The chief financial officer who’s brought big-company professionalism to Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. was honored along with four others at Wednesday’s CFO of the Year awards presented by the Business Journal and Orange County and Long Beach chapter of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Eric Brandt, who joined chipmaker Broadcom two years ago, received the Public Company Award for his work to give investors get a clearer view of company.
“We’ve had a goal to become more transparent over time,” Broadcom Chief Executive McGregor said. “Hiring Eric Brandt as our CFO has also accelerated that.”
Last year, Brandt oversaw an epic shift in the world of Broadcom,switching to standard accounting rules. The company now reports financial results only according to generally accepted accounting principles.
Early on, Broadcom stressed non-GAAP results that excluded charges for stock compensation, acquisitions and other items. Broadcom’s prior management felt non-GAAP results were a better reflection of the company’s operations.
After controversies over Broadcom’s accounting,including misdated stock options and the issuing of stock warrants to customers of companies it acquired in the late 1990s and early 2000s,Brandt’s move helped restore confidence.
He’s overseen other changes.
When Broadcom announced third-quarter results late last year, it also included a quarterly outlook, something it usually only gave during conference calls.
Another first for Broadcom came late last year with a breakout of its quarterly operating expenses, including how much it paid for research and development costs, salaries and legal fees.
“The lack of information previously had made it extremely difficult for analysts and investors to know exactly what was being reported,” said Cody Acree, an analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. in Dallas. “This helps them hugely in the fact that it removes some questions that investors had.”
Brandt, originally from Brooklyn and a chemical engineer by training, earlier served as chief financial officer of Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc. Most recently he was chief executive of Aliso Viejo-based drug maker Avanir Pharmaceuticals.
Mike Waltukaitis, longtime CFO of Irvine-based food distributor Golden State Foods, won the Private Company Award.
Golden State has yearly sales of $3 billion and is a key supplier of patties, sauces, buns and other products to McDonald’s Corp. and others.
Waltukaitis has been with the company since 1998. Before that, he worked for St. Louis-based Wetterau Inc., the family company of Golden State Chief Executive Mark Wetterau.
Wetterau Inc. owns about two-thirds of Golden State.
Waltukaitis has played a big role in acquisitions that have doubled Golden State’s sales in the past decade.
The company recently had to refinance a credit line that was coming due this year, Waltukaitis said.
“We had to go to the market” amid the credit crisis, he said.
But the refinancing ended up being oversubscribed by lenders, which Waltukaitis said was a testament to Golden State’s solid finances.
The other winners:
Rick Graniere, CFO of Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Medical Centers, which runs three hospitals in Orange County.
Graniere won the Not-for-Profit Award. During his tenure, MemorialCare’s debt rating has gone from “A-” to “A+,” where it’s been for the past three years.
Janis Paulson, CFO of Irvine-based International Education Corp., which runs career training schools.
Paulson won the Transformation Agent Award. She served at company from 2000 to 2004 and returned in 2006 to help restore it to profitability.
John Hinrichs, CFO of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award.
He has been with Farmers & Merchants for 45 years and has served under three generations of the company’s Walker family.
Hinrichs has upheld the bank’s conservative traditions, staying clear of subprime loans and the sale of loans as bonds to Wall Street,practices that have led to the demise of several banks.
