January 2021 Featured Employee: Amanda Wall

January 2021 Featured Employee: Amanda Wall

Senior Financial Planning & Rates Analyst
January 25, 2021

Our Finance Department does a great job managing the budget and financial plan of GUC’s four utilities and numerous support departments. Amanda Wall, Senior Financial Planning & Rates Analyst, is one of three employees in the Analytics Office that was developed in 2014 to assist in this balancing act of numbers and plans. 

Our work is like a puzzle,” she said. “Balancing numbers and all the moving parts involved in long-term financial planning is a challenge that I enjoy. 

In a nutshell, our Analytics Team is responsible for GUC’s long-term financial forecastingwhich, like Amanda said, has a lot of moving parts that include modeling rate structures, supporting the months-long budget process, and managing the five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP, which is currently more than $318 million)The team divides and conquers these responsibilities, helping each other out as needed. 

One of Amanda’s responsibilities is working with teams throughout GUC, as well as outside stakeholders, on researching financial requests or needs. One recent project she’s worked on is the GUC and Town of Bethel water/wastewater systems merger. Amanda was the liaison to Bethel’s Town Clerk, and also conducted research on the feasibility of GUC taking over their infrastructure and their debt. Her work on this project goes hand in hand with the overall charge of the Analytics Office to facilitate and coordinate the cost-of-service and rate studies for our operating departments. “This helps us align the rates we charge with the actual expenses we incur from the operating the systems,” she said. “We fulfill lots of ad hoc requests like this, and that’s one of the things I enjoy most about my job.” 

Cost-of-service planning relates to the group’s responsibility to manage the five-year CIP. Not only do they confirm maintenance of the financial metrics of the long-range plan, but also support bond funding of the CIP while verifying that GUC remains in compliance with all bond covenants and developing rating agency presentations. Ultimately, this aligns with their work in supporting departments with the annual budget process. They make suggestions on where possible changes can be made, get data and reports to departments to help them budget more accurately, project out revenues to create budget targets, and help create budget presentations and documents, to name a few. 

“While working on any financial project or budget,” she said, “we keep in mind how we can generate revenue to cover projects while also balancing debt and revenue bonds without raising rates for customers too often. This is our ultimate goal.”  

Amanda is also on the Hyperion team. Hyperion is GUC’s budgeting system, and the team does a loof the administrative and behind-the-scenes work on the system before each budget cycle opens up. She also serves as Chairperson for our United Way Committee, is a GUC representative on the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals group, and is currently in GUC’s iLead program. She says she’s learned a lot more about our community by serving in these roles 

After growing up in Farmville, Amanda attended NC State University where she got her Bachelor of Science in Accounting with a concentration in Financial Analysis in 2008, and a Masters of Accounting in 2009. She is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and member of the NC Association of CPAs, American Institute of CPAs, and Government Finance Officers Association. Before joining GUC in 2018she spent the first eight years of her career in public accounting preparing taxes and audit work for hundreds of clients from individuals to small and large businesses. 

I've always been a numbers person,” she said. “In a world where most things are relatively gray, numbers are black and white. Numbers never lie, so even if you don't like what you see, data is data, and that's what makes it useful to decision-makers. 

She and her husband, Chip (who recently joined GUC’s Gas Department), live in Farmville with their two fur babies, cat Laney and dog Annabel. In her spare time, Amanda enjoys jogging, reading, decorating their home, meditating, crafting, and spending time with their families (most of whom live in Pitt County). She and Chip also enjoy going to their niece’s and nephew’s sports games.  

She says she also enjoys learning new things in a variety of ways. “I love listening to podcasts, reading, and watching documentaries on a lot of different topics,” she said. “I’m especially interested in learning about spirituality, not just with regard to my own Christian faith, but other faiths as well. 

As for her career with GUC, Amanda says it’s been fascinating to learn how our utilities work. She also says one of the parts she enjoys most is her coworkers. “I enjoy being part of a team that’s committed to providing our customers with safe and reliable utilities at the best price possible.” 

Favorites

Book: The Book Thief
Favorite Podcast: Another Name for Every Thing with Richard Rohr
Favorite Vacation: London
Favorite Movie: Gone With The Wind