Work Product Samples

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In some cases, the doc

uments presented below are take offs from documents I wrote originally for an employer, a client or an investor. I’ve replaced the names of individuals with pseudonyms to preserve their privacy. I have altered dollar amounts, volume figures and other facts to preserve organizational confidentiality. I carried forth the reasoning and analysis used in the original work.
I wrote four stories on the Special Programs in Public High Schools in the City of New York for local newspapers.In other cases, I wrote documents solely to be posted here. Those Background Scenarios are wholly fictitious, similar to a background in an academic “case study.” Again, the purpose is to display reasoning and the ability to draw useful conclusions from arrays of data. DPD

⊕ Financial Analyses

Proposed Commission Structure

Background: The incentive compensation plan for marketing employees of a professional practice was resulting in liabilities for the practice that were out of line versus its overall growth.

Action: proposed a commission system for marketing employees that would create a prospective incentive pool before each calendar quarter. The incentive pool would flex up and down versus overall volume produced in a quarter, with an agreed upon ceiling and floor. Marketers would share in the pool based on their relative contribution to the growth realized in the calendar quarter.

Audit of Proposed Lease Terms

Background: Salespeople who represent a leasing firm or a bank can sometimes be less than precise as to terms of their proposals. Interest rates can be understated by the use of vague terms or by scrambling together “fees” of every sort with explicit interest charges. Often some sharp questioning of the initial proposal results in the appearance of a more favorable proposal.

Action: Created a model to calculate the exact interest rate underlying a lease proposal. The model can be used with equal payment terms, with irregular payment terms, with accelerated or with deferred payments.

Distribution of NY Adjusted Gross Income

Background. A retailer of luxury goods in the City of New York wanted to know whether or not its marketplace was growing, given all the headlines about income stagnation.

Action: turned to data on tax returns filed by residents of the City of New York that are published by the NYC Independent Budget Office. Analyzed trends in NY Adjusted Gross Income over a nine year period from the point of view of the client.

Analysis of Family Income Data

Background. A due diligence team found raw data about the family incomes of customers who had entered three retail stores while they were working on a possible acquisition of those stores on the part of their employer.

Action: They realized that the data could be useful in projecting which of the stores would likely be the most successful for their employer of high end accessories. They ran the data through a model to produce statistical descriptions and bar charts of the data. One of the stores clearly was the best prospect.

Capital Expenditure Proposal

Background: A professional practice had acquired three ultrasound units to perform echocardiograms. On their arrival, it learned that the software in those models was not compatible with some older personal computers in the practice.

Action: Wrote backgrounder on the matter and proposed acquisition of replacement personal computers.

Offering Statement Outline

Background: A medical practice was not satisfied with the relationship it had with a hospital. It wanted to shop the practice to other hospitals. I was asked to write an offering statement to initiate negotiations.

Action: First wrote a one page “Profile of a Cardiology Practice” and then produced an offering statement from that outline in one week. That offering statement became the basis for negotiations with four hospital systems. The practice struck a deal with one of those hospitals within six months.

⊕ Investment Management Analyses

Simultaneous Equations

Background. An investor wanted to raise $10,000 by partial liquidations of two positions, one of which contained an unrealized loss and the of which contained an unrealized gain. He wanted to sell shares in a manner in which there would be no net loss or net gain.

Action: Created simultaneous equations to determine the numbers of shares to sell out of each position so as to create no net loss or net gain. Equations can be modified to incorporate loss or gain positions from prior transactions

Zero Gain or Loss for a Gift

Background. An investor wanted to gift $10,000 to a beneficiary by conveying that person shares in two issues of stock. The investor had a long term gain in one issue and long term loss in the other. The investor wanted to determine the number of shares of each issue she should gift, such that the carried forward long term gain and the long term loss would offset each other.

Action: Created an algebraic model to solve for the numbers of shares of each issue that should be gifted.

Purchase of Shares and Asset Allocation

Background. An investor has $10,000 to invest. He wants to invest 40% of his cash in one issue and the remaining 60% in a second issue. How many shares should he buy?

