Count Me In®

Contact Dawn Emling: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-emling-a04b361a/
Contact Tjeerd Krumpleman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjeerdkrumpelman/
Contact Shari Littan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shari-littan-58bb40114/

IMA's Statement of Position on Sustainable Business Information and Management: https://www.imanet.org/insights-and-trends

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:04)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host, Adam Larson, and I'm here to introduce you to our panel of speakers who joined our podcast to talk about sustainable business and sustainable business information. Shari Littan, IMA's Director of Corporate Reporting Research and Thought Leadership moderated the discussion between Dawn Emling and Tjeerd Krumpelman. Dawn is the head of sustainability initiatives for Lincoln Financial Group. And Tjeerd is the global head of advisory reporting and engagement as well as group sustainability at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Together, the three of them discuss the purpose and value of sustainable business activities, the impact of reporting and how to overcome potential challenges relating to technology and streamlining processes relating to sustainable business. Keep listening as we head over to the conversation now.
 
 Shari: (01:05)
 So many of the professionals who now find themselves working in the area of sustainable business came from other backgrounds, other disciplines. The younger professionals, yes, they are finding a way to this area directly from their education. And they can go directly into sustainable business or corporate responsibility teams or whatever companies are calling it. But for the rest of us, we all came from somewhere else because the field is essentially emerging and new. So I'm gonna ask Dawn and than Tjeerd to let us know, where did you come from before you got involved in sustainability? What's your basic background? 
 
 Dawn: (01:51)
 Yeah. Thanks Sherry. I agree with you that most people now are coming from different disciplines. I actually started out in the U.S. government and state department doing human rights work, that also included, a number of, kind of nonprofit roles. And then I was an early practitioner with Credit Suisse, in Asia and then EMIA on sustainability, the first sustainability kind of head for each of those regions so setting that up and then fast forward, I worked at Thompson Reuters on sustainability of global sustainability. And then eventually now I am with Lincoln Financial heading up their, sustainability initiatives. So yeah, kind of a long and windy road here. 
 
 Tjeerd: (02:40)
 Yeah. And for, for me, it's been, it's been a little less windy, because I have always worked in banking. But I worked in the private bank first with clients and then in our investment bank and our retail bank, but always with clients and always on the more commercial side of the bank. And in my recollection, I think sustainability in some sort of, some form has always been part of our conversations with clients, but, but it was like eight years ago when I moved into the group sustainability or group strategy and sustainability team, for the first time that it became, let's say a regular job. And back in that day, or in that time, it wasn't considered a promotion, right. It wasn't considered to be very fancy to move from the commercial side of the bank in a managerial role to a, let's say a cost center like sustainability. So it has evolved a over the years, to becoming quite a popular destination, for people to work, nice place to work with lots of applicants whenever we have a role available. That's interesting to see, but yeah, I came from the commercial side of the bank. 
 
 Shari: (03:53)
 So that's quite a bit of difference: diversity in both of your backgrounds and how you both come and arrive in almost similar roles. So I think that says a lot about the type of work and the almost entrepreneurial mindset of many of the people that you've found or have found in the sustainable business arena. Now, one thing that we are hearing over and over again is that much of the work behind the company inside the company, let me say, internally is crossdisciplinary - that there are people coming from different parts of an organization to work together on sustainable business matters. However, when the finance and accounting function get involved and they bring their skillset, it creates set of capabilities and skills to the work that's going on. And it's incredibly valuable. So if I can hear from both of you, what your experiences are in engaging the-- we'll call them management accountants or accounting and finance function members. 
 
 Tjeerd: (05:10)
 Happy to start to kick this one off. I mean, we need everybody in the sustainability space, right? So we need, so I'm in banking and we need everybody across the bank in all different types to step up from their own skillset. So to embed sustainability into their day to day role. So, facility management takes responsibility for the sustainability of our buildings, right? So, and of the workplace, HR needs to think of travel policies, Risk needs to think of sustainability, embedding into risk policies. And where does controlling and accounting, come into place in measuring, in reporting in disclosing all sustainability. That's where we need the talent and the skill sets of financial professionals and accountants and management accountants. And I think they are relatively late to the party, but they are most welcome. And we need them there in the reporting space, in the disclosure space, in, getting the right quality of data, getting this into the dashboarding, into the steering of companies. That's where we need management accounting. But actually I think we need everybody so I can think of, I can think of a role for IT. I can think of a role for HR, for risk finance, strategy people. We need all of them. And in that sense, we definitely need management accountants as well. 
 
