Shea Davis

Velasco Advisory specializes in working with our clients to solve complex accounting and tax problems and provide business and coaching support in the tax and accounting arenas. A unique blend of IRS, public accounting, and investment banking experience provides a perspective from all sides of the table.

Services

Providing Financial, Accounting, Tax and Business Advisory Services

Tax Support - IRS Audit and Planning

As a former IRS Agent, I can aid a company in two areas. Before an audit is initiated, I can perform an independent initial risk assessment that helps prepare for an audit, and just as importantly, look at the areas of documentation currently in place. Once a company has been notified of an audit, I can assist by running the audit on your behalf.

M&A Due Diligence

As a former member of the PwC M&A team, I can provide buy-side and sell-side due diligence support. For the buy-side support, I will review the target’s operations and tax filings (with open statutes) for potential tax risk; consider this a “pre-IRS” audit. I can then assist the financial statement review team with their modeling for net cash after taxes.

Financial Operations Support

Assist the current financial team for project work or act as a fractional / part-time CFO. Help focus on strategy, growth or operations as a function impacting finance.

Financial Modeling

I can support your organization by either creating or reviewing financial models / projections. I can prepare simple models for one-off transactions, or complex models comparing cash to financial reporting to tax reporting.

Licenses and Credentials

CPA Licensed in the State of Texas

License number available upon request.

Series 7 and 63

Formerly licensed in New York City.

Former IRS Agent

National Technical Advisor for the Managed Funds Industry. Led the national initiative and assisted IRS agents auditing hedge funds, private equity funds and real estate funds. Worked with National Office on protocol, issues and pronouncements.

Financial Products Specialist in LB&I . Part of an audit team auditing large taxpayers (greater than $10m in revenue) focusing on debt, equities, and structured transactions. Audits included taxpayers in all industries including manufacturing, transportation and alternative investment funds. Joined the task force focused on hedge funds in 2008.

Led a “Big 4” Accounting Firm Practice

Former leader of the Southwest Financial Services Office Tax practice of Ernst & Young, focusing on Asset Management. Clients included hedge funds and private equity funds and my team was a full-service tax provider from structuring, formation support, tax planning and tax return preparation.

NYC Investment Banker

Worked for Dexia, a Belgian / French bank in their NYC office. The group, Global Structured Finance, focused on tax advantaged structured finance for “big ticket” assets including railcars, airplanes and infrastructure assets. Financing structures included leverage leases, cross-border structures and special allocation partnerships. Deal sizes ranged from $94m to $850m.

Mergers and Acquisitions Tax Team at PricewaterhouseCoopers

Part of the Transaction Services team supporting both financial and strategic buyers. Performed tax due diligence as well as structuring advice on buy-side transactions.

Instructor for various subjects

Taught national training programs for PricewaterhouseCoopers

Instructor with the IRS

Panelist for Executive Training at Ernst & Young

Adjunct Professor at a Dallas area community college

Portfolio of Current and Prior Project Work

Act as the Fractional CFO for lower middle market companies. Review financial statements, analyze profitability and focus on strategy.

Collaborate with Start Up Companies through White Board Sessions at the Addison Treehouse, DEC, and Start Up Next.

For a global consulting firm, wrote a 30+ page technical report, including 15 financial models analyzing the differences between GAAP, Cash and Shadow Accounting.

Represent companies before the IRS under audit. Includes representing the clients in all meetings, collecting the data requested by the IRS, and preparing for the focused issues under audit.

Assist Private Equity, Venture and Hedge funds on formation, including formation of the various entities, hiring the service providers as appropriate per industry, and working with the attorneys on the formation documents.

Coaching and mentoring. Work with executives and executives-in-training on style, strengths, teaming and leadership.

Background

Shea Davis has over 25 years of experience as a tax, accounting and finance expert advising companies in complex situations. After completing the Professional Program of Accounting at Texas A&M University with an undergraduate degree in Accounting and a Masters in Taxation, she began her career in investment banking in New York City. The Global Structured Finance Group focused on domestic and cross-border “big ticket” leasing transactions; providing transaction support, negotiation, document review, and issue resolution for tax structured lease financing transactions.

After leaving New York City, Shea joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, TX as a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions team. She directed the due diligence process for federal and state income issues, as well as ancillary tax matters for a variety of clients. She was then promoted to Associate Director and moved into the Business Development area of PwC, overseeing Alumni Relations.

From PwC, Shea joined the Internal Revenue Service as a Financial Products Specialist, Revenue Agent. As part of the Large Mid-Sized Business (LMSB) division, she specialized in transactions specifically related to structured debt, changes to equity, and derivatives. She was then selected as the first national Technical Advisor for the Alternative Investment Industry, where she developed and led the national initiative regarding hedge funds and private equity funds. She collaborated with local counsel assisting field agents, Industry Counsel specializing in financial services, and National Office attorneys specializing in international (ICC) and financial products (FIP) issues. She also assisted field agents with technical tax positions during audits of taxpayers engaged in the financial services industry, other than banks and insurance companies. These companies include broker-dealers, hedge funds, private equity funds, REMICs, and non-bank finance companies.

In 2010, Shea joined Ernst & Young as the leader of the Southwest Financial Services Office Tax practice, focusing on Asset Management. She supported start-up alternative investment funds with structuring and filing requirements under the Dodd Frank Act and Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). She joined the Boards of, and currently serves on, the Texas Hedge Fund Association [https://texashfa.org/] and Texas Wall Street Women [http://txwsw.com/] and the Host Committee of GIBI – Great Investor’s Best Ideas [http://www.gibidallas.com/].

Prior to forming Velasco Advisory, Shea was Partner and Chief Financial Officer of an emerging private equity fund focused on growth equities in the media and technology industries, PTA Capital. On the transaction side, she sourced and evaluate potential investments; reviewed financial statements & cash flow models, evaluated return on investment potential, assessed operations, and reviewed comparable investment opportunities. On the operational side, she created and implemented internal financial controls and operations; facilitated and closed the formation documents, oversaw the SEC compliance procedures and manual finalization, and created and maintained the books and records.