Dawn E Wilson, CPA
Adjunct
"I never dreamed I’d be able to do this.”
“You make my brain work – in a good way.”
“You explained something no one else has ever been able to.”
Comments like these, from people with whom I’ve worked, provide satisfaction, reward, and motivation to me. I am thrilled when I’ve made a contribution to an individual’s growth and learning. People often tell me I’m always teaching. I agree.
Dawn Wilson is an Adjunct Instructor teaching software applications such as Word, Excel, Power Point and Quark. Throughout her business career, she has been a leader in the use of technology to serve customers, improve efficiency, and provide financial and management information. At Fort Wayne Newspapers, she completed the building and implementation of the first household database for use as a distribution and marketing tool for circulation. At Brooks Construction, she led the multi-disciplinary team that determined needs, researched and recommended vendors, and implemented a new financial and cost system and network. She has implemented accounting and operations software systems for a number of companies by combining an understanding of accounting and operational needs with software capabilities. Dawn has developed and taught many classes in spreadsheets, Excel Pivot Tables, word processing, proprietary accounting software, and construction accounting for co-workers and clients and within her profession. She has developed numerous query routines, spreadsheets and databases for such tasks as estimating, cash flow, equipment profitability, personal property tax, and management of running events. With a key emphasis being entrepreneurship at the Keith Busse, she might just put her latest spreadsheet, The Gradebook, on the market.
Career
Dawn’s career includes 10 years with the publisher, Knight-Ridder, in marketing and management roles. Since then, she has been the Controller or VP of Finance for a number of locally owned small to medium sized businesses in such industries as construction and trucking, capital equipment design and manufacturing, and equipment dealership.
Education
Dawn, from the Akron Ohio area, began her education at the University of Akron and completed her BS in Business, with a major in marketing, at IPFW in 1986. She added a Post Baccalaureate in Accounting from IPFW in 1991 and became a CPA in 1994.
Professional and Community Activities
Dawn is a founding member of the local Construction Financial Managers Association and is currently on the finance committee for two local not for profit organizations. She is a member of Indiana CPA Society and was recently appointed to the Ethics Committee which promotes the ethical practice of the CPA profession through educational and enforcement activities.
Expertise and Skills
- Costing accounting and estimating
- Financial planning and analysis
- Budget development and management
- Cross-functional team leadership and membership
- Software and computer technology
- Business process reengineering
- Cash-flow projections and management
- Banking negotiations and management
- Excel, pivot tables, data warehouse reporting
- GAAP, federal and state tax, union, and banking compliance, reporting and audits
- Supervision and management
- Chart of accounts restructuring
- Verbal, written communications
- Turnarounds
- Coach, mentor and trainer
- Managing complexity
- External and internal relationships
- Credit risk and collections