 Dawn: (06:37)
 I would a hundred percent underscore that this is an enterprise-wide effort. We group our kind of work into 16 or 17 business lines and the E, the S, and the G cross, many of them across all of them. I would also just add that we've seen, this is a very evolving landscape. So in the last six to 12 months, for example, we are now focusing on, or we're being, you know, asked to focus on, or we're being pressured to focus on kind of new areas that we didn't six to 12 months ago. And I'll bring out, you know, human capital development, human capital management. During COVID, it was kind of a brand new issue for us to look at under the ESG umbrella or rubric. There's been a lot of focus on strategy in the last 12 to 18 months with TCFD pushing on strategy and governance. So because it's such an evolving space, you really do need senior management across the business units, and that helps you with, in my opinion, it helps you getting acceptance, across the enterprise. If senior management in every line of business is pushing this, then you, you can get enterprise-wide acceptance. You can stay ahead of the evolution because you can say, "Hey, Human Resources, I'm coming to you about this human capital management issue that we're saying, oh, yeah, we've heard about this". And then you keep the momentum going. So I completely agree that all business lines are necessary and we don't...

Wes Saber, CFO for HARIBO of America, joins Count Me In to talk about the popular topic of business transformation. Wes has been an international leader in innovative management philosophy and business development for more than 22 years. His expertise in developing global enterprises has led him to his current role as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for HARIBO of America, producer of the #1 gummi in the U.S. He spearheaded the development of the $242M investment to build HARIBO’s first-ever U.S. factory, projected to create hundreds of career opportunities in the first phase build-out. In this episode, Wes talks about why business transformation is such a popular topic, his experience with transformations and the specific role(s) the finance team played, and how finance leaders can manage change and promote teamwork and adaptability. Download and listen now!

About Wes Saber: https://www.haribo.com/en-us/about-us/meet-our-board/wes-saber

About HARIBO:

• https://www.haribo.com/en-us
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/haribo-of-america-inc-
• https://www.instagram.com/haribousa/?hl=en

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. Here with you again, as your host, Adam Larson, as I kick off episode 157 of our series, Count Me In has shared a number of conversations relating to business transformation, but today's featured guest speaker shares a unique perspective on the topic Wes Saber, CFO of HARIBO of America joined us to talk about how the finance function and finance leaders serve as best copilots for any business transformation journey. Wes is a great leader who constantly encourages his staff as he promotes change and transformation. So keep listening to hear more as we head over the conversation now.
 
Mitch: (00:54)
We have heard a lot about business transformation, particularly in finance and accounting. So to kick off our conversation today from your perspective and through your experiences, really my first question is why? Why is this such an important topic for our listeners?
 
Wes: (01:09)
Thank you very much for having me today. Business transformation is the constant, in the current business world. Business transformation is important to keep the business relevant, the strategy of the business agile and us as professional, very relevant in terms of competency and business acumen as we go. Business transformation is a journey that has different milestone as we grow as a business and as professional, it's very important to be able to adapt change. What makes finance and accounting professionals and overall business professionals successful in their career is the world resilience and business resilience. And us being as professionals, resilience is being demonstrated during business transformation in a form of a project in a form of system change, even culture evolution as well. So there is so many transformation that happens around us. Sometimes we're directly in the middle of it as professional as finance and accounting professional. And sometimes we are in the co-pilot seats and sometimes we're impacted with it. So it's very important to understand where we sit as professional in terms of the business transformation.
 
Mitch: (02:28)
Well, thank you for that. Very good perspective to kick things off. And I want to go in a little bit more about your personal experiences and, you know, your company HARIBO is a 100 year old private company. Now there's been a lot of innovation and modernization since inception. So as an established company, how have you been able to manage such a digital transition over this time?
 
