Gisèle Cuma, Cpa Email & Phone Number

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

As the strategic finance advisor to senior leadership, I provide tailored financial insights that drive business decisions, ensuring alignment of budgets with organizational goals. My focus on enhancing financial reporting and fostering financial discipline has contributed to improved resource management and risk mitigation.Budgeting & Financial Performance:• Lead budgeting, forecasting, and monthly variance analysis, aligning financial performance with KPIs and organizational strategy.• Lead the preparation and analysis of divisional budgets, overseeing program expenditures, staffing, and revenue to ensure financial alignment and optimal resource allocation.• Partner with budget owners to manage contract staff budgets, providing financial insights, forecasting needs, and ensuring cost-effective allocation of resources to support operational and strategic objectives.Financial Analysis & Reporting:• Provide financial models, dashboards, and ad hoc analyses to enable senior management to identify risks and opportunities.• Conduct in-depth revenue analysis to identify trends and opportunities, recommending price adjustments to enhance profitability and competitiveness.• Provide strategic guidance by analyzing budget submissions for compliance with corporate policies and Canada Health guidelines, identifying key issues through year-over-year comparisons, and recommending actionable solutions.Leadership & Collaboration:• Champion financial best practices across departments, building financial acumen and accountability through education and collaboration.• Drive financial accountability by ensuring project expenditures are effectively controlled and maintained within approved budgetary limitations, while fostering collaboration across departments to support informed decision-making.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Supported internal clients with financial decisions while ensuring compliance with internal controls, IFRS, and government regulations. Managed FTE forecasting for 200+ employees and oversaw a $100M IT budget. Developed forecasting tools and performed cost classification analysis for capital and operating expenses.Financial Reporting & Analysis:• Prepared quarterly income statements for homeowner insurance, analyzing costs, revenues, and profitability for senior management.• Executed benchmark analysis to compare homeowner business performance against competitors, identifying areas for improvement.• Conducted variance analysis to provide strategic advice on budget allocations, cost savings, and resource allocation.Collaboration & Decision Support:• Collaborated with HR and budget owners to perform FTE analysis, supporting informed decisions on staffing needs, budget allocations, and budget lapses.• Calculated cost savings resulting from the development of new software and assisted in the creation of business cases to support project funding.Project Controllership:• Led financial oversight for IT projects, managing budgets, forecasting, and ensuring cost-effective resource allocation.• Monitored project expenditures and timelines, ensuring alignment with approved budgets and strategic objectives.• Provided financial analysis and reporting on project performance, identifying risks and recommending corrective actions to keep projects on track.• Conducted capital budgeting and assessed cost allocation between operational and capital expenditures for in-house developed software.• Analyzed the amortization period for newly acquired software intangible assets, ensuring accurate capitalization of costs.• Contributed to the financial aspects of business cases by calculating the required funds over multiple years and evaluating the costs and benefits of new assets.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Assisted with the issuance of Canada Mortgage Bonds and Mortgage-Backed Securities while managing an assigned portfolio of approved issuers. Processed applications, ensuring data accuracy and compliance with policies and procedures.Program Compliance & Financial Management:• Reviewed program documents for completion and adherence to regulations, processing client payments and reconciling discrepancies while escalating issues as necessary.• Analyzed monthly accounting reports from issuers for compliance and data integrity, resolving ineligible mortgage applications and managing guarantee fees and allocation fund transfers.• Educated clients on program policies and procedures, guiding them through processes and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.Risk Assessment & Data Analysis:• Assessed and mitigated risks by analyzing loan and mortgage data, contributing to housing market stability by facilitating a steady funding supply.• Contributed to the development of a new CRM system, offering recommendations to improve process efficiency and enhance client service.Team Leadership & Productivity Improvement:• Improved team productivity by designing detailed worksheets, delegating tasks, and proposing optimized workflow procedures.• Trained and mentored new team members to ensure smooth operations and foster a collaborative work environment.• Volunteered on the Employee Engagement Committee for two years, summarizing employee feedback, identifying solutions, and collaborating with the executive committee to implement improvements that enhanced employee experience

Toronto, Canada Area

Recommended approvals for PPSA no interest letters and releases of undertakings and holdbacks. Managed partial discharges for operating lines of credit and construction loans.• Performed annual reviews for loans less than $1.25M.• Gathered documentation for annual loan reviews over $1.25M.• Requested final reports for new loans from the legal team.• Collected data for various types of ad hoc requests.• Compiled weekly and monthly reports in Microsoft Excel for submission to senior leaders.

Toronto, Canada Area

• Reviewed and evaluated maintenance of financial advisor records• Assured accuracy and conformance to regulations• Ensured incomplete anti money laundering (AML) information is tracked and obtained • Monitored the quality of e-mail correspondences to external recipients• Assisted the compliance department with investigation on Financial Advisors• Supported Business Analysts with special projects and systems testingAchievements:• Created an excel evaluation tool to record human errors and to identify system limitation • Supported the implementation of new quality controls, which resulted in a drop of errors and unnecessary transaction rejects• Identified and recommended procedure and workflow improvements

Education record

Bachelor Of Commerce

Advanced Diploma