Steve Craft

Experience

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  US Foods

  May 1998 - Aug 2003

  Senior Accountant

  - Consolidated, reviewed, analyzed, and distributed weekly financial projections for 90+ divisions to Corporate and Field Senior management.- Delivered monthly Balance Sheet reviews and account reconciliations, and audited numerous Profit and Loss statements during the monthly close. - Worked closely with the corporate IT department on projects to help reduce monthly closing time and acted as liaison between the divisional accounting departments and the corporate accounting department.- Designed, implemented, and maintained more than 20 PeopleSoft nVision financial and statistical layouts supporting operational productivity and financial reporting processes.- Trained corporate administrative and accounting staff, as needed, in the use of PeopleSoft software- Delivered Corporate Senior management analysis tools populated with statistical data, productivity data, and financial data from PeopleSoft. Show less

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  Cowan Systems, LLC

  Aug 2003 - Jul 2005

  Assistant Controller

  - Oversaw the monthly closing and financial statement generation tasks performed by an accounting staff of two individuals to enforce the deadlines set by the CFO and Controller.- Prepared inventory reserve entries and various other divisional allocations to certify accurate reporting on the monthly financial statements.- Maintained the Fixed Asset system and reviewed recurring monthly entries to ensure correctness of depreciation, amortizations and allocations reported on the monthly financial statements. - Increased the timeliness and accuracy of weekly agents’ commission payments through review of agent revenue and driver settlement documentation.- Ensured the timely ACH transmission of payroll for 300+ contractors on a weekly basis.- Maintained and reviewed the financial records for a small construction joint venture. Show less

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  BearingPoint

  Jul 2005 - May 2009

  Business Consultant/Senior Business Consultant/Manager

  - Directed the team within a Federal client's command that improved the level of audit readiness following the findings from an agreed upon procedures audit.- Coordinated an effort within a Federal client's command that allowed them to document and sustain its business processes, perform data mining/cleansing, and reduce new data-related challenges to comply with OMB Circular A-123.- Performed data testing within the financial system of record's testing instance to validate suggested courses of action to address the various areas of concern within the agency.- Developed and implemented corrective actions and tools and procedures for discrepancies discovered during an effort to reconcile the command’s subledgers/modules to the General Ledger. Show less

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  Deloitte

  May 2009 - Sept 2016

  Advisory Manager

  - Collaborated with key client stakeholders in creating a custom SharePoint repository for Finance policies and procedures and influencing process changes to reduce the duration of outstanding audit requests.- Significantly improved a client's account reconciliation process by performing quality assurance reviews to fully understand the General Ledger balances, ensure financial statements are complete and free of misstatements, enhance visibility into organizational accountability, and assess whether account reconciliations are clear and understandable to 3rd parties.- Responsible for the professional development of staff by acting as a leadership role model and technical accounting resource.- Led key risk management support efforts that included preparing, improving, maintaining, and publishing accounting policies, guidance, and related Federal agency directives.- Collaborated with many DOD commands to research the latest Federal GAAP and to maintain the instructions that allow sustainment of the DOD internal control programs.- Enhanced DOD commands’ level of audit readiness through feedback on narratives, flowcharts, risk and control assessments, and test plans.- Successfully executed the plan at a client site to conduct walkthroughs, assess the internal control environment by performing controls and substantive testing as the team developed and implemented a Managers' Internal Control Program (MICP).- Collaborated with each client department to understand the accounting standards that affect each business process, ensure compliance with accounting policies, and assist in resolving questions.- Developed remediation plans in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to address the findings reported during the MICP implementation. Show less

