Vikas Patel Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Us

Houston, Texas, Us

Schiller Park, Il, Us

Deerfield, Il, Us

Schaumburg, Il, Us

Lead all corporate accounting related activities for a $1B+ organization. Managed overall financial close and reporting processes as well as the Sarbanes Oxley assessment process, development and implementation of cost reduction initiatives and directly reported quarterly financial results and assessment of financial controls (Sarbanes Oxley) to the Audit Committee. Reported to Career Education Chief Financial Officer. Managed 6 departments (Accounting, External Reporting, Financial Systems, Financial Controls, Payroll and Accounts Payable) consisting of 2 direct reports and 52 indirect reports. Specific accomplishments included:o Managed cost reduction initiatives by consolidating staff from 87 (with 3 directs) to 54 (with 2 directs) by also implementing process re-engineering initiatives to continue meeting core requirements; achieved annualized run rate savings of approximately $3MMo Oversaw the quarterly and annual SEC financial reporting processes including planning meetings and disclosure committee meetings with respective groups, coordinated with our external auditors to ensure a seamless reporting process and review of externally reported documentso Consolidated disparate processes across the organization into a centralized, simplified and consistent process to mitigate risk of error and also created efficiencies in the monthly close processo Redesigned the financial control strategy and documentation standards to (1) enable accountability throughout the organization, (2) further enhance the financial control environment and (3) create audit efficiencies with our external auditorso Formalized and communicated a month end checklist with specific deadlines that created efficiencies by minimizing confusion in the field, as well as driving accountability and accuracy of financial reporting

Schaumburg, Il, Us

Managed both the Accounting team (team of approximately 45) and the Sarbanes Oxley team (team of approximately 5). Reported directly to the Chief Accounting Officer and presented directly to the Audit Committee.

London, Gb

Project Lead on finance transformation initiative to provide consistent, meaningful global reporting. Managed end to end life cycle of implementation, including deliverables execution and resource management. Provided leadership and decision making of global reporting structure of a $3B organization. Reported to the Hewitt Corporate Controller. Managed a cross functional staff of 2 direct reports and 16 indirect reports. Specific accomplishments included:o Develop and implement 5 global financial reporting tools in support of enterprise performance management (management reporting, operational reporting, allocations, budgeting and customer / product profitability) o Drove the definition of the organizations' future state standard reporting suiteo Partnered with the business to drive the requirements definition for client, project and product profitabilityo Communicated with the business to help understand and embrace the validity of new future state processes

London, Gb

Project Lead on successful implementation PeopleSoft 9.0 General Ledger and Asset Management modules (total suite of 9 modules implemented). Provided leadership and decision making of global general ledger and global organizational structure. Managed a cross functional and cross-country staff of 3 direct reports and 9 indirect reports. Specific accomplishments included:o Designed code block to streamline financial accounting processes, strengthen controls to facilitate SOX compliance and create transparency to financial datao Defined and implemented general ledger reporting structure in a complex global environment by developing a design that would reduce the company’s close process from 5 days to 3 dayso Re-designed the global chart of accounts for reporting and governance requirementso Re-designed the organizational reporting tree to simplify management reporting and provide transparency to financial results by introducing the concept of global cost chargebacks and reporting based on profit centers and cost centers

London, Gb

Led all corporate accounting related activities for a $3B organization. Led global close processes, implementation of SOX controls and compliance and development of an off-shoring model with staff in India. Reported to Hewitt Corporate Controller. Managed a cross-country staff of 5 direct reports and 20 indirect reports. Specific accomplishments included:o Led an initiative to successfully reduce the company’s month end close process from 6 days to 5 dayso Implemented a stock based compensation financial tool that streamlined a 3 day manual process down to 2 hours while also reducing risk of financial statement misstatemento Implemented a global intercompany invoice tracking system that allowed for real time reconciliation of out-of-balance intercompany accounts to reduce risk of financial misstatemento Developed and implemented a standardized documentation process to ensure all controls were being performed to mitigate the risk of a control deficiencyo Implemented a review process for items provided to external auditors as part of their quarterly reviews which resulted in a significantly more efficient completion of the audit process

London, Gb

Led all financial planning and analysis activities for Hewitt’s $2B Outsourcing Segment to ensure consistent financial reporting on a global basis. Reported to the Outsourcing CFO and managed a staff of 2 direct reports and 2 indirect reports. Specific accomplishments included:o Streamlined the global reporting process to ensure consistency and overall integrity of reported resultso Improved reporting by creating standardized templates that were seamlessly updated monthly which resulted in more efficient and effective month end reporting, which also increased productivity by minimizing reworko Project managed IT teams to provide information within our financial systems more timely during the month end process to enable the reporting process to begin sooner

London, Gb

Led and implemented a newly created team responsible for ensuring compliance with Sarbanes Oxley for Hewitt’s $2B Outsourcing Segment. Reported to the Outsourcing CFO and managed a staff of 4 direct reports. Specific accomplishments included:o Project managed and led teams that evaluated several key manual processes that presented financial reporting risk and automated these processes to mitigate that risk while increasing associate productivity and engagemento Developed and implemented monthly control procedures that prevented two key processes from being reported as a significant deficiencyo Project led a team to implement an automated tool to capture financial transactions systemically which not only mitigated risk of financial misstatement, but reduced the process of data capture from 1 day to 30 minutes

London, Gb

Led and managed Hewitt’s Sarbanes Oxley 404 compliance initiative. Major responsibilities included identification and testing coordination of key financial statement controls, training of individuals on new processes and the development and successful execution of remediation plans for control deficiencies identified. Also led and managed financial and control audits both domestically and internationally.

In a start up environment, created and developed key policies and procedures surrounding the company’s financial reporting structure, developed and coordinated month-end close procedures and negotiated and secured a $500,000 line of credit with very minimal capital.

In a start up environment, created and led a finance team of 4 direct reports to support the company’s expansion from 35 to 115 individuals within 14 months and revenue growth from zero to a $75MM annual run rate. Created and developed a financial reporting structure as well as month end close procedures. Successfully secured a $4M line of credit with very minimal capital. Integral in supporting sell side financial and operational due diligence activities in support of the sale of Exault.

Gb

Led numerous audit engagements for public and privately held clients with an emphasis on internet, software and manufacturing industries. Prepared and reviewed numerous SEC filings and reports for public and private clients, including drafting and review of disclosures. Performed acquisition due diligence and also assisted clients in developing proper accounting processes for new pronouncements.