Long-Range Finance, Treasury & Large-Board Governance
How I brought finance in-house for a complex cooperative and built the reporting, treasury visibility, budgeting, long-range forecasting, audit support, and financial infrastructure needed for leadership and board decision-making.
At Western Fuels, the finance environment was substantially different from the startups where I have also worked. The organization operated as a complex cooperative supporting coal production and transportation, with significant cash activity, capital-intensive assets, related operating entities, audit requirements, multi-jurisdiction tax obligations, and a large governance structure.
I was hired to bring finance in-house from a third-party provider and establish the accounting, controls, reporting, and financial planning capability needed to operate independently. That meant owning the underlying accounting while also building the budgeting, forecasting, treasury visibility, variance analysis, audit coordination, and board reporting that leadership needed to understand the business.
The planning horizon also extended far beyond the next quarter or fiscal year. I built annual operating and capital budgets and supported 10- to 15-year financial forecasts, connecting cash, operations, capital requirements, transportation assets, compliance obligations, and longer-term business assumptions into a more usable financial view.
The Operating Problem
Western Fuels needed an internal finance function capable of handling a much more complex operating model than routine accounting alone could support. Finance had to connect cooperative operations, related entities, substantial cash movement, capital-intensive mining and transportation assets, tax obligations, audits, and board oversight.
Leadership also needed a forward-looking financial view. Annual budgets were not enough. Decisions about operations, capital, cash, transportation, and longer-term commitments required reliable variance analysis, treasury visibility, and financial models extending 10 to 15 years.
What Changed
Finance moved from third-party administration to a directly managed internal capability with clearer accounting ownership, controls, reporting, budgeting, forecasting, treasury visibility, and audit support.
Leadership and the board gained a more consistent view of actual performance, budget variance, cash, capital requirements, and longer-term financial implications. Complex asset accounting, compliance work, and reporting across related operations also became more structured and easier to support under audit and governance scrutiny.
What I Led
01 - IN-HOUSE FINANCE & REPORTING
Brought accounting and finance processes in-house, establishing direct ownership of AP/AR, payroll, general ledger, close, financial reporting, cash management, fixed assets, controls, and audit coordination.
02 - BUDGETING, FORECASTING & LONG-RANGE MODELING
Built annual operating and capital budgets, variance analysis, cash forecasts, and 10- to 15-year financial models that connected operating assumptions, capital needs, transportation activity, and longer-term business requirements.
03 - TREASURY & CASH VISIBILITY
Managed treasury and cash visibility through significant transaction activity, giving leadership a clearer view of liquidity, operating requirements, commitments, and the timing of major cash movements.
04 - CAPITAL ASSETS & LEASE ACCOUNTING
Managed capitalization, fixed-asset, and lease accounting across significant mining and transportation assets, including high-value equipment, railroad cars, locomotives, and other long-lived operating assets.
05 - BOARD, AUDIT & COMPLIANCE SUPPORT
Prepared financial statements, variance analysis, board materials, and decision support for a complex governance structure while coordinating external audits and multi-jurisdiction tax and compliance requirements.
What This Demonstrates
This case demonstrates my ability to build and operate finance in a capital-intensive environment where decisions have long time horizons, significant cash implications, complex assets, and multiple governance and compliance stakeholders.
The work required finance to function at several levels at once: accurate underlying accounting, disciplined treasury and cash management, capital and lease accounting, annual planning, audit and compliance support, board-ready reporting, and financial models extending 10 to 15 years. I can connect those layers so leadership understands both current performance and the longer-term consequences of today's decisions.
Capabilities: Cooperative finance · FP&A · Long-range financial modeling · Treasury · Cash management · Capital budgeting · Fixed assets & lease accounting · Financial reporting · Internal controls · Audit coordination · Board reporting · Multi-jurisdiction compliance
OPERATING PRINCIPLE
Good finance has to work at more than one time horizon. Leaders need to understand what happened, what cash and commitments mean now, and what today's decisions may do to the business ten years from now.