James Beaman, MBA

• Walgreens Boots Alliance ($140B Retail Pharmacy)
• Assa Abloy AB ($11B Entrance Systems Manufacturer and Retailer based in Sweden)
• Beacon Mobility ($1.2B Transportation Company)
• Allure Cosmetics ($50M Skincare Manufacturer and Retailer)
• Clearstead ($50M Wealth Advisory Firm)

• Extensive experience at the corporate and divisional levels in all areas of financial planning, including preparation of annual operating plans, monthly forecasts and flash, mid- and long-range strategic plans, CAPEX planning, labor planning, operations improvement, KPI’s and ad hoc analyses.
• Interacted extensively with C-suite finance and operations leadership to develop, review, analyze and present strategic plans, financial analysis, budgets, operational assessments, business plans and M&A deal analysis.
• Prepared and presented monthly and quarterly forecast and business reviews in accordance with organization objectives. Reviewed results, explained major variances, and made recommendations for corrective actions, as needed to support organizational goals.
• Led five-year strategic planning efforts for multiple industries and divisions. Partnered with key company leadership to create Plans that included detailed competitor analysis, SWOT analysis, CAPEX requirements, market penetration opportunities, assessment of current and potential customers, new product / service and organic revenue growth, labor planning (on and offshore) and infrastructure development.
• Developed and led weekly performance vs. plan reporting activities for large retail organization. Reviewed results by geography and category, analyzed and explained variances, examined promotional effectiveness vs. company targets.
• Created detailed business plan to support the successful development of new store layouts and category introductions. Plans outline geographic and SKU market penetration opportunities, SWOT analysis, product pricing scenarios, COGS, product development and SG&A costs, comparison of 3rd Party product manufacturers, and distributer market penetration. Category recommendations fueled organizational growth in year one post-integration.
• Led planning effort to quantify financial impact of 3% price increase in high performance doors division. Worked cross-functionally with purchasing, operations, sales, and marketing leaders to understand market dynamics, incoming cost increases, and competitive analysis would impact the business. The final price increase recommendation was approved by the CEO and Board of Directors.
• Determined fixed and variable components of a global manufacturing organization’s Overhead / SG&A expenses. Contingency analysis included recommendation to President, CFO and Board of Directors of opportunities for cost savings initiatives if revenue fell below agreed upon threshold.
• Created and implemented collections strategy to reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) for manufacturing organization. Recovered over $5M in outstanding receivables to drive 75-day DSO improvement with minimal write-offs.

• Extensive experience building, improving and refining budget, forecast, planning, analytical, valuation, and other types of financial models in various companies and industries.
• Strong working knowledge of various financial models and analytical tools including DCF, CAPM, NPV, IRR, EVA, growth model, 12 month rolling average, trend analysis, ratio analysis, sensitivity analysis and scenarios modeling.
• Built and maintained monthly, quarterly, and five-year budget and forecast models for numerous companies across several industries. Models included forecasted financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, cash flows), CAPEX planning, labor and staffing planning, integration of historical monthly financial statements, sensitivity analysis to assumption changes on income statement and balance sheet.
• Performed a comprehensive financial analysis of retail locations to determine optimal store operating hours/expenses as part of operational cost savings program. Operating hour reductions generated $80M+ in annual savings.
• Created model to determine optimal seasonal markdown strategy for one-time purchase seasonal inventory valued at over $1B/year at global retail company. Identified appropriate timing by category based on historical sales trends and Merchandising analytics team. The new report included visuals of inventory position by geography and guided markdown strategy.
• Designed and built dozens of business planning models in support of various projects, transactions, and business growth initiatives, including facility and organizational consolidation, capital investment, retail adjacency analysis, infrastructure build-out, digital marketing planning, manufacturing make vs. buy, and Finance and IT outsourcing. Utilized several valuation techniques, including discounted cash flow (NPV / IRR), EVA, replacement cost and price multiples.
• Built income statement, balance sheet and cash flow forecast models for global manufacturing firm. Created bottom-up forecast models that included separate input variables for product pricing and COGS, labor planning, marketing, SG&A and FX conversion consolidated to USD.
• Delivered ROI analyses measuring the effectiveness of regional marketing (in-store flyers, ad-wraps). Advised removing ineffective promotions allowing Retail Operations to reallocate over $10M to higher ROI projects.
• Analyzed inventory DOS by region and category to pinpoint potential inventory bottlenecks, out of stocks and overstocks. Insights allowed Supply Chain and Operations to smooth inventory positions and confidently initiate markdown strategies to better control inventory position.

