Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Certification
<Enter your own>
Timeline
Generic

Thomas Liriano

Queens,NY

Summary

Strategic finance leader with 15+ years of experience driving financial accuracy, operational excellence, and cross-border compliance for global creative agencies. Leads end-to-end finance functions, optimizes cost structures, and builds scalable systems across high-growth and lean environments. Trusted by executives to turn ambiguity into clarity, mentor talent, and deliver data-driven insights that align financial discipline with business performance.

Overview

16
16
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Senior Finance Manager & Operations Manager

Exposure Communications (The Casbah Group)
Brooklyn, NY
01.2018 - Current
  • Promoted to senior-most, U.S.-based finance position after demonstrating success in client billing accuracy, vendor relations, and operational process improvement. Lead all financial operations for Exposure Communications while supporting back-office integration and financial oversight across affiliated entities within Casbah Group portfolio.
  • Direct financial forecasting, budgeting, and long-term planning across agency operations and high-volume, multimillion-dollar client projects. Hold full responsibility for one direct report's data delivery.
  • Drive U.S. audit readiness, refine global accounting workflows, and optimize localized systems alongside UK-based Chief Finance Officer (CFO) and Commercial Controller.
  • Manage monthly close, accruals, revenue recognition, and intercompany billing, collaborating closely with global finance team to maintain Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and support annual group audits.
  • Saved five figures annually after transitioning payroll and healthcare administration solution from Paychex to Justworks Professional Employer Organization (PEO), which consolidated functions into unified platform; additionally, secured more competitive insurance premiums for 25+ employees.
  • Recovered $75K through NYC's REAP relocation incentive program when managing agency's move from SoHo to Brooklyn, negotiating vendor contracts and filing qualifying documentation for employee headcount-based tax credits.
  • Cut Work in Progress (WIP) reconciliation time by 25% and reduced billing errors by 40%, implementing enterprise Travel & Expense (T&E) system and launching agency-wide Purchase Order (PO) program.
  • Maintained 10%+ pre-tax profitability by managing budget-to-actual performance and preventing overspend through continuous job-level analysis and PO system enforcement.
  • Improved investment decision making and cost-to-client alignment across projects, partnering with department heads to evaluate real-time P&L impact of hiring, software subscriptions, and client billables.
  • Established cost controls for senior staff and client-facing teams while restructuring vendor payment framework, including Automated Clearing House (ACH) and scheduled batch payment integrations.
  • Enabled timely delivery of annual tax pack and decreased historically long approval processes after embedding invoice and contract filing protocols to centralize records across finance, legal, and operations.
  • Acted as de facto HR and operations lead during U.S. leadership vacancies, advising on compensation planning, vendor onboarding, and employment policies; advocated for addition of formal legal counsel and HR consultant.
  • Built internal succession capacity by mentoring and guiding junior finance team member through several promotions, from AP Data Entry to Finance Operations, delivering training on systems, compliance, and vendor oversight.

Finance Manager & Operations Manager

Exposure Communications LLC
Manhattan, NY
01.2015 - 01.2018
  • Elevated into hybrid finance- and operations-focused role during period of accelerated client acquisition and operational scale. Took ownership of client billing, project reconciliation, vendor negotiation, and monthly close processes for both Exposure Communications and affiliate Beauty Seen PR Group.
  • Appointed as primary U.S. finance contact for Beauty Seen PR Group's NY expansion, constructing local finance processes, training staff, and establishing foundational workflows for reporting and billing.
  • Played key role in localizing UK policies and adapting them to U.S. reporting needs; liaised with legal/HR to formalize U.S. policy adherence in areas such as travel expenses, vendor onboarding, and data retention.
  • Co-sustained real-time ledger visibility with department leads to close each month accurately and on schedule.
  • Influenced client pitch prep and internal reviews by delivering account-level cost insights and compelling financial models, while identifying opportunities for improved margin performance.
  • Empowered department heads with actionable financial data, long-time company goal, by building agency-wide Excel reporting templates for burn rates, pipelines, and accruals; configured templates to bridge gaps in Paprika reporting.
  • Allowed Exposure to justify rate increases and headcount requests to unprecedentedly large clients, such as L'Oréal, through Excel-based tracking for Statements of Work (SOWs).
  • Acted as pivotal part of annual software selection processes; conducted due diligence and guided sound investment decisions.
  • Generated $25K+ in additional revenue annually by ensuring 100% invoice accuracy across high-profile U.S. activations and uncovering out-of-scope costs in client billing.
  • Eliminated discrepancies between projected and actual billings, enforcing billing compliance against client contracts through detailed audits of vendor costs and internal production spend.
  • Mitigated risk in newfound agency growth; renegotiated vendor payment terms to better reflect client billing cycles, which minimized need to float large payments for high-budget production and event vendors.