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  National Grid

  Dec 2016 - Aug 2023

  Responsible for leading responses to rate case inquiries, including collecting information to support, discover, and prepare rate case documents, providing responses to data requests, drafting communications to inform the business of filing results, and providing data analysis used in preparing rate cases.Leveraging the momentum I built from my prior roles, I continue to reinforce our CFO ambition for optimized, digitally-enabled, end-to-end processes by building Power BI dashboards to automate manual, error-prone monthly processes, and providing consistent output based on one data source.My first key accomplishment in this role was working with an Analyst on the team to build a Power BI file that automated the bucketing of COVID expenses through the use of DAX formulas based on a predetermined set of assumptions. Once built and tested, it automated a manual, error-prone, monthly process, providing a reliable, consistent output based on one data source. This improvement will save an FTE approximately 96 hours of manual work a year. Show less As Acting Manager of the Cash Accounting team, I worked with a team of 6 individuals to enhance their leadership skills, technical knowledge, and overall cash expertise, while finding a better way to perform day-to-day manual processes and considering automation. I engaged with the team regularly to understand their processes and seek opportunities for the team to expand their skills. I encouraged the team to reach out to their stakeholders and ask if their deliverables were meeting stakeholders needs, and looked to identify where they were supplying information to a third party that was not actually relevant. As a result, some key accomplishments were:- Oversaw the team to record quarterly IFRS adjustments needed to properly reflect the cash book overdrafts resulting from timing issues- Built a Power BI file that recreated the month end cash analysis used to book the monthly Cash accruals and used as support for the Cash bank reconciliations. This was achieved through the use of DAX formulas based on a predetermined set of assumptions. Once built and tested, it automated a manual, error-prone, monthly process, providing consistent output based on one data source. This improvement would save an FTE approximately 18 hours of manual work a year, in addition to providing a consistent, reliable output every time.- Several reports provided to stakeholders were eliminated because they were not being used- I also improved the quality of the account reconciliations by performing a detailed review and noting areas where additional information could be supplied or where incorrect information had formerly been used and should be addressed Show less Focused on leading our Controllership into the future, using technology to enable and empower our people. Led the strategic development and functional execution of initiatives that enable the Controllership to deliver process efficiencies, improve control and compliance, and expand the utilization of technology in support of its strategic roadmap. Some key objectives for me under the R2R Strategic Initiatives group are:- Leading an effort to redesign the close process to allow for dashboarding, real-time analysis and remediation, and insights into future performance- Coaching Controllership teams on how to use Power BI dashboards to visualize and gather insights into their data- Engaging our Change Management team to properly communicate our future vision- Accountable for the simplification and automation of the Controllership processes, specifically related to the Record to Report process- Collaborated with jurisdictional Accounting teams and challenged the status quo while working with an external consultant to build a proof of concept (POC) around the use of robotic process automation (RPA) to simplify the regulatory deferral processSome key accomplishments are:- I organized and facilitated a Power BI dashboard challenge for approximately 30 attendees, focused on shaping the future of the Controllership and leading the function through change. In this event, I introduced a new technology in a learning environment that fostered better knowledge retention, as well as inspired teams to think about time savings and data insights that Power BI could provide in their day-to-day work.- Collaborated with the VP of Finance and numerous members of the Controllership to plan and execute a 2-day offsite event for 190 Finance attendees, promoting performance improvement, teamwork, and innovation. Show less Responsibilities include:- Supported and managed utility specific regulatory issues and requirements facilitated through frequent reviews of the regulatory environment and communications with General Accounting and Regulatory teams - Drafted and reviewed technical memoranda providing the accounting analysis of electric and gas rate orders (ASC 980) - Partnered with Regulatory teams to operationalize requirements for consistent regulatory related processes - Maintained compliance to regulatory data request responses (MA, RI, NY, and FERC regulators) - Reviewed financial reports and advised on entry bookings and identified regulatory implications from reports. - Researched and consulted Accounting teams on the effect of regulatory orders on regulatory asset/liability calculations and the balances in the general ledger- Oversaw the maintenance and updates for the asset and liability catalog to ensure appropriate treatments based on rate case (Regulatory Completeness Memos) - Ensured proper support to meet business requirements of financial and non-financial controlsSome key accomplishments are:- Increased efficiencies by reducing the number of operational internal controls by 3 through the assessment of the risks being mitigated by other internal controls- Built cross-functional relationships to bridge the communication gap between the Regulatory and Accounting teams, leading to improved consistency between regulatory filings and accounting records- Established an in depth understanding of the ASC 980 accounting standard that led to the creation of numerous accounting memos and adoption of a SharePoint repository for sharing across the Company- Guided a team of 2 resources to streamline the process for completing the annual completeness memos, which outlined regulatory mechanisms for each of the 7 operating companies and served as key audit documentation. 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  • Manager, Regulatory Initiatives

    Nov 2020 - Aug 2023

  • Manager, Cash Accounting (acting)

    Jun 2020 - Dec 2020

  • Manager, Record to Report Strategic Initiatives (Future of Finance)

    Mar 2019 - Jun 2020

  • Manager, Regulatory Accounting Support

    Dec 2016 - Feb 2019
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  New York Power Authority

  Aug 2023 - Jul 2024

  Reporting and Analytics Manager

  Streamlined the annual financial reporting process, creating refreshable exhibits and linked financial metrics across 100+ pages, utilizing Power Query, Power Pivot, and formula-based tables, to allow for real-time updates from new sources of data.Managed Blackline account reconciliation clean-up effort, by creating a Power BI dashboard with account reconciliation data, which provides team managers with quick insights into overdue reconciliations, as well as outstanding reconciling items and unreconciled balances.Built data models within Power BI connecting disparate data in various structures and formats, to support the enhancement of monthly and quarterly financial reporting.Supported the improvement of monthly financial close process controls, by creating a new month end close checklist built within Microsoft Lists that will allow for status reporting in Power BI and the tracking of task completion through a Power Automate workflow. Show less

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  Water Authority of Western Nassau County

  Jan 2025 - now

  Director of Accounting, Planning & Customer Service