Phone 04 18 417 841
E-mail
tracey@traceynewman.com.au
Tracey Newman CA
Key Skills
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CA qualified in 1997, thirteen years post qualification experience in commercial,
audit and business services
Over five years experience in the professional services industry as the financial
controller of a large mid tier law firm and a large regional accounting firm
Extensive supervision of commercial finance and audit teams of up to twenty
members
Management of the ‘go live phase’ of a large SQL based practice management ERP
system (Elite Enterprise)
Experience with bolt on applications to this ERP system including use of business
intelligence, SQL reporting, Microsoft FRx, ARCs (Accounts receivable collection
system)
Experience with MYOB Exo and Clarity (SQL based ERP with Report Writer)
Use of Excel and Winforecast to prepare daily cashflow, management reporting and
budget forecasting
Extensive Excel experience, including use of pivot tables, advanced functions and
ODBC linking, export and import from ERP system
Analysis of group and sector results with meaningful commentary for Board review
Worked closely with other support services areas (HR, IT and BDM)
Participation and coordination of the annual budgeting process
Commercial evaluation of capital asset expenditure, new projects, and business
ventures
Extensive experience with many packaged accounting software systems (MYOB,
Quickbooks, AccPac, Attache, SAP, Solution 6, Stamina) and client proprietary
software
Coordination and review of the finance compliance obligations (Statutory accounts,
tax returns, tax planning, BAS, FBT, payroll, workers compensation, payroll tax,
other)
Participated in Corporate Governance workshops and setting Board agendas
Participated in benchmarking assignments to assess progress of companies in
relation to industry practice
Use of audit methodology, computer aided audit software (IDEA) and computer
control audit software (INFOCUS)
Experience working with partnerships, fixed and discretionary trusts, and corporate
structures
Exposure working with other Australian locations, international branches and foreign
currency translation
Work Experience
Project Accountant (Business Objects)
McCullough Robertson Lawyers
Brisbane QLD
August 2008 to March 2009
McCullough Robertson Lawyers is a law firm in Brisbane that employs approximately 400 staff
and 40 partners. I was engaged on a contract basis to project manage the upgrade of Business
Objects v6.5 to Business Object Xir2. This process involved the creation, development and
rollout of two suites of reports that were customized for the managers and staff of the firm.
During this time I gained significant experience in the following applications:
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Webi (Web Intelligence)
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Deski (Desktop Intelligence)
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Infoview
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Designer
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CMC (Central Management Console)
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Attended business objects training on CMC and Webi
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SQL – writing /editing code and query analyzer
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Use of drills, hierarchies, hyperlinks, universe modifications, free form SQL queries,
relational database issues, formatting, merges and joins
The project was broken down and executed in the following components:
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User need survey and evaluation – this was presented as a report to the Operations
Committee as an executive summary and recommendation
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Training of myself and project team members in the necessary applications
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Installation of the servers and application
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Development of report suites
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Pilot groups were conducted for evaluation purposes
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Rollout of training to partners and staff members – approximately 25 course sessions
were held
This was a contract position that ended in March 2009. I have not been working since this time
due to the birth of my second child in late March.
Consultant
ABC Business Solutions
Brisbane QLD
May 2008 to August 2008
ABC Business Solutions is a professional services company that provides business services and
software implementation advice primarily to the SME sector. I worked for them on a contractor
basis part time and have gained experience in the following:
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Cleaning and importing data for the ‘go live’ phase using MYOB Exo.
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Preparing customized reports and forms using a business intelligence product called
Clarity.
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Providing training and advice for clients on a suite of products designed for the SME
sector, including MYOB, Quick Books, Exo, and Wage Easy.
Financial Controller
Sparke Helmore
Newcastle NSW
August 2005 to May 2007
Sparke Helmore is a large national second tier law firm headquartered in Newcastle NSW. The
firm employs in excess of 700 professional and administrative staff and generates revenue of
over $100M per annum. The firm has approximately 50 equity and fixed draw partners.
Sparke Helmore is administered via a partnership and a service trust.
My role at Sparke Helmore as the financial controller was to supervise a national finance team of
approximately twenty members. This team included a systems accountant, accounts
payable, payroll and general ledger (financial and assistant accountants). I worked closely
with and reported to the Chief Financial Officer of the firm.
The firm went live with a new ERP system (SQL based) called Thomson Elite Enterprise during
the same month my position commenced. During the first year of this role, I was primarily
involved in all aspects of the ‘go live’ phase of Thompson Elite. The suite of products
introduced as part of the Elite conversion were FMS (GL) and ELBS (billing), Webview,
Business Intelligence, ARCs (Accounts Receivable) and FRx (Financial Reporting). I worked
directly with the local Elite team during the first three month ends and had extensive contact
with Elite support during the first year. I was able to develop a good network of contacts, and
attended the Elite global conference in Chicago in June of 2006.
