1. September 16, 2016
To Whom It May Concern:
I’m writing to highly recommend Nicholas Collins as a very capable accounting professional.
I had the privilege of working closely with Nicholas for almost 3 years here at ComAv. Nicholas
served as our assistant controller during a challenging period of rapid change. Nicholas had
many responsibilities, including:
1. Doing almost all of the day to day accounting for 3 companies with a combined $35
million in revenue
2. Producing monthly financial statements, including primary responsibility for all the
month end journal entries and closing process
3. Producing detailed weekly borrowing reports for our lender
4. Producing many internal reports and metrics to assist management in running the
business
5. Working with outside auditors and bank examiners to successfully pass audits and
exams
6. Providing responses to many of the very extensive due diligence requests we received
as part of a new bank financing
7. Helping implement a new ERP system and train all the other employees on how to use it
Nicholas performed those responsibilities very well under some challenging circumstances,
including: 1) Nicholas was hired to replace an employee that was terminated for
embezzlement, so Nicholas didn’t get the chance to be trained by his predecessor; 2) Our
controller was on the verge of retirement and unfamiliar with our computer systems so
Nicholas had to do all of the entries in the computer system himself; and 3) We were
implementing a new ERP system that Nicholas both had to learn and teach to everyone else.
During the three years we worked together Nicholas demonstrated many notable qualities,
including:
1. A very strong work ethic and great attendance: Nicholas is an extremely hard worker who
routinely worked long hours in order to accomplish his many responsibilities.
2. Great attention to detail and pride in getting things right: Nicholas is one of those
employees who takes great pride in his work and is committed to continuing to work at a
task until he gets it perfect. He routinely kept working at tasks until he had them perfect,
and whenever I gave him feedback on ways he could improve the way he was doing a
particular responsibility, he always took that feedback to heart.

2. 3. Ability to learn new computer and accounting systems, as well as new accounting skills: As
noted above, Nicholas played a key role in helping us implement a new ERP system. He
showed a strong ability to learn new skills and new computer systems; this allowed him to
significantly increase the efficiency with which he was able to complete his responsibilities
over time. By the time Nicholas left he was completing many of his assigned tasks in half
the time (or less) that those same tasks had required during his first year at the company
4. Ability to relate to and work well with a wide variety of personalities: In our company we
had employees with a wide variety of backgrounds, education, and personalities, and
Nicholas did a good job relating to them all. He often went above and beyond the call of
duty to help other employees, including things like giving one employee a ride to and from
work almost every day for several weeks when that employee’s car broke down.
Nicholas was able to win the confidence and trust of a wide variety of people in the
organization, and that was a critical skill that helped him be successful.
The list above is certainly not an exhaustive list of the many qualities Nicholas demonstrated
during his time here, but I hope it gives you a picture of what an outstanding employee he was.
Perhaps the best thing I can say about Nicholas is while I was very pleased for him when he
resigned to take a promotion from another company, I was definitely disappointed for myself
and for our organization because I knew losing him would leave a big hole in our company. I
was very sad to see Nicholas go.
Best Regards,
Jonathan Day