Wes: (02:51)
So, I'm proud to be working me and my colleagues in a company that's privately owned and celebrate a hundred years, December, 2020. And, as we are proud of the values we live and the company, we are, very proud of the projects and the success that we achieve every year. In HARIBO of America, we started a growth journey, starting 2015 and we're embarking in building our brand and our business capability and manufacturing facility and our organization and culture. We are predominantly a European company, that adds most and the majority of the business in Europe, but the North America business is, taking off, starting 2015. So it's kind of like a startup in our hundred years old company and looking into the future, especially after what happens in 2020 with the pandemic. It's important to look at that as a challenge. However, it's more critical to look at that as an opportunity and prepare ourselves, for the future to be able to compete. digitization of business, there can be an aspect of, simply handling data to all the way to producing a product. We are, embarking on, opening our, new first North America manufacturing facility next year in 2022. And, we are talking these days about industry 4.0. Remote guided vehicles, robotics, big data, troubleshootings and to be able to actually utilize our scale and be efficient and get the best quality of our products to consumer. And as a professional and different functions, including manufacturing, engineering, sales, and finance and accounting, everybody plays role in getting that achieved. Sometimes in the most famous example of, digitization in, the finance and accounting world is the ERP implementation or the system that integrate the entire business, from end, to end. And that would include typically the costing that we have, the inventory that we look at, the analysis, the management accounting, the financial accounting, the reporting, the consolidation, of course, we all know about this, but what's changing in the digitization is how do we use PI? What tools we have in the world? What's relevant to our industry and what's relevant to our function? And how is that gonna help the company and educate from now to be competitive and continue to achieve on strategy? So digitization is no longer just, an element of the future, but actually absolutely is, how business is being done today. And it develops, and it develops in a high speed.
 
Mitch: (05:51)
Now you just mentioned, the function specifically, right? How it's impacting the industry, and then it funnels into the individual function. So accounting and finance, how did the finance function specifically play a role in some of the transformation projects that you've been a part of so far? And what would you say are some of the top enablers when it comes to the finance function, going through business transformation, digital transformation, and along those lines?
 
Wes: (06:18)
Absolutely. So everything starts from the strategy of the business and where the business is heading, and everybody plays a role in that, especially finance and accounting and finance and accounting always have two hats in the business, a custodian hat and a co-pilot hat, looking at the business, from a custodianship standpoint, looking at the digitization or the systems or the strategy being a custodian means finance and accounting plays such a critical role in keeping the business in, strong governance environment, understanding risk management. What will we face, during our, growth revenue invoicing, risk management to the plan we set to ourself allocating resources on budget to certain initiatives...

Dr. Sean Stein Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sean-stein-smith-dba-cpa-63307444/

President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Releases Report and Recommendations on Stablecoins: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0454

Stablecoins Might Be On The Hot Seat, But Are Integral For Crypto Innovation: https://www.forbes.com/sites/seansteinsmith/2021/11/29/stablecoins-might-be-on-the-hot-seat-but-are-integral-for-crypto-innovation/?sh=6628d556674d

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:04)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Adam Larson, and for episode 156, we welcome back Dr. Sean Stein Smith. With the constant evolution and advancements around crypto. Sean joins count me in again to talk about various reports and newsworthy information relating to stablecoins and digital assets. From standards on cryptocurrency to NFTs and decentralized finance. You'll want to keep listening to learn about what it all means and hear some of the potential future implications. Let's head over the conversation now.
 
 Mitch: (00:48)
 So Sean, you've joined us for a few episodes now and in previous conversations you've discussed blockchain. Lastly, we talked about accounting standards for cryptocurrencies. Now there have been more advancements and additional considerations around crypto assets. I'd first like to get your thoughts on the report and the recommendations on stablecoins from the president's working group on financial markets. I know that came out a few weeks ago now, early November. I was just wondering if you can kind of summarize what was included in that report and why it is so important as an update.
 
