Early in 2019, Mariana felt the need to temporarily leave corporate America in order to help her husband, Russell Farris, launch and grow their business. Mariana performs administrative tasks, as well as customer service, researching and bookkeeping.

As a Customs Entry Writer, Mariana worked directly with customers both overseas and in the U.S. Customs department to file entries on imported freight, ensured timely coordination of cargo, and performed accurate reporting and billing. She acted as a trusted advisor to the customers, educating them on U.S. Customs and Partner Government Agency (PGA) requirements. Mariana was responsible for: - Filling import declarations on behalf of Importers.- Generating, filling, and maintaining up-to-date customer records, reports, documentation, databases, etc.- Ensuring regulatory requirements were met, and proper documentation existed for all shipments.- Responding to customer inquiries, ensured issue resolution and customer satisfaction.- Receiving and reviewing documentation to input and transmit data for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) release of shipments.- Responding back to any Brokerage related inquiries from internal or external parties.- Quoting duty and tax rates on goods to be imported, based on federal tariffs and excise taxes.- Staying abreast of changes in import laws or regulations by reading current literature, attending meetings and conferences, as well as conferring with colleagues.

Mariana first came to the US in 2015 as an exchange program student where she provided childcare to American families while living with a host family. During this time, Mariana was able to improve her English skills and experience a different culture which broadened her international experience.

As a Senior Staff Accounting for a construction company, Mariana was responsible for all payroll entries, overhead expenses, capital lease accounting and assisting with construction projects, research and tax/budgeting analysis as they emerged.Mariana was responsible for: - Performing key functions in the monthly close process.- Performing payroll entries, accruals and bank reconciliations overhead expenses and accruals.- Managing capital lease accounting.- Preparing analytics to assist users of the financial statements, when needed.- Providing meaningful information to the users of the financial statements.- Responding to inquiries from supervisors on a timely basis.- Working effectively with other departments, such as Payroll, Management, Human Resources, Accounts Payable, Cash Management, and Financial Reporting. - Reporting directly to the CPA and Controller.- Preparing all auditor requests during quarterly reviews and year-end audits.

As a Staff Accountant, Mariana was responsible for assisting with the preparation of monthly financial analysis reports, developing and maintaining department budgets and generating cost reports. Mariana successfully collected pertinent information for third party audits, supervised financial reports and operations and used to be the first point of contact for accounting issues.Mariana was responsible for: - Performing mid-level general ledger account reconciliations, verifying accuracy of data, and reporting/identifying, and correct errors made by both internal and external personnel.- Supporting timely monthly, quarterly, half-year, and year-end financial close, including assigned journal entries, balance sheet account reconciliations, accruals, and overall maintenance of all operational management accounts.- Assisting in providing schedules and commentary with respects to operating maintenance accounts results and variances, and with the production of working capital, cash-flow reports, as well as applicable commentary.- Maintaining and updating records and reports for profit and loss, taxes, liabilities, and assets.- Preparing special financial reports as requested by management by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing account information and trends.

As a Tax Assistant, Mariana was responsible for maintaining correct general ledger balances for assigned accounts, preparing general journal entries, preparing month-end closing entries, preparing related account reconciliations, providing activity analysis to management for assigned accounts, and preparing required financial statement support to management, government agencies and auditors.Mariana was also responsible for: - Preparing journal entries, bank reconciliations and account reconciliations/analysis.- Preparing schedules/analysis as required for annual external audit.- Supporting Finance/Accounting and other departments with reclassification and/or research requests.- Preparing analysis and journal entries of complex transactions.- Assisting in providing guidance on accounting treatments as needed.- Participating in special accounting and efficiency projects.- Answering customer requests and providing an excellent customer service experience.