Anyone who suspects that finance typescan't rock and roll should talk to Jared Poff. The treasurer andvice president of Big Lots, a $4.9 billion closeout retailer, has aside gig playing keyboards and auxiliary percussion with theDebits, a rock and roll cover band composed of long-time friendswith whom he used to work in finance at another retailer, LimitedBrands.

Jamming on the piano is “a good release,” Poff says, from therigors of his day job, not to mention those involved in raisingfour young sons with his wife. Still, playing in the band has itsparallels to a treasurer's role. Wrong notes stand out, while trueones blend to make the group even better.

Poff has hit several sweet notes for Big Lots since joining theColumbus, Ohio-based company seven years ago. When he arrived, BigLots had debt outstanding, no share repurchase program, and cashtied up in the accounts payable line of the balance sheet.

Since Poff arrived, the company has improved on all three counts: Big Lotsnow has an unsecured multi-year revolver rather than permanentdebt; it has repurchased 45% of its outstanding shares; and it'snegotiating competitive payment terms with vendors, aided in partby a new initiative in supply chain financing that Poff spearheadedabout five years ago. Poff is also leading the process of rollingout a paycard to store employees, which should help loweradministrative costs.

Poff's push to offer supply chain financing to vendors begansoon after he joined Big Lots from Cardinal Health, with acomprehensive review of the company's supply chainfinancials.

Big Lots had a bit more cash tied up in accounts payable thanwas desirable, and management wanted to bring the company intoline with market norms. Half of Big Lots' suppliers are closeoutvendors, while the rest are repeat vendors who provide seasonaldecorations and furniture, and Poff determined that a supply chainfinancing program could help the repeat suppliers, especially thoselocated overseas that sometimes don't have ready access tocapital.

No supplier is strong-armed into using the program, but it ispart of the negotiations when it comes time to discuss paymentterms, which has helped improve Big Lots' balance sheet. And “it'sresonated very strongly with import vendors,” Poff says. “It givesthem another reason to want to do business with Big Lots.”

The program represents a small portion—about $150 million—of BigLots' $2.5 billion annual accounts payable line, but Poff says heexpects that share to grow as vendors realize the benefits.

Another initiative Poff is leading is the replacement of paperpaychecks with Visa debit cards, to lower the administrative costsof the overnight mailing of checks to a “sizable” subset of BigLots' 40,000 employees, working in 1,405 stores in 48 states, whohave opted out of direct deposit.

“We just want it to be electronic, so we can get out of thepaper check business,” Poff says. He expects to start realizing thebenefits, starting with lower mailing costs, soon after the projectis completed this summer.

Asked what he likes best about his job, Poff says he appreciatesthat Big Lots is a “very lean” organization, which allows him tohave a “significant amount of responsibility and exposure. It'schallenging, but rewarding.”

Just like jamming in the band.

See Treasury & Risk's complete 2011 list of the100 Most Influential People in Finance here.