Job Responsibilities
1. I spend approximately 10 hours a week making sure all the
financial orders of the company are in order. I double check all
bank accounts withdrawalls with the monthly paid orders, pay
monthly debt, and pay all bills.
2. Our company files quarterly taxes, and I spend 5 hours a week
dealing with sales taxes, 941, 940, and TWC taxes. This work
saves the company thousands of dollars a year that would have to
go to an accountant.
3. I negotiate all deals with Houston car dealerships to buy our
vehicles.
4. I spend 20 hours a week entering all financial figures in
several spreadsheets in order to guage company spending, profit,
and determine which department can cut costs or need an increase
in spending.
5. I spend about 2 hours a week working on future projections
for sales. The business we are in is very cyclical, and I have
to make sure we don't have a high inventory for low seasons and
vice versa. I talk to Auctions, cars dealership sales managers,
and a network of small used dealerships in the Texas area to
project future sales. I also calculate past sales in specific
months to in conjunction with the network above in better
calculate the future sales.
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Job Requirements
The program starts out very strong. Our first two semesters have
a high quality feel to them, with former Harvard, Stanford, and
Yale University professors and a tremendous amount of work and
projects. However, the last semester is fairly week, as the
courses become not much more than academic exercises to fill our
schedule.
The classes are almost all standardized as all students have to
take most of them at the same time. The grading is fair and
varied.
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Uppers
Numbers. I deal with numbers and less with the 'eccentricities' of customers.
Since all business is pillared on margins - profits and costs - I find myself at
the forefront of the business survival.
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Downers
Without constant contemplation on the 'bigger' picture of the
business, I find myself becoming too focused on how the numbers
work, and less with how the business works. With Financial
management, I can easily forget about who our customers are, what
they want, how to better serve them, and the network of clients
and friends that come with that. There is a tendecy to see cost
cutting, investments, and debt management as the "pillar" of the
business, and to forget the other functions of business that will
decrease costs and improve profit margins.
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Lifestyle
40 hour weeks should be sufficient for our $3million dollar business. However,
for a larger corporation, I can see myself putting in about 15% more time. I do
travel about 20 days a year, and have to attend seminars to make sure our
business is at the forefront of technology, and to expand the network of clients.
Dress code is fairly relaxed;however, business dress code is mandatory during
company meetings or bank/assets purchasing negotiations days.
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Compensation
Base salary is between $40-50K, however, since I own part of the
business, which is easier done in the smaller automotive
industry, I do get about 20% bonuses and salary compensation. No
stock options, and benefits are minimal healthcare and 2-4 week
vacation depending on the amount of work and years of service.
Bonuses are extra depending on the yearly sales and the
efficiency of management. For example, we had a problem with
late taxes and adjustments that cost the company a few thousand
dollars, since I was heading that department, I didn't get the
bonus for that particular year, which I thought was a fair thing
to do.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Very competitive and the market has to be understood or else the
profit margins will continue to decrease every year. The
opportunities do exist, especially in a big market like houston
or dallas, but one has to be vigilant in looking for those
opportunities and have the heart to tackle them. For example, we
weren't sure how information technology and computer network will
affect the small vehicle dealership/insurance business that we
were in. Not a lot of businesses had tried IT, so the evidence
was nonexistent, or confusing at best. The Financial Department
had to forecast the possible business growth if IT, which cost
our company thousands of dollars, was going to be part of our
business. This was an opportunity that we had to capitalize on,
or discard, and it is important to talk to people, network, and
study other organization to see how this opportunity will help.
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