Demetrice Jordan

I've been in my field for about 25 years, and what led me to my current position is that I worked in many different industries. I didn't want to be an auditor - I wanted to get a feel for different areas. So I chose to do contract work so I could actually get hands-on experience, and if I didn't like it, I was able to move from one location to the next. I wanted to be able to do some A to Z, instead of doing just actual audit work where you're really contained into just one area. I actually like budgeting - I really like dealing with budgets, and that's what I'm currently doing now. As a director, I deal with a lot of the grant budgeting as well. A lot of my daily responsibilities involve overseeing the entire accounting department. I deal with different funders, trying to ensure that we receive the proper grants that we're asking for, making sure that I do budget narratives properly, and just ensuring that my team is keeping on track with their daily accounting duties as well. My most notable achievement is when I first became a controller. I worked with a company called Mustela, where I was able to identify that their systems were wide open, and that there were financials going from one swing one month from the red, then the next month into the black. I was able to see that it was actually a system issue and an access issue. I have a broad background - it's not just dealing strictly with accounting. I'm helping to ensure that the budgeting and we're able to use up the grants to help people who had HIV and AIDS, and homeless people. I always wanted to make sure that I was able to help the public, and now I'm learning that I'm able to use my degree - even though I'm not in the forefront of helping people, I'm behind the scenes helping them. The field that I'm in is the only field I ever worked in besides my first job with McDonald's, and I just want to grow - maybe one day be a CFO.