Spotlight On Accounting & Collections

This month, we continue our Spotlight On Finance series with Accounting & Collections.

Accounting

Accounting Manager Cynthia Langley ensures that all financial operations, systems, transactions, policies, and procedures meet the short- and long-term objectives of GUC and are in compliance with regulatory standards and requirements. She also supervises and trains the accounting and payroll team, plays a major role in the completion of the annual audit, and interacts with all departments on a variety of accounting issues and with different projects as needed. Cynthia was a member of GUC's Cornerstone Core Team that implemented and launched our E-Business Suit (EBS) financial system a few years ago.

Meredith Dent and Heather Manning are Accountant Auditors. Meredith maintains the project accounting, cash accounts receivable, inventory, and general ledger modules in EBS. She is responsible for setting up all new projects in EBS, which includes coordinating with operational departments, Finance, and our Work and Asset Management (WAM) team members. She also maintains our cash management system by performing bank and investment reconciliation for 33 bank accounts, and facilitates the miscellaneous non-utility receivables by coordinating with Operations and Billing. In addition, she maintains the chart of accounts in the general ledger, and performs end of month close out for inventory, projects, accounts receivable, and general ledgers. Meredith was also a member of the Cornerstone Core Team with Cynthia.

Heather's core responsibilities are financial records, audit support, and end of month close out of payables, purchasing, and fixed asset modules in EBS. She also manages all "help" tickets associated with EBS financial and payroll system and works with IT and our Oracle support consultant to resolve EBS issues and enhancements. This work includes coordinating EBS financial systems testing as needed. In addition, Heather reconciles the daily cash report and provides support for Cynthia, including serving as Cynthia's backup in her absence.

Amy Bartell and Tanya Atallah are the two Accounting Technicians in the department. Amy works primarily with accounts payable, which involves receiving, verifying, and auditing supplier invoices. She ensures that payments to suppliers are accurate and timely. She processes financial and accounting information according to established procedures. Amy also creates and maintains supplier information.

Tanya ensures that payroll is processed accurately, timely, and according to policies and procedures.  She has recently assumed the responsibility of auditing all purchase card statements, making sure we are in compliance with established policies and procedures. She creates journal entries associated with payroll and our pre-paid credit card program. Tanya also processes all customer refund checks and solves accounts payable supplier issues.

Collections

The Collections team is responsible for the receipt and deposit of GUC funds. This section records, deposits, and submits its accounting of all receipts to the Accounting section.

This section is managed by Collections Supervisor Tarsha Roach. Tarsha oversees the Cashiers at the Main Office and the Express Office. Her main responsibility is to make sure that all money paid to GUC is properly handled and balanced at the end of each day. This requires a balancing act of various other responsibilities, like processing files for payments made through our website and accounts setup on automatic bank drafts, processing returned checks, assisting customers when they have a concern, and gathering monthly payment statistics.

Jolene Donaldson is the Lead Cashier and helps to ensure the day-to-day process runs efficiently. She helps Tarsha with training and support to the Cashiers, making the daily deposit, and serving as the supervisor when needed.

Our Cashiers are Corey Weeks, Deborah Tyson, DeVeney Fonville, Liz Atkinson, Megan Fowler, Pamela Barnes, Sha'Taiza Pugh, Vonda Covington, Adrian Ramsey, and Demetrius Holloway. Cashiers rotate between the Express Office on Greenville Boulevard and the Main Office.

Fiscal Year 2016 Customer Payment Types

During Fiscal Year 2016, our Cashiers processed 847,000 payments in person, electronically, and by mail. The graph also shows these types of payments for the years 2011 through 2015. In addition (and not depicted on the graph), the Cashiers at the Main Office handle an average of 200 phone calls a month to assist customers with account inquiries.

Next month, we'll look at Stores.