CFO THOUGHT LEADER

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When you entered the CFO office for the first time at Unity Technologies, what’s the one piece of advice you wish someone had given you? Foley: We started this conversation talking about the organization that I inherited and how I've had to change that. I would've put much more emphasis earlier on systems capabilities of the company. Being a first time CFO, I came in with an observation. We need a planning team. We need a controller. We need to build that team. A year and a half into doing that, the constraint wasn't the capabilities of the team. It doesn't matter how good they are. If you don't have the systems to support them, they can't do their job. And so, I would've parallel tracked that. I would have, maybe not hired a CIO straight off the bat, but I would've hired a great director of IT and systems that understands, you know, as I said before, a great modern architecture should be, and driven that really hard and early while building the finance capabilities, so that we'd be at a point today where all of that's on place, and it's not. So, you know, look hard at systems early, get advice, get expertise on where you really are. It took me too long to understand the hole we were digging ourselves at off in a systems perspective, and it does take a long time to get out of that hole. So, look at that early, look at that day one while you're looking at all the other functions, it's just as important.

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A distinguished finance leader answers our question: When you entered the CFO office for the first time, what’s the one piece of advice you wish someone had given you? Dickerson: As far as leadership goes, I keep coming back to self-awareness. Where are you going to add value in the organization and where are you not? Build around those to balance out the competencies you need in your group to be successful. The thought here is that weaknesses are not necessarily a bad thing, and the biggest strength is understanding what they are and building the right competencies and the right attributes around yourself so that you have the right balance around your team to be successful overall. I also think that patience is very important. Patience to learn and develop. Put the time and energy into developing your skillset so that when you do become a CFO, you’re ready for it. Too often today, I think, people want to jump that learning curve a little bit, and they are very focused on taking on as much responsibility as possible. I’ve seen too many examples of people who have moved up the learning curve too quickly, and they didn’t appreciate the time required to develop and learn.”

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A distinguished finance leader answers our question: When you entered the CFO office for the first time, what’s the one piece of advice you wish someone had given you? Learn More http://www.cfothoughtleader.com/cfopodcasts/category/cfopodcasts/ Bender: “I think the one thing that I would like to have done that I didn’t in my career is, I wish I had taken the time at some point a little earlier in my career to get an MBA. I’d like to consider myself a recovering CPA, recovering accountant. The numbers are important, but use them, don’t let them use you. I think that over the years, something that has made me more successful is that I worked for a family that has allowed and encouraged me to be involved in my profession and my industry. I made this comment earlier. “Therefore, I have been around as a member and in some cases in leadership roles in both professional and industry organizations, and I have met incredibly gifted, talented, bright, just nice people who share. I know, as you know, that in writing an article, plagiarism is a no-no, and it gets you in trouble. But the truth of the matter is that there just aren’t that many new ideas that crop up every year. If you’re around a lot of people who do a lot of different things, you learn from them. It goes back to that we live in an age when it seems like all we talk about is technical advance after technical advance. I would propose to you today that social capital is every bit as important today as it was in 1954 or 1914. I think that this is the root of many of my successes¾that I have been allowed to be around others who have shared with me, and our companies have occasionally reaped large benefits because of that.”

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Join us when Steve Love, CFO, Dialpad and performance thought leader Brett Knowles, reveal how RPA is reshaping corporate functions while making finance’s analytical rigor more accessible across the organization. Growing numbers of CFOs are already marching in step with the robots as they evaluate and automate the processes that will allow their team to refocus on becoming exceptional analysts and strategic advisors, rather than yesterday’s bean counters.

Over the next decade Vincent Manier believes growing numbers of finance leaders will adopt the dictums of "green finance" extending the influence of finance leadership well beyond its traditional role. Simply put, green finance characterizes the financing of investments that generate environmental benefits as part of the broader strategy to advance resilient and sustainable development. As CFO of Ecova, an energy and sustainability solutions company, Manier, perhaps has more reason to be bullish on the opportunity than many of his peers - still there's no dismissing the momentum behind the green finance movement. Join us when Vincent Manier recounts the milestones of his finance career and discusses the opportunity that has made him a champion of customer-centric finance.

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As the complexity behind the new revenue recognition standard ASC 606 discharges a cloud of angst and consternation over many accounting departments, a growing number of SaaS technology firms have begun to help their customers address the burdensome standard allowing their finance teams to sharpen their customer focus. Few SaaS firms perhaps tout software offerings more enmeshed with the standard’s requirements than Xactly, the San Jose, Calif. software developer specializing in sales performance and incentive compensation. Join us when we ask Xactly CFO Joe Consul to recount how the developer recognized that the burdensome standard was an opportunity to better serve its clients.

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Join us when Barry Zwarenstein, CFO, Five9, explains why the SaaS model’s unyielding data engine is empowering finance professionals to advance beyond their traditional realm.

Marc Elliot, CFO, Corrigan Moving Systems Alan Haughey CFO ServiceMaster Dave Cone CFO, Taylor Morrison Peter Kiviakidis, CFO, Squarespace Rick Phegley CFO, Smart & Final

Join Larry Begley, CFO at CloudHealth Technologies and Albert Pang, President of Apps Run The World, when they explore the hype, business benefits and future of the application of Cloud technologies. As digital transformation pressures are redrawing the map of the business world, finance executives are embracing the latest Cloud technologies to help make these strategic initiatives a reality. Fasten your seatbelts as we explore some of the most innovative use cases of Cloud applications that could impact your bottom line as much as the future of financial management. Visit CFO THought Leader's Continuous Accounting Resource Center

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The Startup CFO: The Builder's Journey

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Steve Love, CFO, Dialpad

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Having been a software entrepreneur, technology investor and restructuring advisor, Steffen Parratt says his divergent career has long been fueled by technology transformation, a pairing that would ultimately lead him to the CFO office of KCG Holdings, Inc. , a financial services firm specializing in market making and high frequency trading. Join us when Steffen charts his path from engineering PHD to restructuring agent to finance leader, and shares his technology-driven vision for the future of finance.

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As a CFO, Ken Østreng has been highly visible across his Nordic-based firm’s multinational operations. Whether he was identifying international acquisition targets or new incentives to help drive sales, he became one of Confirmit’s “go-to” leaders, and in the minds of management the natural successor to Confirmit’s CEO Henning Hansen. And, so when Henning recently announced he would this spring be ending his 12-year-tenure as Confimit’s CEO, there was little surprise when it was announced that Østreng would be garnering the top spot.

It was ten years ago when Larry Begley last exited the CFO office to dedicate his days to building an early stage venture capital firm. After four tours of duty as a finance leader for different entities, the finance leader's future career aspirations would be more than satisfied by building a successful VC firm. Or would they? Join us when Larry Begley a serial operations executive, venture capitalist, board member and CFO explains the unique challenges and market opportunities that led him to enter the CFO office of CloudHealth Technologies.

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Join us when we highlight the CEO CFO teamwork that punctuates the growth of three successful midsized firms. Atrion: Tim Hebert, CEO, Marianne Caserta, CFO Xactly Corporation: Christopher Cabrera, CEO, Joe Consul, CFO iManage Neil Araujo, CEO Ray Scheppach, CFO

We speak with Sean Moynihan, Principal with Avison Young in Atlanta

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