MICHAEL J. FARRUGGIA

7987 Kelvedon Way

Sacramento, California 95829

mjfarruggia@frontier.com

ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONAL

Summary of Qualifications:

Highly adaptable accountant with a reputation for achieving accounting department goals using excellent analytical skills, an “attention-to-detail” work style, and more than 15 years of accounting experience with wholesale, construction, manufacturing, retail, real estate, financial, and electronics companies.

Professional Skills and Abilities Include:

• Performing accounting, tax, investment, and financial management duties

• Managing all accounting functions using an in-depth knowledge of GAAP

• Implementing and maintaining internal accounting and financial controls

• Performing month-end closing and developing all financial statements

• Preparing payrolls, posting journal entries, and maintaining general ledgers

• Reconciling multiple accounts, tracking budgets, and variance analysis

• Preparing clear, concise, and well-documented reports used by management

Technically savvy using PCs, laptops, and mainframes with Oracle, JD Edwards, Excel, Quickbooks, Quicken, Skyline, Timberline, PeopleSoft, ProducePro and various fully-integrated proprietary accounting packages. Also proficient with Microsoft Outlook, Word, and basic Access.
 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
 

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT (12/06 –12/08) General Produce Company – Sacramento, California

• Responsible for timely, accurate preparation of numerous financial statements for several operating entities and numerous related companies for a successful, closely-held produce distributor.

• Excelled at organizing and journalizing year-end adjustments and preparation of audit schedules for external accountants’ audits and reviews.

• Responsible for analyzing and reconciling all corporate balance sheet accounts and several income statement accounts on a monthly basis. Recommended, journalized and posted numerous monthly adjusting entries.

• Heavily relied upon by the CFO to handle a plethora of ongoing complex projects, including governmental statistical reports, tax research and reporting, and implementing a new periodic cash reconciliation process. I also compiled, input, and reconciled all fixed assets and depreciation activity on a monthly basis.

• Responsible for all accounting functions relating to several administrative and support offices for one of the largest electrical contractors and consultants in the western United States.

• Part of a large team that analyzed, tested, and brought an Oracle-based accounting system online in early 2005 with no previous training.

• Responsible for analyzing and reconciling all corporate balance sheet accounts and several income statement accounts on a monthly basis. Heavily involved in proposing, journalizing and posting numerous adjusting journal entries.

• Heavily relied upon by the Accounting Managers to handle a plethora of ongoing complex reconciliation projects, and was instrumental in assembling data and schedules for year-end audit and tax purposes. Compiled, input, and reconciled all fixed assets activity on a monthly basis.

FINANCIAL ANALYST (temporary position)

Analyzed historical costs for several projects at a major Sacramento light-rail transportation products firm. Investigated the validity of any and all suspicious entries. Located numerous instances of vendor overbills, duplicate payments, and other inappropriate charges totaling several hundred thousand dollars. Booked month-end adjusting entries to adjust construction project cost accounts as necessary. Worked with IT personnel to fix communication problems between MRP and JD Edwards systems, allowing for greatly improved accuracy in an important job cost reporting tool. Performed weekly and monthly labor, freight and job cost reviews to vouch for data correctness. Worked closely with the Commercial Contract Managers to correct long-running reconciliation issues.

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT / ACCOUNTING MANAGER (temporary positions)

• Teamed with the Chief Accountant and Controller for a premium winery. Managed daily accounting activities and worked on special accounting projects. Maintained highly efficient accounting systems, resolved long-running processing and reconciliation issues, and administered controls on all daily accounting issues. Performed daily and monthly reconciliation of numerous balance sheet accounts including fixed assets, prepaid, and payroll liability accounts. Prepared schedules for all external audits. Analyzed month-end financials, investigated discrepancies, and produced monthly management reports for several acquisition-related reserve accounts.

• Contracted as the Regional Accounting Manager for a Stockton-based restaurant distributor. Designed and implemented accounting controls and performed daily accounting tasks. Identified and secured a $22,000 vendor credit that was to expire within 30 days; completed documentation for a Fuel Tax refund that could have produced as much as $200,000; and brought the company current on all past due tax issues.
• Contracted on a short-term assignment to clean-up accounting problems for a major newspaper advertising reseller. Served as an integral part of an accounting team responsible for reducing aggregated outstanding balance from over $4 million to under $300,000 in less than two months. Resolved complicated and intricate billing discrepancies stemming from staff shortages and quickly reconciled prior year accounts payable balances for numerous nationwide Fortune 500 advertisers.
• Handled confidential data and utilized knowledge of state and federal taxation to prepare detailed property tax statements, quarterly sales tax returns, and amended California corporate tax returns for a large well-known Sacramento-area contractor. Also worked with clients to research and compile a large volume of business invoices and accounting data from multiple years for IRS audit purposes and instrumental in gathering financial records to secure California Manufacturers Income Credit.

CASH ACCOUNTANT (1998 - 2000) The Money Store - West Sacramento, California

• Worked in an extremely busy financial services company and used proven multi-tasking skills to balance and reconcile a large volume of student loan disbursement and investment accounts.

• Quickly, efficiently, and accurately balancing daily cash accounts; researched, resolved, and journalized adjustments; summarized all third-party agency disbursements; and used proprietary loan servicing software to analyze, research, and process adjustments to student loan transactions.

• Saved the company more than $22,000 by discovering a check counterfeiting scheme; worked numerous overtime hours to correct a major software problem; and cleaned-up neglected account reconciliations dating back several months.

STAFF ACCOUNTANT (1997 - 1998) Panattoni Development - The Catlin Group - Sacramento, California

• Performed a full range of accounting tasks including maintaining general ledgers for more than 20 rental properties and new developments.

• Worked with the Controller to process bank loan draw requests for new construction projects and saved several developments thousands of dollars by tracking and renewing bank LIBOR contracts.

• Participated in the voluminous paperwork stemming from the purchase and sale of properties and managed complex accounting research and reconciliation projects.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING :

CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT PROGRAM (Passed all four parts of the CPA examination)BACHELOR OF ARTS DEGREE - ACCOUNTANCY California State University, Fullerton