We are thrilled to highlight our Accounting Manager, Erika Flores. Erika has been a valuable part of Kranz Consulting since January 2022. Read the full interview to learn more about Erika’s expertise, her passion for her work, and how she helps her clients thrive.
What is your alma mater? I received a Bachelor of Arts and a Business Accounting Certificate from UCSB.
What are your favorite things to do outside the office? Outside of work, I enjoy learning about food through articles, shows, social media and books. I want to know the history of it, the nutritional value and cooking techniques. My passion for the culinary arts extends to feeding my dog homemade food with added supplements. I take care to understand how recipes work, and it is that same care I take to understand what a client needs. Also, when given the opportunity, I like to share my opinion on great new series and movies out today.
How has your background impacted your experience as a consultant? I am not your traditional accountant. I studied the arts and earned a certificate in business accounting. Being in the arts taught me to be able to step out of my comfort zone, which has helped me advance in my accounting career.
My experience started in working for a national transportation company that went public, where I learned about the importance of internal audits that prepare you for external audits. I have worked at a startup, where the work can be challenging and time consuming. The biggest advantage of working at a startup was how quickly I advanced in my field, because I got to own the creation of new processes. Being self-motivated has impacted me to be a driven consultant for the client.
What is a typical workday like for you? During month-end close, it can be busy working with more than one client, but I enjoy my time working with different industries. During my downtime, I get to work on projects for the client that can include improving their processes or working on any additional projects they may need help with. I also like to catch up on emails and learn something new in Excel.
What motivates you to wake up and go to work every day? My dog, she needs to have the best life. My other motivation is that I get to collaborate with different professionals in a variety of industries, which gives me the opportunity to continue to grow in my career. The environment allows me to push myself to learn new ways of working with formulas on spreadsheets and to adapt to new situations so that I can help my clients be set up for success.
What kind of work have you been doing recently? I have been working on account clean-up, payroll, year-end audits, building balance sheet reconciliation workbooks, intercompany reconciliations and training clients on how to manage them.
Where do you believe you deliver the most value to your client? I have been able to retain long-term client relationships because of my optimism.
How do you organize environments with a lack of reporting infrastructure or inefficiency? One step at a time. I like to start my day understanding the client’s priorities. I then create a checklist with an expected due date. I start to create drafts of assignments to get the client’s feedback before finalizing the results. Once the results are in, the next step would be to document the process for their new hire.
What is your process like? To add to my previous statement, the most important thing I can do is listen to what the client needs and take notes to value their time. I communicate my progress to the client and I ask questions so that I can make improvements. Once completed and the client is satisfied, it is on to the next exciting project.