Specific areas of experience in this role included:
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Supervision of large finance team based in eight locations across Australia – hiring,
terminations, performance reviews, weekly catch up meetings with individuals and
facilitation of monthly finance team meetings
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Coordination of month end processes including notifications to users, closing out each
financial area, creation of monthly reports and data warehouses, preparing month end
balancing reports
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Publication of a monthly financial reporting package, published in Microsoft FRx, and
issued electronically via the FRx web portal
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Contribution to the finance section of the Sparke Helmore Intranet
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Creation and publication of SQL reports written in Business Intelligence and published
via BI report link (an intranet based website)
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Close liaison with other support services areas which involved monthly reports and
meetings with business development and marketing, information technology, human
resources, and information management
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Participation in finance special projects, such as internal controls review, service trust
review, web based expenditure reimbursements, implantation of new credit cards
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Cash flow review
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Supervision of preparation and coordination of the annual audit, trust audit, fringe
benefits return, corporate and partnership income tax returns
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Preparation of the fortnightly partner (both equity and fixed) drawings, preparation of
reports for partners including annual taxation statements, reconciliation of drawings
accounts, YTD drawings summary and quarterly IAS statements
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Calculation and payment of partnership quarterly profit draw
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Review of NSW trust compliance (audit, statutory deposit, trust statements, controlled
money)
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Daily signing of cheques (operating and trust), daily EFT approvals using on line
banking software
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Daily approval of employee termination pays
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Management of relationship with our bankers including attendance at meetings and
preparation of documentation for compliance with bank covenants
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Preparation, upload, weekly maintenance and support for employee productivity
budgets
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Assistance to the CFO of schedules to support the annual financial budget sessions,
which is a month long process involving pre work and meetings with all of the practice
groups
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Preparation of a monthly financial projection for the partnership of the current year
financial performance with a drawings forecast projected to the end of the financial year
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Preparation of other financial templates including the financial section of the partnership
nomination process, review of partner capital contributions, lateral hire proposals,
evaluation of business opportunities
I resigned from this position in January 2008 as I had been on maternity leave and it was not
possible to return on a part time basis. We subsequently moved to Brisbane.
Financial Controller
Forgacs Group
Carrington NSW
October 2004 to August 2005
The Forgacs Group specializes in heavy engineering and ship building and repair. The group
generates revenue in excess of $80M per annum and employs up to 1,000 staff members on a
casual and permanent basis. I was responsible for six geographic locations and supervised a
group of approximately twenty staff members in these locations. I reported directly to the Group
General Manager and supervised one divisional financial controller in Brisbane. The role was
focused on the following:
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Debt reduction
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Cash Flow forecasting
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Management Accounting
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Improvement of the internal control processes
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Structure and definition of the finance group
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Month End Reporting and Budgets
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Supervision of a large national finance team
Financial Controller – 6 Month Contract Position
Tunnel Mining Australia Pty Ltd
Gateshead NSW
April 2004 to October 2004
Tunnel Mining is a group of associated entities and is a “one stop shop” to the mining industry
providing mining equipment (both underground and above ground) and labour for hire.
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This position is a hands-on role with supervision of one assistant accountant.
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The company operates both domestically and through satellite companies in Indonesia
and India
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Group revenue is projected to be in excess of $10M.
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Complex payroll awards and interpretation of legislation
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The majority of the contract has been comprised of implementing budgets, long term
cash flows and providing financial analysis of commercial ventures to the management
team.
Financial Controller
Lawler Partners
Newcastle NSW
November 2001 to March 2004
The Lawler Group is the largest regional accounting firm in NSW and at the time was a group of
associated entities with total revenue in excess of $14M.
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Supervision of a finance team of five individuals responsible for Practice Management
(WIP), GL, payroll, debtors and creditors
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Close working relationship with all equity partners (7) and directors (9) of the group.
Assumed the financial responsibility for three entities (partnership, trust and company)
and reporting business divisions (up to 10)
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Member of the Executive team that is comprised of finance, marketing, human
resources and information technology. This team reports to an external management
team and to the Chairman of the Board
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Attendance at monthly Executive, Management Team and Board meetings; participated
in development of the firm’s Corporate Governance Structure
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Attended numerous professional development workshops dealing with various aspects
of reporting and budgeting (Flexible budgeting and One Day Reporting, In Depth FBT,
Employee Packaging, ICAA Newcastle Convention)
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Assume primary responsibility for:
o Financial and management reporting
 Review and consolidation of month end management accounts for two
geographic locations, three legal entities and up to ten reporting
divisions
 Prepared variance analysis and provided commentary on all firm P&L,
balance sheet and cashflow budgets
o Cashflow management
 Work extensively with Winforecast (budgeting and reporting software)
 Weekly reforecasting and close liaison with business divisions for
cashflow inputs on revenue expectations
 Direct contact with bank, frequent review of facility terms and
negotiation of several financial instruments
o Budgeting and forecasting
 Facilitating rollout of flexible budgeting and one day reporting,
developed financial KPIs for balanced scorecard reporting
 Budgets prepared and updated on a quarterly basis
o Cost Savings
 Reviewed and implemented changes in a number of different
overhead areas including telephone, printing, stationery and electricity.