• Hands-on and supervisory corporate controllership and Executive level experience. Experience encompasses accounting, financial reporting, financial planning, budgeting, business, and strategic planning.
• Oversaw and reviewed monthly, quarterly, and year-end closing process, assuring the accuracy of data and integrity of reporting in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
• Prepared monthly GAAP compliant financial statements, review packages, variance analysis, key metrics and MD&A for Executive/Management team and Board of Directors.
• Prepared and presented monthly, quarterly, and annual management presentations to C-suite audience including President, CFO, and Board of Directors.
• Held supervisory roles managing global accounting and finance staff for numerous companies. Supervisory experience included all aspects of staff development, training, and mentoring.
• Oversaw and reviewed all monthly close and reporting activities at group level in accordance with GAAP. Implemented improved processes to achieve two-day close per company policy. Monthly activities included account reconciliation, consolidation of four entities, and upload to HFM.
• Developed monthly operating financial performance scorecard for Retail Operations leadership team at global retailer. Worked cross-functionally with division leaders to identify financial and operational KPIs. Led meeting to review the prior month’s actuals vs. forecast and prepared Finance VP for C-Suite review.
• Confirmed monthly/quarterly actuals and highlighted Merchandising drivers/drags for earnings releases at global retailer. Provided guidance and recommendations to Investor Relations for earnings call commentary.

• Developed and managed $700M budget and investment strategy to convert 1300 acquired retail stores to acquiring company’s banner. Managed monthly capital and expense forecast, annual/project budget and monthly close activities and communicated results to steering committee during 18-month project.
• Developed deal model inputs and assumptions (run-rate revenue, EBIT, synergy opportunities) to support the acquisition of multi-billion-dollar retailer. Delivered inputs to support multiple transaction types (stock, asset purchase) of various sizes (full chain, partial chain w/divestiture, etc.) for $4.4B transaction.
• Set up opening balance sheet for newly acquired $12M wealth management firm. Analyzed the transaction expenses and bonus structure to create final closing balance sheet entries for acquired firm. Delivered post-closing statement reconciliation, examined and re-valued fixed assets to fair market value, and reviewed/approved third party valuation firm’s valuation of intangible assets. Produced all purchase price accounting entries and provided detailed OBS/PPA process flow documentation to utilize for future acquisitions.
• Led cross-functional project to develop and implement an obsolete inventory disposition strategy to minimize gross profit loss on inventory acquired in a retail transaction but not sold by acquiring company. Savings generated > $25M vs. deal model estimates.
• Participated in pre-acquisition due diligence efforts that included review of audited financial statements, balance sheet accounts, customer contracts, and key revenue categories ahead of multi-billion-dollar acquisition at global retailer.
• Developed business cases and cost savings forecast for key operational initiatives for transportation company ahead of sale to PE investor. Identified opportunities to save ~$50M in annual EBITDA and recommended deployment schedule to help realize cost savings and operational benefits more quickly.
• Managed financial integration of $30M manufacturing firm. Tasks included ERP migration, set up and implementation of new financial processes and internal controls, and restructuring of organization. Identified and delivered EBIT growth > 20% through synergy savings post-integration.
• Identified multimillion-dollar working capital opportunity to extend days payable and improve inventory position. Determined industry benchmarks and devised negotiation strategy projected to extend days payable 10+ days.
• Centralized accounting processes, moving AR/AP and other finance and accounting functions to HQ as part of integration of newly acquired wealth management firm. Queried existing AR customers/AP vendors from QuickBooks and built upload file to load into NetSuite. Delivered communication plan to alert vendors of new AP address/inbox, obtained W9s and set up ACH payments. Completed transitions ahead of schedule and provided detailed process documentation for future integrations.
• Built detailed analysis on various marketing strategies to retain customers post-retail acquisition and integration. Recommended tailored digital marketing and other high ROI marketing events to drive customers to retail locations. Exceeded targets by over 10% driving incremental revenue more than $15M. Evaluated loyalty plan contract at retail acquisition target to identify the cost of exiting the program. Worked cross-functionally with legal, purchasing, operations, merchandising and marketing to develop strategy to exit the program in a cost-effective manner and presented findings to senior leadership team.
• Created weekly financial reporting analyzing pharmacy and merchandising business performance in acquired stores. Determined key drivers of $3B business and advised leadership on financial implications of proposed merchandising and pharmacy strategies.

