James Adams Email & Phone Number

Victoria, Bc, Ca

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Wolfville, Nova Scotia

Acadia University is part of the quintessential college town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1838, it is one of the oldest and most respected liberal arts Universities in Canada www.acadiau.ca.Type of Work:Reporting directly to the VP of Finance, my role involved the financial management of a new $20m government funded building project, as well as various adhoc projects.Responsibilities:• Financial management of a new $20m building project. Direct liaison with the Head of Facilities to ensure the project was tracking to budget and any financial implications were identified early and reported. Total finances were in order and were reported to the funding body accurately and on time. • Various adhoc projects for the VP of Finance. These included competitive analysis of other Universities, request of proposals (RFP’s), preparation of financial statements, etc…Achievements:• When I first came into the role, the financial management of a new $20m building project was a little chaotic. After conversation with the Head of Facilities he said the build was going well but he couldn’t get a clear picture of his under/over position to budget at any one time and was feeling swamped with paperwork. As a result, I streamlined the financial processes and set up regular meetings with the Head of Facilities. Within a short time, he had a running total of where he was at with total and forecasted spend to budget, presented in a way he could understand and he could access at any time. Stage 1 of the project was completed in the beginning of September and was on time and within scope.

The Lion Foundation is one of New Zealand’s oldest and most respected Class 4 Gaming Trusts. Class 4 gaming in New Zealand involves the ownership of gaming machines (otherwise called pokie machines or Video Lottery Terminals- VLT’s) and the distribution of the funds generated by them (www.lionfoundation.org.nz). Type of Work:My role involved the full ownership, overall management, corporate governance and communication with CEO and Board Members, with respects to the finances for the business, total revenues of circa $100m. 3 years as Financial Controller and then promoted to CFO.Achievements:• A hyper competitive industry was seeing us lose top line revenue and market share for 3 years straight. I was tasked by the CEO to turn this around through efficiency and innovation. I assessed all internal areas of the business and ‘leaned out’ any areas that were not putting our customers first. Then after this looked at areas where we could better leverage our suppliers and our sales staff to offer ‘new to market’ services to our customers. The result was that our 4th year/ my first as CFO saw our first increase in top line revenue in years, with the CEO complimenting me as being instrumental in the turn around.• Used expert knowledge of accounting controls (Lean Accounting) and change management skills to drive down the month end reporting deadline from 14 days to 3 days. Also streamlined management reporting to only include relevant and helpful reports to the sales teams. This resulted in more timely financial information to the sales teams, executives and Board members.• Using our cloud based CRM system, designed and implemented a dynamic performance management dashboard. The dashboard showed all key performance metrics for each sales team member, their teams and the whole business in real time. This dashboard resulted in never before experienced transparency across the business and an overall increase in sales productivity and revenues.

The University of St Andrews is Scotland’s first University and the third oldest in the English Speaking world, founded in 1413. Over six centuries, it has established a reputation as one of Europe’s leading and most distinctive centres for teaching and research (www.st-andrews.ac.uk).Type of Work:My role was with the Research Funding division of the Finance Team. This involved overseeing the management of the funds awarded to various schools within the University to carry out their research.Responsibilities:• Preparation of quarterly budgets for research awards with full commentary and presentation of these directly to lead Professors.• Overseeing management of all funding issues for research awards i.e. VAT supply issues on invoicing, salary forecasting, budgeting issues, etc…..• Directly liaising with key stakeholders to ensure all funding conditions are met and all budgets and forecast are adhered to. Achievements:• I was made responsible for the largest (£20m) research award at the University. The award had been mismanaged in the past and I was charged with rectifying the situation. I carried out background financial research on the award, had one on one meetings with the research professors and the NERC funders and then developed a new strategy for the on-going financial operations of the award. As a result all funding was maximised and received on time, all budgets were brought into line and met and all legal obligations were extinguished.

LLP is an integrated, operator and developer of senior living communities listed on the ASX. They own and manage a portfolio of 56 retirement villages and 29 age care facilities across Australia and New Zealand (www.llprimelife.com).Type of Work:My role involved the full ownership and overall management of the finances for the New Zealand branch of the LLP portfolio, with total revenues of circa $24m and total assets of circa $452m.Achievements:• Used expert knowledge of accounting controls and change management skills to drive down the month end reporting deadline from 14 days to 8 days. Also drove down the year end audit clearance date from 60+ days to 30 days. This resulted in more timely financial information to the board of directors in the height of the recession.• In June 2008 the Operations Manager resigned. I took on their additional responsibilities for 6 months as a replacement was sourced. This involved all day to day operational issues across all aspects of the NZ branch of the portfolio.• Developed new model for all refurbishment expenditure and authorisation. This resulted in us being able to hold the strongest cashflow position across the entire Australasian portfolio during the peak of the recession in 2008.• For two years successfully prepared and implemented 5 village level budgets from the ground up. This involved direct consultation with the residents committees and presentations to all the residents themselves at the annual AGM’s. All budgets were adhered to and came in on target.

BDO Spicers is the New Zealand member firm of the BDO international network, the world’s 5th largest accountancy organisation (www.bdo.co.nz). BDO has 14 branches in New Zealand, 65 partners and over 650 employees nationwide with a focus on small to medium sized enterprises (SME’s). Type of work:My work involved the preparation and review of annual statutory accounts and management reports and also provision of management advices for various clients ranging from wealthy property investors to large NZX Listed corporations such as The Warehouse Group with profits in excess of $100m. Responsibilities:• Preparation of annual statutory financial reports that comply with financial reporting standards for clients of different sizes and industry. • Preparation of monthly management reports for all types of businesses ranging from residential & commercial property investments, general business trading accounts & trust accounts.• Preparation of Inland Revenue compliance requirements such as GST, FBT (Fridge Benefit Tax), RWT (Resident Withholding Tax) and PAYE returns.• Advising clients on all sorts of financial decisions such as issues concerning business structure, taxation compliance, budget and cash flow forecasting and accounting information systems. • Communicating and acting on behalf of clients in response to any tax investigations or audits by the Inland Revenue Department.

Education record

CPA BC

Chartered Accountant

Bachelor Of Management Studies, Accounting, 1St Class Honours

Activities and Societies: University of Waikato Rugby

Education record

Activities and Societies: 1st XV Rugby