 Sean: (01:21)
 Absolutely Mitch. And I'm always happy to be on here talking with you blockchain, crypto asset updates, because it really is one: a hot topic and two: an area that is increasingly of importance for everybody working in accounting, finance, economic roles, whether in industry management or elsewhere. So, so in terms of sort of the highlights and the core points in the president's working group report there really what I would say is that honestly, on the one hand, I would say that the involved actors, right, be it, the OCC, FDIC, private sector corporations had done a pretty good job at outlining the, the base case and the fundamentals for how a stablecoin operates. Right. But on the other hand, they were, I believe a bit overt or unbalanced in terms of how they analyzed the whole stablecoin ecosystem, right. In terms of the pros and the cons. And especially in terms of the, risks, right, that having a actual stablecoin based payment network actually get, get to that level of being used at a commercial level by either corporations or by whole nation states. But, overall, probably the top two or three points there is that one they've, they've done a good job at researching and trying to pull out sort of who the, big players are out there. And there honestly really only are a handful of them and the, and the bulk of the transactions happening in any stablecoin outlook now are handled by a, by a handful of organizations and the bulk of those, transactions are also happen with coins backed on the one-to-one basis at the US dollar. And then two, sort of they also did a good job, I believe at outlining sort of the pros and cons, obviously more on the cons side, but, but a pretty good job at outlining the pros and cons of having a stablecoin based payment network versus the current Fiat based network. And then three. And, and here's where I think there's the most promise, but also the highest risk. On the one hand, they also outlined and by they, I mean, the members of the working group, outlined really what, what, factors and components any organizations trying to use a stablecoin payment network would have to take into account meaning who the counterparties are, who has the insurance, and then how are these platforms and these connections between these different involved organizations able to be secure. And then ultimately the end result of all of that of that conversation and I believe the actual report was about 28 pages. The end result kind of mirrors the policy paper put out by Coinbase back on October. And, and in both of those white papers, both of which were between 15, and 30 pages long. So they aren't massive documents, but the end goal or the end call to action on both documents, which I find quite interesting is this call for a new crypto specific, regulator that, that, that has powers or is imbued with powers by, by Congress to directly oversee all aspects of the, crypto asset space. So overall probably I would give it like a "B Minus" in terms of the output. Cause on the one hand, the working group did a good job at outline the issues, outlining terminology, characteristics, and traits, and, highlighting some of the core issues out there. But they were, I believe a bit unbalanced in their outlook in terms of the pros and the cons.
 
 Mitch: (05:31)
 It's so funny, you bring that up because I read through the paper and as we got towards the end, you know, particularly when they summarized everything at the end, there's a statement that they gave, it says while the scope of this report is limited to stablecoins, work on digital assets and other innovations related to cryptographic and distributed ledger technology is ongoing throughout the administration. So it sounds like they are aware that they did not cover everything that they needed to necessarily, or maybe something else is in the works. You know, that's kinda where I was going with my next question. Other innovations in this space, can you take a guess at what they might be referring to?
 
 Sean: (06:11)
 I mean, man, if I had access to that data, I mean, I'd be on a beach somewhere, which, but probably if I had to hazard a guess, I would say that the top two areas, and obviously there have been quite, public comments out of the SEC and the IRS in terms of their really uptick in compliance efforts, collection efforts, enforcement efforts. So I would say that probably one output or outcome that I am sort of eyeing to happen during 2022 is that there is going to be out of some agency don't know which one yet. I would say probably the SEC there is going to be some sort of, framework or guideline to help companies get a better handle on which type of crypto asset falls into which, financial instrument bucket. And by that, I actually mean if I'm issuing a token or a coin, is that gonna be treated as a, equity, security, commodity or some other form of instrument? So I say on the one hand, that's probably an area, that they are trying to work on and by they, if the White House Congress and the various, oversight agencies, and then two, what I would say is that currently I'm hearing quite a bit of, chatter about NFTs, but I haven't hearing quite a bit about NFTs because even though now the conversation around NFTs is, you know, kind of focused on like the Board Ape NFTs and you know, Beeple in March of this year. And it's more athlete and artist and artwork focused the implications for this new type of crypto asset nonfunctional token, or, NFT are actually quite broad. So I would not be surprised at all if, you know, going forward NFTs are an area that the White House and policy makers and regulators try to really get a handle on, right. Because they because on the one hand, Bitcoin ...

Jennifer Wolfenbarger, CMA, Vice President of Finance at Owens Corning, joins Count Me In to talk about business transformation. Business transformation is a term we often hear in finance and accounting, but there are numerous perspectives on the topic. Jennifer is a success driven, high impact and commercially astute executive that has a history of driving value creation, excelling in dynamic, fast paced and demanding environments and one who has a passion for driving continuous improvement. So, in this episode, she discusses her view on transformation, the finance function's role, various benchmarks to consider, and the value of change management. Download and listen now!

