make them persuasive when weighing in on things like product development strategies, market assessments and cost structures.

So pack your finance team with FP&A pros, right? Wrong. That’s just a piece of the equation. Regulation from the Dodd-Frank Act, international financial reporting standards, tax law changes and a host of other challenges make technical accounting pros a critical part of the finance function.

Likewise, CFOs need to keep their hand on the steering wheel. Bad things happen when their attention wanders from company finances. So although it’s true that CFOs need to get into the operational side of their companies if they’re going to contribute to growth, they can’t delegate their primary responsibility of protecting financial integrity.

In short, a great finance team supports and shapes growth. Check out our report to find out who you need on your dream team, and how to keep your best talent from straying to the competition.

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TAG consultant: Are you it?

Intrigued by the more arcane matters of technical accounting? Love to unravel the complexities of new rules and guidance? RoseRyan’s TAG team wants you!

Members of our Technical Accounting Group (TAG)—senior-level consultants with extensive experience in technical accounting and SEC reporting—are assigned to client projects and are also a resource for RoseRyan consultants and clients on an as-needed basis.

Our ideal TAG team member will have the accounting and finance chops plus industry experience to:

  • Research complex technical accounting issues, navigate the gray areas and collaborate with technical resources
  • Help clients understand and implement new accounting standards
  • Assist clients and RoseRyan consultants with financial reporting and disclosure compliance for private and public companies
  • Keep abreast of new accounting and reporting developments, and prepare and present technical accounting updates to RoseRyan, clients and prospects

Sound like the perfect gig? Find out if your expertise and professional aspirations dovetail with our TAG consultant requirements. Or cut straight to the chase and email your resume to Michelle Hickam.

And remember, as a RoseRyan guru, you’ll be a salaried consultant. Translation: you’ll have the independence of consulting PLUS the trusty paycheck, benefits package and professional support that come with working for an established firm.

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New consultants beef up compliance, emerging growth services

RoseRyan has two new gurus to introduce: Cedric Armstrong and Sharon Knestrick.

Cedric is an IT compliance specialist who likes nothing better than to assess systems for risk and develop policies and procedures for IT security and computer operations; he’s also got SOX IT down. He has abbreviations like CISA, CISSP, CTGA and CFE following his name, so you’d think he’d be, well, geeky. He isn’t. Cedric has lived in eight countries, and he was with EY, then Deloitte, before he became a consultant some years back.

Sharon’s background is in accounting manager and controller roles at emerging growth companies, so she’s been instrumental in helping businesses get off the ground, she thrives on change and she understands how everything works together. She also has a strong systems background, so she can tackle just about any software known to accounting. The Financial Literacy Project for teenagers sponsored by the American Society of Women Accountants in San Francisco is near to her heart.

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New consultants power up the brain trust

We’re welcoming a new crowd of consultants to the RoseRyan brain trust. Our newest gurus are technical, SEC and compliance powerhouses, with deep and broad experience across a range of industries large, small and international.

Dan Belong: Dan is a controller’s controller. He was most recently at Exar as assistant controller and then corporate controller, responsible for SEC reporting, technical accounting, revenue recognition and SOX compliance; his resume also includes work with Ernst & Young and serving as international controller and director of accounting at Novellus. Dan has M&A battlefield experience, having completed several acquisitions and performed due diligence and integration work in other transactions.

Rosa Cheung: Rosa’s a fire-tested pro who’s covered a lot of bases, particularly in SOX (from soup to nuts) and risk management. She’s also well-versed in SEC reporting and M&A, plus general ledger, AP and AR. She’s served high tech companies as assistant controller and director of internal audit, and she’s jumping right into SOX work for us.

Janet Lawson: Janet is an East Coast transplant who keeps a sharp eye on processes to make sure they’re efficient and running smoothly. Her specialties include FP&A, financial modeling and planning, with experience in health care, financial services and transportation at companies from small to Fortune 500. She’ll be part of our XBRL team, and her first RoseRyan field job is with a large tech company.

Jack Mohalley: Jack is a seasoned consultant who’s held a variety of corporate roles on both U.S. coasts and in the Middle East, with significant stints in high tech, manufacturing, transportation and life sciences, among others, plus a stretch as audit manager for Ernst & Young. Like Dan, he’s got controllerships down cold, with sweet spots that include SOX PM, technical accounting, SEC reporting, M&A work and stock-based comp, from plain vanilla to complex. His first RoseRyan gig is controller for a global services company.

