Department Digest - Financial Reporting

This past month, we spoke with Jenna Milman, Associate Controller in the Financial Reporting office. Here’s what she had to say about what they’re currently working on, their most significant achievements, and what’s coming next for them. 

Can you provide us with an overview of your team?

Our team is a dynamic and dedicated group of professionals who play integral roles in ensuring our organization’s financial integrity and compliance. Currently, Chris Bancroft leads the team and serves as the Manager of Financial Reporting. Chris brings over 15 years of expertise in public accounting and financial reporting, having joined our team one year ago. In addition to his extensive experience, Chris oversees two direct reports, Nicole Rodier and Mike Damone Jr., each contributing unique skills and insights.

What is the primary focus of your team’s work? 

Like all Finance teams, our primary focus aligns with the guiding principle, our “North Star,” which is to facilitate Yale’s mission by streamlining and standardizing financial services. Our goal is to enhance overall efficiency, making a meaningful impact on the collective effort to foster a culture of financial integrity, insight, and responsible stewardship of Yale’s resources. It’s worth noting that we are relatively new additions to the Yale community, and as a cohesive team, we are dedicated to leveraging our individual experiences and backgrounds. Navigating the vastness and intricacies of Yale has been an enlightening journey. Our ongoing focus involves cultivating a strong team culture while delivering top-notch external financial reporting and support services.

What are your team’s most significant recent accomplishments?

We’ve celebrated several significant milestones as a team in the past year, including:

• Successfully releasing the Annual Financial Report and concluding the annual financial statement and federal award audits.
• Providing essential support for the analyses necessary during the Facilities and Administration rate (F&A rate) negotiations, 990 tax reporting, and quarterly financial reporting, for example.
• Effectively onboarding and supporting three of the four team members brought on board in the past year.

What projects are you looking forward to in the coming year?

The team is gearing up for several exciting projects in the coming year, and here are some examples:

• Implementing automation for our lead schedules, aiming to summarize quarter and year-end fluctuations. This initiative will enable the team to focus more on analyzing and contextualizing changes.
• Enhancing the efficiency of our quarterly reporting process to ensure it aligns seamlessly with the evolving needs of our senior leaders.
• Embracing new and more intricate external reporting requirements. The landscape of reporting expectations for organizations like ours is continually evolving. We’ve observed an increase in audit demands and the introduction of novel topics, such as cyber-security, cloud computing, and environmental concerns, among others, to the surveys and reports we complete. This exciting shift allows us to collaborate with various facets of the organization, and we eagerly look forward to the challenges and opportunities it brings.

What else would you like to share about your team?

You can find us regularly chatting about our pets, especially Nicole, who not only has her dog but regularly fosters dogs for a shelter she works closely with, comparing travel plans and joining in all of the Controller and Finance office functions; we are eager to get to know each of you better and excited to work alongside you in Finance!