Saruda Simonson

• Reviewed, analyzed, and submitted budgets, and performed quarterly financial reports.
• Approved purchase requisitions and ensuring compliance with the university’s policies align with the budget availabilities.
• Managed all new grant proposals and awards and communicated essential terms of the grants to staff.
• Assisted the director with pre-and post-awards activities for research and service projects and ensured compliance with sponsor and institutional policies and regulations.

• Traveled to Uganda to conduct financial vetting of the partners in financial management and procurement prior to funding.
• Assisted partners to create financial policies to improve transparency, strengthen its internal control, and meet donor’s requirements.
• Reviewed budgets and approved water grants from proposal to completion.
• Monitored progress against established timelines for each project to ensure deadlines are met.

• Managed DFID contracts and 30 USAID grants executed by the NY office, including drafting sub-grants and corresponding with donors.
• Maintained an accurate database of all signed sub-grants, contracts, and related documents.
• Prepared proposal budgets to international donors and reviewed USAID proposal budgets and narratives from other AAH international offices and made recommendations prior to submission.
• Monitored spending performance, performed monthly reconciliation, and ensured compliance with funding agency regulations (USAID, UN,DFID,SIDA,EU etc.) and submitted quarterly reports with allowable indirect cost rates in a timely manner.
• Successfully launched a proposal budget checklist as a guideline to ensure that other international offices understand and meet requirements in submitting US grant proposals.
• Worked closely with project coordinator and program officers on all issues related to budget management and finance.

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• Prepared financial documents such as budgets, monthly reconciliations, forecasts, and reports.
• Developed financial management and operations strategies for country offices in Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh to ensured WC Asia’s compliance with its internal financial policies, national laws, and donor requirements.
• Standardized policies for procurement, inventory, and accounting records improved operations and increased transparency for 5 country offices to fulfill requirements of international donors and strengthen internal control.
• Monitored budgets for all country offices, analyzed and adjusted fund allocations for country offices, and reconciled fund balance.
• Oversaw monthly financial transactions, managed all grant budgets, and conducted the annual budgeting process for WC’s Asia.
• Reshaped Vietnam's country office to improve segregation of duties to manage World Bank contract and took the lead on budget management and operations in the long-term absence of a Vietnam country director.
• Supervised the senior accountant and accounting staff, reviewed, and approved disbursements, bank reconciliations, and monthly tax reports for Asia Regional Office.
• Served as the primary contact for annual audit and provided response to external auditor.
• Provided training and technical support for ACCPAC users approximately 14 finance staff In Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, which empowered field finance staff to submit accurately and timely reports.

• Prepared monthly financial reports, financial pipeline projections, and accrual reports for USAID and project end-users.
• Monitored budget and provided monthly/quarterly analyses to regional director about project performance. Forecasted monthly expenses to ensure cash for office operation costs.
• Held responsibility for financial activities in the field, including acquisition of goods and services, and approved budgets for sub-agreements, task orders, purchase orders, and consultants to ensure accuracy and compliance with AED and USAID requirements.
• Ensured project accounting transactions were entered into QuickBooks and project financial files, allowing complete and proper backup/audit documentation.
• Worked closely with AED’s Washington DC headquarters to support Asia regional proposals, providing budget and financial technical assistance on regional bids and proposals.

• Held overall financial responsibility for Right To Play accounts in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan and Azerbaijan – which were focused for Refugee programs and posted-affected Tsunami programs in Asia 2004.
• Monitored compliance on cash flow management, budgeting, consolidation of accounting information, internal controls, financial reporting, financial record- keeping, and grant management in the Asia Regional Office and Asia Country Offices in accordance with the Right To Play Field financial manual and donor regulations.
• Reviewed and consolidated monthly financial reports for all Asia country offices into ACCPAC system.
• Oversaw USAID, RNMFA, UNHCR and UNICEF grant portfolios in Asia, and guided country-level spending to ensure that it was aligned with the approved budgets and for submission to headquarters in Canada.
• Maintained strong relationships with donors to ensure accountability for grant compliance and the production of accurate reports.
• Hired and supervised country finance officers in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan
• Worked closely with country directors and project managers for solving financial issues such as monthly financial reports, tracking cash flows, and cash and bank reconciliations.
• Prepared for the annual audit and met with external auditors to provide all financial transactions needed and led the team to correct action from auditor recommendations.

• Gathered and analyzed financial statements and credit-related data Established plans to achieve funding targets in line with bank policies.
• Wrote credit applications for automobile industry clients including company background, business plan, and business performance by analyzing income statements and balance sheets, cash flow analyses and company outlooks.
• Analyzed business performances through cash flow, sale volume, business costs, marketing plans to support client’s source of fund to repay loans.
• Reviewed clients’ credit ratings and composed reports to HQ in Japan providing recommendations to improve credit ratings.
• Visited clients frequently to maintain relationships, collect data from business plans to support credit analyses.