Accounts/Payable (A/P) & Accounts/Receivable (A/R) Supervisor

Exposure Communications LLC
Manhattan, NY
01.2010 - 01.2015
  • Hired to help build scalable finance infrastructure for U.S. operations in line with agency's growing NY presence, while managing transactions and building cross-functional relationships agency-wide.
  • Informed procurement strategy and verified timely supplier payments across monthly cycles through accurate creditor and vendor report delivery.
  • Uphold year-end accounting deadline adherence by properly posting full bank reconciliation across checking, debit card, and insured money market accounts (IMMAs).
  • Monitored internal administration budgets and office purchases, leveraging attention to detail to identify overages.
  • Met client data requirements in absence of enterprise tools by spearheading implementation of Paprika Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software; assessed its functionality and secured executive buy-in for business-critical system.
  • Provided first-line Paprika ERP training, equipping account handlers and operational staff with ability to submit cleaner timesheets, expenses, and billing materials through dedicated support.
  • Reduced A/R aging and days sales outstanding (DSO) through structured billing and collections cadences, standardizing client follow-ups and streamlining their overall experience.
  • Conceptualized first-generation process controls for 1099 and W9 forms collection, vendor onboarding, and invoice coding that laid groundwork for future compliance and reporting frameworks.
  • Demonstrated initiative in managing workload and expectations, including proactively addressing risks, training others on key tasks, and ensuring 100% deadline adherence.

Education

Bachelor of Science - Business Management

ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY

Skills

  • Financial Forecasting
  • Budgeting
  • Month-End Close
  • Variance Analysis
  • Client Billing
  • Revenue Recognition
  • Cash Flow Optimization
  • Complex Consolidation
  • Reconciliation
  • Audit Readiness
  • Compliance
  • Process Improvement
  • Policy Development
  • Vendor Management
  • Contract Negotiation
  • Cross-Functional Team Leadership
  • GAAP Reporting
  • Financial Systems
  • ERP
  • Paprika
  • Justworks PEO
  • Paychex
  • Reporting
  • Analysis Tools
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel
  • PivotTables
  • VLOOKUP
  • Financial Modeling
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Excel-Based Forecasting
  • Budget Templates
  • Banking
  • Payments
  • ACH/Wire Processing
  • Citibank Treasury Platform

Certification

  • Financial Analysis of Organizations, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2025-03-01
  • Excel Skills for Business: Intermediate I, Macquarie University, 2024-12-01
  • Excel Skills for Business: Essentials, Macquarie University, 2024-12-01

<Enter your own>

Title: Senior Finance Manager

Timeline

Senior Finance Manager & Operations Manager

Exposure Communications (The Casbah Group)
01.2018 - Current

Finance Manager & Operations Manager

Exposure Communications LLC
01.2015 - 01.2018

Accounts/Payable (A/P) & Accounts/Receivable (A/R) Supervisor

Exposure Communications LLC
01.2010 - 01.2015

Bachelor of Science - Business Management

ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY

Similar Profiles

CREATE PROFILE
Thomas Liriano