Contact Jennifer Wolfenbarger, CMA: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-wolfenbarger-cma-5534ab1/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Mitch Roshong. And today you will be listening to episode 155 of our series. The speaker on today's podcast is Jennifer Wolfenbarger. Jennifer is the vice president of finance at Owens Corning. She is a success driven, high impact and commercially astute executive that has a history of driving value creation, excelling in dynamic, fast paced and demanding environments, and one who has a passion for driving continuous improvement. So it is only appropriate that her focus for today's episode is on business transformation. Specifically, Jennifer addresses the role the finance function plays in enabling transformation and the need for effective change management. Keep listening to hear more as we jump over to the conversation now.

Adam: (01:05)
So today we're talking about business transformation and it's a term we're hearing a lot in finance and accounting and to get started. I just wanted to take, get your take on why is it so important now, especially?

Jennifer: (01:16)
Yeah, I think, is a great question and, you know, no matter what industry you operate in and I've, I've had the opportunity to operate in, you know, heavy equipment, building construction products, automotive med tech, and now, and building construction products. And no matter what industry you operate in, it's likely competitive. And the question is how do you differentiate yourself financially from your competitors? And what I've found over the course of my experiences at margin expansion is super, super critical. And business transformation is a key enabler to, to margin expansion, process improvement, like LEAN have been around for decades and typically drive incremental gains, which is important, but transformation is really key to moving the needle on margin expansion significantly to the point where, you know, you're, you're looking at revaluing, potentially the, the value of your company, business transformation is also critical to, you know, to a business culture, to be readily adaptable, to capitalize on opportunities to improve, whether it be through business growth or cost transformation, supply chain, transformation, et cetera, you know, having a culture of business transformation where it's, it's feels as natural as it possibly can is a game changer for a company and really a differentiator.

Adam: (02:46)
So when we're looking at the finance function specifically, they're going to play a role in completing the, that transformation. So how does the finance function play a role and then what are some of its top enablers?

Jennifer: (02:57)
Sure, sure. You know, I see the finance function playing a number of key roles and oftentimes may not even feel like they're really finance roles, not only in just completing the transformation, but also really kind of, even before you, you set the set, forward on, on, transformation itself, a key key role. They play finance plays is an identifying opportunities for transformation. And, you know, no matter from my experience, no matter where you are in, in terms of organizational capability and so forth, there are always opportunities. And sometimes prioritizing those opportunities is, is half is, is a battle in and of itself. So that's where finance plays a unique role in identifying and also helping prioritize what are what's going to make, you know, give us the biggest bang for our buck, the biggest return on investment, and be key to really moving the needle from an enterprise perspective. Then once the transformation opportunities identified, finance plays another key role in establishing governments, governance structures around how we measure progress, how we stay on track, how we stay on scope, through our goals, scope creep is, is, is quite common, particularly in transformation initiatives. And so it's important that we stay, that we have guard rails and governance systems to keep us on track. And these structures may not necessarily be financial. Oftentimes they're not financial guardrails, many times they could be operational or timeline-based, what have you, but finance plays a huge role in, in establishing governance structures. These, these structures are really critical in terms of ensuring how, how we hold, the necessary and applicable leaders that are driving the transformation, how we hold them accountable and also highlight early and often where we might need to course correct, which is, which is super important to enabling the success of a transformation. Some of the top enablers for completing transformation. I would say data can't be underscored data often plays a big role in, something that I'll likely talk about as we get into the podcasts a little further, but change management is super important in any transformation. And oftentimes that really what that means is influencing. And, it might mean getting, getting key stakeholders on board, but this is not only what we need to do, but how we need to do it from a transformation perspective. And then I'd say, lastly, enterprise focus is a key enabler. This isn't about hitting an isolated goal. When we're talking about transformation, this is about really shifting the needle on our enterprise performance. And I mentioned change management that is so easily overlooked in, in transformation. And what I've found from my experience, you need to ensure that you properly invest in train change management, because what you're going to find is that no matter how much data you put out there and how convincing it is that we need to take action. And, and this is how we need to take action, not everyone in the business is going to be on board. And that could be day one day, two days, day 30. So it's important that we go through that we take the time to invest in, in change management and ensure that we have everyone that's involved in the transformation marching in the same direction.

