Jesse Rasaka

Background

About Jesse Rasaka

When I jumped from Big 4 Public Accounting to my current role as a Plant Controller, I was not given a job description; I was asked to be a problem solver. Why did they hire me when I only had two years of experience? I have no idea, but I’m glad they did. The Problem: Turns out the biggest problem that needed tackling was a material weakness. It was the Company’s great obstacle, it was the thorn in Corporate’s side, it was the big weight on morale and the cause of great cross-functional friction. Corporate made it our #1 priority—above growth, margins, or anything else, because even though we were only 3% of their business, our control failures were staining their 10-K with a qualified opinion on ICFR.To solve it, I had to become a subject matter expert in ASC 606 revenue recognition for complex government contracts. That’s not something that is typically learned overnight, but thankfully, I had a wonderful mentor and teacher. The Result: Through a year of technical deep-dives and the "heavy lifting" of redesigning processes, bug fixing IT issues, building new controls, and getting non-finance folk onboard with all the changes, we secured PwC’s blessing and successfully remediated the weakness.The Takeaway: I’ll be honest, I’m not sure there’s anything more boring than technical compliance accounting and contract reviews. Or anything more abrasive than enacting change. But both are necessary to become a finance leader, as is the willingness and capability to learn and do whatever the business needs. Previously, I was a Big 4 auditor of a Top 6 Homebuilder and Fortune 500 Company where I gained deep technical accounting expertise, regulatory and compliance knowledge, project management skills, and a commitment to precise, quality work.Other facts about me-I'm a Dad of two -I'm a master at Excel and Google Sheets-I'm experienced with AI, VBA, and Tableau-Learning new tech is a hobby of mine, been wanting to try out the latest finance software/ERPs-Along with Accounting, I studied Economics, Finance, and Data Analytics in school-I helped raise seed money for 3 start-ups through Shark-tank-like pitch competition while in college-I speak Spanish fluently and have a basic understanding of French and Portuguese-I'm a Seahawk's fan