Action: Wrote a simple model to calc the exact shares, to round down to whole shares, to show the purchase amount, to show the total prospective cost and the prospective asset allocation.

Adequacy of Defined Contribution Plans

Background. Noticed a story in PLANSPONSOR magazine about the size of the defined contribution industry: $6.1 trillion in assets and 94.5 million participants. Noticed that the story did not include the average balances of participants.

Action. Compiled an analysis of average balances in defined contribution plans from data published by PLANSPONSOR, by the Vanguard Group Inc. and the Employee Benefit Research Institute to assess the adequacy of the balances accumulated by most of the participants in defined contribution plans.

Rates of Return on Investment Portfolios

Background. A Family Office Board had apportioned investment assets among four investment managers for a seven year period. No additional amounts were added to the portfolios. All dividends and gains were reinvested. (The portfolios were rollover IRA accounts not subject to taxation until the owners reached the age of 70 ½ when mandated distributions would be necessary and taxable.) The Board asked to be shown cumulative performance, relative to the market.

Action: Turned to data published by yahoo.com on the rates of return produced by three popular exchange traded funds (ETFs) to measure how the accounts would have grown, had the funds been passively invested solely in one ETF or another.

Allowable Contribution Amounts into Self Employed 401(k) Plans

Background: Was engaged as an independent contractor. Looked into the extent to which I could defer taxes by placing earnings into a retirement plan.

Action: Set up a Self Employed 401(k) Plan at a major discount broker and then set up a corresponding brokerage account. Created a model to be able to plan the maximum amounts I could defer, given various levels of earnings as an independent contractor. Invested the contributions successfully.

Monthly Mortgage Payments

Background: A friend was shopping for a condo and wanted to know the size of the monthly payment for a mortgage, given various amounts borrowed and various rates of interests over three payment periods: 30, 20 and 15 years.

Action: Wrote a simple model to display monthly mortgage payments over defined ranges of amounts borrowed and defined ranges of nominal interest rates for the three payment periods.

⊕ Competitive Intelligence Analysis

Competitive Intelligence

Background: A private high school in Queens was incurring a reduction in applications. Meanwhile, public high schools were receiving applications for special academic programs far in excess of seats available.

Action: Researched three schools years of application and enrollment history on the part of 12 high schools in northeast Queens to determine which of the special academic programs are creating the most “unmet demand.” Recommended that creation of similarly specialized academic programs might be opportunities for the private high school.

⊕ Special Programs in NYC Public High Schools

History of Special Programs at Two High Schools in Queens

Admissions Special Programs Queens High Schools

Performing Arts Special Programs

Science & Math Special Programs

Background: Developed an understanding of the Special Programs offered by public high schools in Queens in doing the competitive research for a private high school in Queens.

Action: Decided to compose stories on the subject and submit them for publication to local papers in Queens.

Wrote four stories, two of which were published.

⊕ Transportation Analysis

Proposed Vehicle Usage Test

Proposed Vehicle Log

Background: A human services agency operates a number group homes in metro New York. Many of those homes have a dedicated vehicle. In the aggregate, most of those vehicles have substantial idle time. I was asked to determine whether the agency could outsource transportation to Uber or at least develop a central dispatch function that would fulfill transportation requirements via more efficient use of fewer vehicles.

Actions: I proposed accumulate usage data on vehicle usage for a test group of ten vehicles. Set up a model in Excel to show how the usage data would be accumulated. Used mapping software to suggest possible dispatch locations. Then I proposed a form that drivers would use to permit the agency to obtain more complete data on daily vehicle usage.

⊕ Administrative Forms

All in Cost of Employees

Background: A medical practice was evaluating the hiring of part time physicians. The owner wanted to see the “all-in cost” of such hires, including expected salary, benefits and malpractice insurance. Often that all-in cost is not readily apparent because only some of the costs are in the payroll records of individual employees. Other costs are paid in the aggregate.

Action: Created a one page summary of salary and benefits at different salary levels.

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Doctrine of Completed Staff Work

Did not write this document, which dates from WW II. Have used it as a work standard for myself.

Have encouraged colleagues and subordinates to use it also.

Doyle Skills