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Led Accounting Ops for High-Volume Auto Dealership – 2,000+ Transactions/Month
I ran the accounting function for a wholesale auto dealership, handling over 2,000 transactions per month across sales, inventory, and vendor accounts.
I built the workflow from scratch, cleaned up Dealertrack data, helped sync up other departments so financials could be tracked, supported team members who needed help learning proper entries, and worked beyond my title—doing controller-level work without the controller-level pay.
In the end, I advised leadership on financial red flags and recommended winding down operations. They chose not to—and filed bankruptcy shortly after.
Not every job ends in a portfolio-perfect story. But this one taught me how to lead, stay honest, and stand firm on the numbers—even when no one wants to hear them.
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
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Most dashboards fail before they are even built.
Not because of bad charts.
Not because of wrong formulas.
Because the data underneath is structurally broken.
Here’s what I see often in small businesses:
• Dates stored as text
• Multiple columns for the same metric
• Inconsistent naming (Revenue / Sales / Total Sales)
• Manual copy-paste every week
• No clear data flow
Then they ask:
“Why doesn’t this dashboard update properly?”
A dashboard is just a mirror.
If the data structure is messy, the reflection will be distorted.
Before I build any report, I focus on 3 things:
Standardized column logic
Single source of truth
Repeatable data flow (no manual dependency)
Clean structure → Reliable metrics → Better decisions.
If your reporting feels fragile, the issue usually isn’t Excel.
It’s the foundation.
Completely agree. Dashboards amplify whatever foundation they sit on — messy data → misleading clarity. Standardization and single source of truth are massively underrated.
Top myths about Excel dashboards
• Excel dashboards are only for big companies
• Excel dashboards are just charts pasted together
• Excel dashboards cannot handle large or complex data
Reality
A well built Excel dashboard can automate reporting, handle real business data and can drive actual decisions when built correctly.
This is power of excel dashboards.
I transform messy data into powerful, automated Excel dashboards and Pivot Table reports that save time and improve decision-making. From data cleaning to advanced formulas and KPI tracking, I deliver accurate, user-friendly, and business-ready solutions that help you understand your numbers instantly and grow faster.
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