Brian Helms is a Finance Analyst at the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Here he describes his role, discusses what he likes best about working in workforce development and shares one of his proudest professional moments.
Tell us about your role at SDWP.
I work as a Finance Analyst here at SDWP. My main responsibilities mostly concern the proper expenditure of our various types of funding streams. As most of our funding comes from public funds, there are often strings attached to the way we spend our money. Through various types of analysis, my role is to help guide our program managers through the life of their grants and ensure we are not penalized for missing any requirements. Among other things, I also help develop and manage budgets, work to maintain the accuracy of our accounting system, and perform the monthly closing process.
What do you like best about working in workforce development?
While my work is mostly a behind the scenes product of our actual services, it’s certainly nice to know I work for an organization with a genuine desire to help our community grow. I work with some great people who are committed to making each program we take on a success.
What professional moment or project are you most proud of?
I’m currently working on a large project our CFO is heading to rework the way we prepare our organizational budget. I have been tasked with building out the spreadsheets that will link the expenditure plan for over twenty funding streams (roughly $34,000,000) across ten different departments. It is still a work in progress at the moment, but I’m incredibly excited to take on the role I’ve been assigned and see the finished product in action.