I promised that every now and again I would take you behind the screens at Phantom and introduce you to our awesome team members. Today it is the turn of our Finance Department.
I have to be honest the finance department has always held a special place in my heart, because like them, I have a background in accountancy!
Andrew, our Senior Finance Manager
Heading up the team is Andrew. Andrew manages the department and ensures that we collect cash from customers and pay suppliers along with producing monthly and annual financial statements for the Leadership Team and the Board of Directors, along with making sure our tax obligations are covered.
Having worked for many large organizations, Andrew loves the family feel of Phantom Screens and its collaborative work ethic. As he says: “It’s great to work at a corporation where you have the ability to make a difference – especially without the politics of a large organization. Phantom Screens is a perfect fit in terms of its size, aspirations, and customer and employee philosophy.”
When he’s not working, Andrew loves to ski and although a life-long fan of rugby, since moving to Canada from the UK he’s also become a convert to hockey. He’s a fluent Spanish speaker and can also apparently sing the Welsh National Anthem in Welsh, although he hasn’t a clue what the words actually mean!
Along with Andrew is Jolanta.
Jolanta, our Accountant
Jolanta is our accountant and it’s her job to overview and reconcile all the accounts – as well as training and overseeing our two accounting assistants. Originally from Poland, Jolanta started her career path in accounting when she moved to Canada, working first as a bookkeeper for a small manufacturing company, then as an intermediate accountant for a ginseng company before joining us here at Phantom.
When she’s not knee-deep in numbers, Jolanta dreams of escaping to the country and a little house with a garden and an orchard, so she can keep llamas, alpacas, sheep and goats. However, it can’t be too far in the boonies, because she’d still want to go to classical music concerts, museums and the theatre!
Completing the team are Valarie and Michaela.
Valarie – Accounting Assistant, Accounts Receivable
Valarie is our Accounting Assistant – Accounts Receivable. She’s in charge of receiving payments from distributors and allocating it to their accounts, as well as invoicing and releasing credit payments (in a nutshell).
Val had an unusual start to her career after being in school for Criminology. She worked as a commercial dog walker enabling her to have three hour adventure hikes daily with up to six off leash dogs in Vancouver’s North Shore. When she was originally hired as a Receptionist for Phantom she had an application in with the Canadian Border Services. But she ended up loving working here so much that she withdrew her application when she was promoted to Accounting Assistant.
If you ask her what she loves about working here, she answers very clearly: “The people here are amazing. Simple as that.”
Michaela – Accounting Assistant – Accounts Payable
And last, but definitely not least, is Michaela. Michaela is also an Accounting Assistant – this time in charge of accounts payable, handling all the invoicing and the payment of bills. Michaela loves working at Phantom and says that she: “loves knowing that my job makes a difference and that everyone plays a part in the company’s well-being. It gives me a sense of pride after every day to know that I contributed Phantom’s smooth running.”
If she wasn’t working for us at Phantom Screens and money was no object, she’d really love to work for the National Geographic as a photographer and take pictures of animals in the wild or discover new species. Which is a pretty cool ambition isn’t it?
So there you have it. Our wonderful finance team.