Achieved 50% savings in some major overhead areas by employing
cost savings initiatives by using economy of scale
 Tendered several major cost areas to vendors
o Maintenance and development of accounting and costing systems and financial
policies. Implemented an improved system of accountability by implementing
internal controls
o Taxation and Compliance
 Statutory accounts and tax returns for the group
 Tax planning review
 Monthly and Quarterly BAS
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 Fringe Benefits
 Payroll tax and workers compensation
Other firm projects
 Provided commercial evaluation of new projects, business ventures,
and development plans
 Benchmarking to other professional service organisations
 Worked closely with partners and rental advocate to secure a new
rental location for the Sydney office
 Participation in many internal committees (technology infrastructure
review, division start ups and closures)
Manager, Public Practice
KH Chartered Accountants
Newcastle NSW
October 2000 – November 2001
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Responsible for supervising ten junior and senior staff members
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Practice management/ Business Consulting for clients, including
o Preparation and review of personal, corporate, partnership, trust,
superannuation fund accounts and taxation returns
o Attended numerous ICAA and CPA workshops dealing with taxation reform
issues (GST reform, taxation reform, Practice management forums)
o Participated in restructuring engagements for clients with large corporate
structures
o GST consulting engagements to set up client’s GST reporting structure
o Fringe benefit tax assignments
o Preparation and review of PAYG summaries
o Preparation and review of monthly and quarterly business activity statements
and monthly management accounts
o Managed several audit engagements (> $10M) for companies deemed “large”
by ASIC
o Management of due diligence engagement for a local company limited by
guarantee
o Involved in all aspects of new company setup including review of compliance
with ASIC requirements
o Extensive experience with MYOB and other packaged software, audited client’s
proprietary computer systems
o Practice development and practice management responsibilities, including
budgeting, billing, human resources and networking
Supervisor, Assurance Services Group
Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants
May 2000 – October 2000
Sydney, Australia (large 2nd tier firm in Sydney)
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Planned and executed engagements for audit clients
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Business sectors where experience was gained – advertising, professional
services/consulting, and manufacturing
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Most clients had an extensive corporate structure and full consolidations were prepare
to generate final accounts
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Audit of two public companies – one listed and the other non listed. Managed a public
company engagement that included preparation of an Appendix 4C and the annual
report to be filed with ASX
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Preparation of special purpose and general purpose accounts
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Taught various courses on assurance based products
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Supervision of audit teams of up to six people
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Responsibility for billing clients and preparation of budgets
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Responsible for junior’s performance appraisals and self development
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Extensive experience with client in-house computerised accounting systems, including
preparation and completion of general computer controls questionnaires
Manager, Professional Development
Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants (Canada)
1998-2000
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Worked in Grant Thornton’s “national” division
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Responsible for developing and instructing various Professional Development courses
to the over 1,000 professional staff members and 50+ offices of Grant Thornton,
Canada.
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The position required extensive traveling throughout North America a significant portion
of the year.
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Areas of expertise and course curriculum included taxation, implementation of the
Horizon Audit Approach, applications of Interactive Data Extraction and Analysis (IDEA),
INFOCUS (computer controls auditing), and many other emerging tax and audit related
concepts
Accountant – Trainee through Manager
Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants (Canada)
1994-1998
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More detail can be provided upon request
Professional Training
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Cert IV qualified in Training and Assessment
FBT
SQL reporting
GST Reform
Taxation Reform
Flexible Budgeting
One Day Reporting
Practice Management
Competency Development
Corporate Law
Balanced Scorecard
Professional Memberships
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia (ICAA)
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nova Scotia and Canada (ICANS and CICA)
Education
Cert IV Training and Assessment
Outsource Services May 2008
Corporation and Taxation Law
Charles Sturt University, NSW.
2001
Passed with Distinction
Certified Microsoft Instructor
Microsoft Accredited Training Organization
1998
This designation is needed to teach Microsoft products worldwide
Uniform Final Examination (UFE)
Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
1997
This exam is a four day, sixteen hour series of papers, which is the final module of the
Canadian Chartered Accountancy Process. Passed with honours
Atlantic School of Chartered Accountancy (ASCA)
Nova Scotia, Canada.
1994-1997
Successful completion with honours of the five preparatory courses that are required to
write the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) UFE. These courses are
Personal Taxation, Corporate Taxation, Management Accounting, Advanced Financial
Accounting, and Advanced Auditing
Bachelor of Business Administration, Major in Accounting, Honours
Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada
1990-1994
Awards
Placement on the David Hope Honour Roll for securing honours on the Canadian Final
CA Examination. Achieved a Top 30 ranking out of over 2000 UFE candidates
The Silver Medal for placing second in the Province of Nova Scotia and the Canadian
Atlantic Provinces on the CICA UFE, second highest mark in Grant Thornton Canada
The Carswell Award for achieving the highest grade in the Canadian Atlantic Provinces
in the Corporate Taxation course