Jeffrey Harpel is a Senior Finance professional with over 25 years of experience in Accounting, Finance, and Auditing in the securities brokerage industry.  Jeff possesses a comprehensive understanding of securities operations and regulations including net capital and customer reserve computations.  He is experienced in dealing with regulatory bodies, examiners and auditors.  He has a thorough command of internal controls, financial systems, and merger conversion activities.

Jeff joined Oyster Consulting in June 2009.  Prior to joining Oyster, Jeff was a Senior Vice President at Wachovia Securities (or its predecessors) where he held numerous senior finance positions.  Most recently Jeff was Director of Regulatory Accounting and Financial Compliance for the retail broker dealers of Wachovia Securities ensuring compliance with net capital, customer protection, FOCUS, and other financial rules and reporting requirements.  He also led projects to improve workflow and accuracy.  Jeff serves as Chief Financial Officer for First Clearing LLC from 1998 to 2004.

Prior to its acquisition by Wachovia, Jeff was the Controller at regional broker dealer Wheat, First Securities.  During his tenure there, he also served as the Director of Internal Audit and the Manager of Regulatory Accounting and Financial Systems.  Prior to its acquisition by Wheat, Jeff was Accounting Manager then Assistant Controller at Butcher & Singer, another regional broker dealer.

Jeff began his career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Philadelphia where he worked on varied engagements including audits of broker dealers, hospitals, non-profit organizations, and insurance and manufacturing companies.

Jeff graduated with high honors from the Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, major Accounting.
Jeff is a Certified Public Accountant and passed the FINRA Series 27, Financial and Operations Principal, exam.  Jeff currently serves as the FinOp for a number of brokerage firm clients of Oyster Consulting.