John Budzinski Email & Phone Number

Detroit, Mi, Us

Directed accounting team of 10 and a corporate support team of 25 responsible for accounts payable, cash management, in- house payroll, and other financial support functions for a $1.1 billion dollar retailer. Key Achievements:• Played a key role in the successful sale of Art Van to a private equity group, which encompassed working with investment bankers to develop Memorandum of Sale used to market the company, responding to due diligence requests and partnering with the CEO and President to deliver sales presentations to 20 prospective buyers..• Guided accounting team through a complex sales transaction of the company, which involved combining several affiliated entities, managing purchase accounting, addressing tax matters and evaluating accounting treatment of multiple sale leaseback transactions.• Developed and implemented monthly processes to support financial reporting required by the new shareholder, banks, landlords and finance companies.• Completed due diligence, including identifying integration synergies and addressing purchase accounting issues related to the acquisition of 2 separate furniture companies that accounted for over $300M of new sales, both transactions were closed on the same day. • Coordinated due diligence process with multiple banks, which resulted in a $20M increase in the company’s line of credit to improve liquidity.• Merged multiple subsidiary entities and revised the chart of accounts to streamline monthly close process and preparation of the consolidated financial statements.• Spearheaded the implementation of Oracle software for general ledger, accounts payable and account receivable.

Managed financial reporting, accounting, tax, and cash flow activities. Responsible for maintaining bank relationships. Analyzed potential investments, reviewed valuation models and prepared pro-forma financial statements. Handled IRS and state sales, use, and single business tax audits. Key Achievements:• Directed efforts to modify financial systems, processes and reporting to expand operations into multiple states, which enabled the company to add 18 stores and grow revenue in other states. • Partnered with newly created Financial Planning team to develop and implement budgeting process at both the company and department level which included key metrics and monthly reporting.• Led monthly P&L meetings with Executive team to review results, drive best practices and team accountability. • Designed and implemented financial systems and processes to support the Art Van franchise business model (a start-up operation) and franchisee’s stand alone business operations. Built financial section of franchise training manual and on-boarded and trained 20 franchisees that generated $5M in royalties.• Maintained responsibility for financial statements and tax returns of affiliated companies, which consisted of S-Corporations, C-Corporations, Limited Liability Companies, Family Partnership and Trust and Family Foundation; oversaw the liquidation, merger, reorganization, divestiture, and consolidation of these entities.• Headed real property tax appeals for 30+ locations, which resulted in refunds in excess of $750K and go forward lower taxable values.• Performed acquisition due diligence and completed the subsequent integration of a 31-store bedding chain onto the company’s financial and operating systems.

Detroit, Michigan, United States