Neela Naik: Neela has been in the consulting world for more than 15 years, so she’s got broad experience in a variety of industries, particularly health care. What we love is that she can do financial systems implementations and has the chops to handle SEC reporting, technical research, due diligence and IPO projects. What’s more, she stays on top of rule developments (and really likes it). Her past posts include controller at St. Luke’s and assistant controller at Itel. Her first RoseRyan post is controller at a life sciences company.

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RoseRyan keeps on growing with new gurus

If our experience is any indication, the recession may be waning (knock on wood). We’re excited to announce the arrival of new consultants, all ace finance and accounting gurus whose experience ranges from top-level IPO and M&A work to deep technical accounting and compliance, plus a good dose of nuts-and-bolts accounting.

Susan Alves: Susan really knows how to roll up her sleeves and get down to business in areas like general accounting, payroll, year-end close, revenue and SOX. She thrives in a start-up environment, and is diving right in with three clients in our emerging growth practice.

Stephen Ambler: Stephen has deep technical and compliance experience, and he knows the business of cleantech, high tech, medical, manufacturing and e-commerce inside and out. Formerly a chartered accountant with PwC and a large regional UK firm, Stephen’s strengths include SEC, FAS123R, IFRS, rev rec and M&A work, plus he’s lived through and helped engineer two IPOs.

Amy Lockyer: Amy recently spent a year in London working on IFRS F1 registration statements, and technical, complex accounting is what makes her get up in the morning. She’s been a CPA with PwC, and her expertise includes 10-K/10-Q, audit, SOX, debt restructuring and M&A work. And industries? Technology, health care, retail and entertainment, for starters. Her first RoseRyan gig is with a life sciences company.

Sandy White: Sandy, a finance pro with deep experience at technology companies, joins RoseRyan to focus on our rapidly growing XBRL practice. Her expertise includes fixed assets, payroll, corporate accounting, accounts receivable and treasury for companies such as NetApp and Sun. Sandy also gets into systems work: she has rolled up her sleeves with Oracle and is an Excel super user, so watch your step.

Sophie Yu: Sophie, an alum of EY in San Jose, most recently was a senior financial analyst at NetApp and a manager for SEC and revenue with PDF Solutions. She also has experience in SOX, rev rec, stock-based compensation and purchase accounting, among other areas. Sophie’s first RoseRyan gigs were in FAS123R and warrant work.

Meet the rest of the RoseRyan dream team.

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New gurus boost RoseRyan bench strength

RoseRyan’s first quarter was bustling—six new gurus joined the team and jumped right into new assignments. They all have extensive senior finance experience and most have substantive CPA stints with Big Four firms. Here’s a bit about them:

Linda Clements Linda has great technical chops and mix of public/private experience as CFO, VP of finance and corporate controller in technology, manufacturing, software and health care. Her first RoseRyan gig is CFO for a public biotech company.

Maddy Gatto  A rev rec and SOX guru, Maddy was recently at National Semiconductor as a controller. She’s also done stints with KPMG and as internal audit manager at NSC, along with work on foreign accounting entities. She’s starting with RoseRyan as accounting ops director for a technology firm.

Cindy Nathan An alum of E&Y and RoseRyan (she was our Employee No. 7!), Cindy’s a fan of start-ups and their challenges—and she returns to RoseRyan with not one but three emerging growth clients. Her past experience, focused on biotech and medical technology, includes work at the controller and accounting manager level.

Barbara Rescino Barbara’s covered lots of ground: companies big and small, public and private, in solar, biotech, software, medical devices and other industries. Past posts include corporate accounting manager, controller and director of finance; payroll migration for a technology company is her first RoseRyan assignment.

Ray Solari Ray’s been with Deloitte and served as CFO for smaller companies and at the director level with larger ones. His strength is the technology sector. That’s good: his first RoseRyan gig is FP&A for a technology client. Ray’s storied past includes IPO, M&A, audit, SEC, forecasting and more.

Maisha Wilson Among other things, Maisha’s into start-ups, implementing systems, and consolidations foreign and domestic. A PwC alum, she’s also served as VP of finance and CFO for emerging growth companies. Her first RoseRyan gigs: controller for a new start-up and SEC/10K for a newly minted public company.

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