Advanced Excel, Event Budgeting and Proposal Support

Virtual Assistant – Advanced Excel, Event Budgeting & Proposal Support
About the Position
Corporate Dimensions, LTD. (CDL) is a U.S. based meetings, events, tradeshow, and production agency. We are seeking a highly organized and detail oriented Virtual Assistant with advanced Excel skills to support our team with event budgets, vendor proposals, food and beverage menus, and client-ready documents.
This is not a basic data-entry position. The ideal candidate must be comfortable working with detailed pricing, performing complex calculations, reviewing proposals carefully, and presenting information accurately in established CDL templates.
Experience in the hospitality, meetings, events, travel, hotel, or production industries is strongly preferred.
Primary Responsibilities
Event Budgeting and Excel
• Review hotel, venue, audio visual, production, entertainment, décor, branding, transportation, and other event-related proposals.
• Extract all pricing, fees, terms, and financial details from proposals, contracts, menus, and vendor documents.
• Enter pricing into CDL’s existing Excel budget template using the correct categories and formatting.
• Build and verify formulas for quantities, unit costs, number of event days, attendance, service charges, taxes, VAT, commissions, and totals.
• Work with pricing in both U.S. dollars and international currencies, including euros, British pounds, Swedish kronor, and other currencies.
• Convert international pricing into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate provided or a current, properly documented exchange rate.
• Clearly record the currency exchange rate and date used for each conversion.
• Correctly calculate VAT, sales tax, service charges, administrative fees, gratuities, and other applicable charges.
• Understand when fees or taxes are compounded and calculate them in the correct order.
• Compare vendor proposals and prepare clear cost comparisons.
• Identify missing pricing, calculation discrepancies, unclear charges, and potential errors before information is shared with our clients.
• Maintain consistent formatting, formulas, and naming conventions throughout each budget.
• Update budgets as revised proposals and attendance numbers are received.
Menu Formatting and Client Documents
• Review hotel and venue food and beverage menus.
• Transfer menu selections and pricing into CDL’s Microsoft Word menu template.
• Follow CDL’s preferred layout, fonts, headings, spacing, colors, and formatting.
• Organize menus by event date, function, meal period, or reception.
• Include relevant pricing, service charges, taxes, dietary notes, minimums, and other important details.
• Correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and formatting inconsistencies.
• Create polished, professional, client-ready documents that require minimal revision.
• Convert final documents to PDF when requested.
Vendor Research and Sourcing
• Research qualified event vendors in cities throughout the United States and internationally.
• Source vendors for services such as audio visual, production, entertainment, décor, photography, transportation, team-building activities, event rentals, printing, fabrication, and branded experiences.
• Gather company information, capabilities, pricing, availability, reviews, and contact details.
• Prepare organized vendor comparison summaries in Excel or Word.
• Draft clear and professional requests for proposals or pricing.
• Track outreach, responses, follow-up dates, and outstanding information.
• Follow up professionally with vendors when directed.
Required Skills
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Strong command of formulas, including calculations using percentages, multiple fees, taxes, VAT, markups, and currency conversions.
• Ability to work confidently with formulas such as SUM, SUMIF/SUMIFS, IF, IFERROR, XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP, ROUND, and other relevant functions.
• Experience creating and maintaining organized workbooks with multiple worksheets.
• Ability to audit formulas and identify calculation errors.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Word, including templates, styles, tables, headers, footers, page breaks, and document formatting.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strong online research and vendor-sourcing skills.
• Ability to interpret detailed proposals, menus, contracts, and pricing documents.
• Ability to follow established templates and instructions precisely.
• Strong organizational, file-management, and time-management skills.
• Reliable internet connection and dependable computer.
• Ability to handle confidential company, client, and financial information.
Preferred Experience
• Previous experience supporting an event management, hospitality, travel, hotel, production, or destination management company.
• Experience building or updating event budgets.
• Familiarity with hotel food and beverage pricing, service charges, gratuities, administrative fees, and taxes.
• Experience working with international pricing, VAT, and foreign currency conversions.
• Experience comparing vendor proposals and preparing client-facing documents.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, and cloud-based file-sharing systems.
What Success Looks Like
The successful candidate will:
• Produce accurate budgets with dependable formulas.
• Carefully review all source documents instead of simply copying numbers.
• Recognize missing information and ask thoughtful questions.
• Catch inconsistencies before documents reach the client.
• Follow CDL templates and formatting standards consistently.
• Meet deadlines and communicate early if clarification is needed.
• Keep files, versions, calculations, and supporting documents well organized.
• Take ownership of assignments from initial review through final quality control.
Work Schedule
This is a remote position. Candidates must be available for regular communication and should be able to provide some working-hour overlap with the U.S. Eastern Time Zone. Please include your normal working hours and availability in your application.
Skills Assessment
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a paid skills assessment. The assessment may include:
• Reviewing a sample venue or hotel proposal.
• Entering pricing into an Excel budget template.
• Calculating service charges, taxes, VAT, and currency conversions.
• Checking formulas and identifying pricing discrepancies.
• Formatting a sample food and beverage menu in Microsoft Word.
• Researching and comparing several event vendors.
Accuracy, judgment, organization, formatting, and attention to detail will all be evaluated.
How to Apply
Please include the following in your application:
1. A brief introduction explaining your relevant experience.
2. Your level of proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word.
3. Details about any experience with event budgets, hotel proposals, food and beverage menus, VAT, taxes, or international currencies.
4. Your normal working hours and availability for U.S. Eastern Time overlap.
5. Your desired hourly rate or monthly salary.
6. The words “CDL Budget Specialist” at the beginning of your application so we know you read the complete job description.
We are looking for someone who is dependable, highly accurate, proactive, and interested in building a long-term working relationship with our team.