Consultant Spotlight: Philip Chubak
We are thrilled to highlight our Finance and Accounting Consultant, Philip Chubak. Read the full interview to learn more about Philip’s expertise, his passion for his work, and how he helps his clients thrive.
What is your hometown? Los Angeles
What is your alma mater? UC Irvine
What are your favorite things to do outside of the office? I enjoy dining, my favorite cuisines are Italian and French. My wife and I also enjoy going to movies and watching our favorite shows on TV, which typically are crime, thriller and mystery shows. Of course, we finish evenings with at least one episode of Seinfeld – all of which I have watched several times – so that we can ease off the heavy content of prior shows. I like to read books about finance, current events, biographies of notable business personalities, and topics generally on human behavior, chaos theory, and game theory. On sports and exercise, I walk one hour per day, and enjoy playing/watching tennis, and watching football, i.e., the “real” football, primarily the English Premier League being an avid supporter of Manchester United. And finally, my wife and I really enjoy travelling.
How has your background impacted your experience as a consultant? I have extensive experience in corporate financial management, having worked at and/or consulted with companies large and small, public/private/PE owned, and in many industries. As such, I feel confident to take on a variety of roles, interim or project based, in which capacity I can execute, lead/manage, solve problems and add value to my clients.
What’s a typical workday like for you? I organize my work by project/task/timeline. I like to start by planning the workday considering the list of my projects and meetings for the day. I then review my new emails and make necessary adjustments to the workday plan. I then start to execute. Issues come up frequently that require my attention and I allocate time to them based on the day’s priorities. I take a few minutes at the end of the day to review accomplishments and update the project list/detail.
What motivates you to wake up and go to work every day? I look forward to having a productive day and interacting with team members.
What kind of work have you been doing? I have been doing mostly Controllership work, i.e., managing accounting operations, financial close, and financial reporting. I recently had a client company that was divested from parent where I led the transition of the payroll function from parent to ADP and worked on a committee to terminate the company’s pension plan.
Where do you believe you deliver the most value to your client? Given my extensive experience and personal flexibility, I am able to assist clients in leading (CFO, Controller), managerial (Director, Manager), as well as functional capacity. I focus on delivering results, am analytical, detail-oriented, and have outstanding interpersonal skills.
How do you organize environments with a lack of reporting infrastructure or inefficiency? I begin by reviewing each role to assess the need for redistribution of responsibilities and additional headcount. I then explore making process improvements to conducting daily tasks, preparation and review of account reconciliations, and financial close. I finally consider automation through use of platforms such as Blackline, FloQast, AP/AR automation software, and use third parties for processing payroll and benefits.
What’s your process like? I am a certified Project Management Professional and therefore use a project management framework to organize objectives through projects. Accordingly, I initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control, and close each project regardless of complexity.
