Vanessa Smith, CPA, CA

Experience

• 

  PricewaterhouseCoopers

  Sept 2008 - Dec 2012

  Experienced Senior Associate

  Technical Knowledge:• Conducting financial statement audits in compliance with various financial reporting standards including ASPE, IFRS, US GAAP & US SOX compliance.• Experience in various complex accounting issues including US Bankruptcy accounting, joint venture separations, financial derivatives and share acquisitions.Client Portfolio:• Primarily included large private Canadian companies in the manufacturing and industrial products industries. • Key client included a Tier 2 supplier to the automotive industry with revenues in excess of $1.3 billion and operations in over 15 countries worldwide. Led the international reporting component of the audit, which included oversight and communication with 18 international audit teams operating in 15 countries worldwide and reviewed and analyzed their audit deliverables.• Client portfolio also included a Canadian not-for-profit based company within the transportation industry, which is structured as a public company due to the significant amount of publicly issued debt. The company issues financial statements in accordance with IFRS and has revenues in excess of $1.1 billion.Special Projects:• Participated in a 5 month secondment to the PwC Pittsburgh (USA) and PwC Cincinnati (USA) offices from December 2010 – April 2011. Conducted financial statement audits in compliance with US GAAP reporting standards as well as SOX regulations. Client base included a US public company (US Steel) in the steel manufacturing industry with plants in multiple locations across North America and Europe. Other client experience included a US private company in the printing and advertising industry. • Participated in a 5 year performance review of a large Canadian company in the transportation industry as required by the Government of Canada. Responsibilities included evaluating operational and financial performance over the review period and holding interviews with key Executives. Show less

• 

  Canadian Tire

  Dec 2012 - now

  Responsible for managing and overseeing the execution of the financial reporting cycle for Mark’s (a member of the Canadian Tire family of retailers) and ensuring the accurate and timely submission of monthly and quarterly results to Corporate Accounting for consolidation. • Lead and manage a team of 6 accountants and ensure the financial results are in compliance with IFRS. • Manage the daily and monthly activities of the team including review of journal entries, reconciliations and analysis of significant variances to budget and prior year.• Review and approval of quarterly and annual financial reporting deliverables, required for consolidation.• Lead the accounting for business acquisitions (franchise buybacks) as well as review and approval of annual impairment testing. • Serve as the finance lead on cross functional process improvement projects and initiatives, including the implementation of a new warehouse management system. • Primary contact for internal and external auditors as well as the Certification team. Show less • Accountable for ensuring that sales, cost of goods sold, and inventory are reported in an accurate manner in accordance with IFRS.• Complete journal entries as part of the monthly close process as well as quarterly and year end reporting packages to assist Corporate Reporting with the consolidation of the financial statements.• Review journal entries and reconciliations completed by the Accounting Analyst and ensure entries are appropriate and correctly recorded at month end. • Subject matter expert and key finance point of contact with regards to inventory valuation, weighted average & standard costing methods, inventory shrink reserves and sales returns provisions.• Critically assess and analyze significant variances to expected results (budget and historical trends) and present these to Management through participation in the preliminary monthly results meeting. • Key finance representative in cross-functional projects including receipt and invoice matching and inventory cost adjustments. Experience with user acceptance testing of system changes regarding JDE (general ledger software) and PMM (inventory management software). Show less

  • Manager, Retail Accounting

    Feb 2014 - now

  • Senior Financial Analyst - Inventory

    Dec 2012 - Feb 2014