• Defined project scope and gained buy-in from the top-level stakeholders; developed detailed project plans with trackable milestones, defined resource needs, documented key risks and the associated mitigation plans, and created communication plans.

 

• Led project to integrate BatchMaster Inventory Management System and QuickBooks accounting software. Requested and audited physical inventory and confirmed results were correctly reflected in BatchMaster and QuickBooks. Set up daily automated inventory/COS reporting in Batchmaster and worked directly with BatchMaster to set up daily upload into QuickBooks. Integration allowed for real-time inventory visibility in QuickBooks and improved purchasing controls.
• Monitored project costs and ensured that total costs remained within established budgets; coordinated the request of additional funding as necessary due to changes in project scope/deliverables.
• Developed Internal Controls framework to ensure compliance to GAAP, IFRS, and global best practices for manufacturing organization. Implemented process improvements and SOP documentation to meet the needs of a complex and growing business.
• Led project to move AP processing from manual paper-based process to cloud-based SAP Concur Invoice. Worked with third party to build connection between Concur, Sage 300, and our bank to eliminate manual 3-way match, invoice entry, and check runs.
• Managed calendar and task list for monthly forecasting, annual budget, strategic planning, and quarterly external reporting processes. Coordinated within and across various functions in global company.
• Designed and implemented a new two-day close schedule to meet updated corporate policy in manufacturing firm. Reduced close process from three to two days by reassigning responsibilities, introducing process improvements, and automating upload files.

Microsoft Excel

• Expert Level Excel User including, formula building (SUMIFS, SUMPRODUCT, V-Lookup, H-Lookup, Arrays, Dynamic Named Ranges, INDEX, INDEX MATCH, etc.), graphing presentations (charts, trend lines, axis scales, multiple charts), conditional formatting, name definition and creation, hyperlink creation, data validation (dropdown list, and warning error message), filter (auto filter, advanced filter), data consolidation, subtotal, pivot tables, analytical tools such as Goal Seeker, tracing dependents, financial functions (PMT, FV, PV, NPV, RATE, and IRR), logical and nested functions (IF, AND, OR, and NOT functions in formulas), string, date, and time functions, statistical functions (MIN, MAX, MEDIAN, STDEV), worksheet sharing and protection, and customization of toolbars.

 
Microsoft PowerPoint

• Expert Level PowerPoint User including, creating slide masters, working with templates and layouts, inserting objects (pictures, symbols, charts, sound), creating graphs and organization charts, working with embedded and/or linked objects, slide transition and animation as well as creating and running slide shows.

 
Microsoft Word

• Advanced Level Word User including embedded objects, linked spreadsheets, charts, tables, and form design.

Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM)

• Used HFM SmartView add-in for Excel in hundreds of Excel templates for reporting actuals, forecasts, budgeting, and accounting close cycles.
• Trained finance employees on using SmartView Add-in for Excel.

 
SAGE AccPac

• Intermediate level SAGE 300 User, including G/L account set up, G/L and trial balance query, journal entries, reconciliations, A/P and A/R research & posting, payroll posting, exports to Excel, etc.

QuickBooks

• Intermediate level QuickBooks user, including G/L account and trial balance query, journal entries, A/P and A/R research & posting, cash reconciliations, customized exports to Excel, etc.

Other

• Working experience with the following packages: Oracle NetSuite, SQL, Tableau, SAP Business Objects, Hyperion Essbase, ADP Payroll, Access, QlikView, SAP Concur Expense and Invoice (AP), Think-cell, Smartsheet, BatchMaster, Microsoft Project, ExponentHR, and Visio.

University of Chicago Booth School of Business

• MBA; Finance, Accounting and Economics

Carthage College

• BA, Mathematics