Adam: (06:47)
Of course. So it's like you're steering a massive ship and you gotta make sure everybody's doing all their parts to get where you're going in a sense. Right,

Jennifer: (06:56)
Exactly. Exactly. I was just going to add to that, you know, I think, you know, choosing the folks, the team members that are part of the transformation are super important. You kind of touched on that a little bit, made me think of that, about this is that diversity in terms of an address diversity in terms of gender ethnicity, it's diversity of thought is super important as we, you know, we think about who we want on, the, the, the stakeholder, the leadership team of the transformation is super important, so that we do challenge one another. And, and where that change management plays a big role, as we all agree that this is the goal that we have in mind and how we get there might vary along the way as we kind of challenge one another. I think that's, that's super important too.

Adam...

Contact Michael Burdick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldburdick/

Visit Paro: https://paro.io/

Blog Posts from Paro:

1. https://paro.io/blog/modern-finance-department-functions-roles-approaches-evolving/
2. https://paro.io/blog/democratization-of-professional-talent-transforming-how-we-work/
3. https://paro.io/blog/save-costs-through-freelance-talent/
4. https://paro.io/blog/expert-success-story-cfo-marine-journey/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Adam Larson, and I'm pleased to introduce Paro's CFO and Chief Strategy Officer, Michael Burdick, Michael founded his company with the goal of reimagining the finance and accounting industry via the freelance economy. In this episode, he talks with Mitch about how the future of finance really comes down to the freedom of choice and the ability to quickly solve problems for the business. Keep listening to learn more about on-demand fractional talent and the future of work,
 
 Mitch: (00:45)
 The future of work, or more specifically for our listeners, you know, the future of finance. It's talked about a lot when it comes to what the profession needs to know. And I think as we were kind of just discussing it, it's been a popular topic, but obviously much has changed in the last year or so since the future of work really came to light. So I'm curious from your perspective, why is it talked about so much? How do you define the future of finance, the future of work, you know, and what does it really mean to you?
 
 Michael: (01:17)
 Sure. Well, first off, thanks for having me. And I'm excited to dig in on this question and related topics in terms of the future of work. I think taking a step back, we need to discuss, you know, the, the changes that COVID had on worker preferences and how we all approach work in general. It was COVID was a giant mass social experiment in remote work. We're all forced to do it. And, and being forced to work remotely, all business professionals for the first time realized how mobile they can be. I think that's an important thing to call out here because prior to COVID, pre pandemic, people wanted to express that choice and have that flexibility and work on their own terms, but didn't necessarily have the platform or the burning platform really for that change specifically to occur. And now what we're seeing is a big shift in how worker preferences are popping up and specifically that people want to work remotely. You can't put that genie back in the bottle, business professionals want to work on their own terms. You know, you see all these big public battles going on at, major tech companies, even PWC announcing that, you know, I don't know something like a hundred thousand of their workers will be permanently remote. And the thing is in the future of work, it's all about that choice and flexibility that people want, and aligning that with what company's demands are. So that's a little bit of context and backstory, but I think this is really a major change, a major period of change, specifically as it relates to how financial institutions, accounting firms, enterprises approach work in general. And I think it's, foundational in a few different regards, specifically, allowing people to exercise that choice in an industry that was previously very hesitant to adopt. you know, we're talking about a pretty risk averse industry in general, so pretty hesitant to adopt futuristic approaches and demands that are being forced on finance departments are multifaceted and what's valued is flexibility and agility, which by the way, the future of work does offer. So I don't know, I think this is just a major period for change. You know, what the context being that COVID accelerated a lot of that change.
 
 Mitch: (03:43)
 Yeah, that's exactly it. And I think we did a lot of research on the future of work, and this is going back, like you said, pre pandemic, and a lot of the ideas were quickly put into place, right? So the idea of future of finance, future of work, it's evolving just as fast as, you know, what we're seeing underneath our feet. So, you know, taking this a step further, where else can this really go in your opinion? You know, the future of work is, is now essentially. So what differentiates the current state of finance from what the new future of finance may look like?
 
 Michael: (04:18)
 Current state from new future of finance? Well, let's take a step back. I think it's important to define future of work a little bit more and unpack that if it's okay, because that's a, that's a very big, bold statement that can mean multiple different things. Future of work can encompass the technology and tools that are necessary for working remotely. For example, it can also refer specifically to worker automation, right? Machine learning. It can also refer to how people work specifically for Paro and how we're looking at worker preference changes is related to the freelance economy. So I did want to highlight that for us future work and freelance economy, we sort of use those interchangeably because there are additional forces at play here. that dictate what the future of work is going to look like. But specifically for us, we're, we're looking at the freelance economy.
 
 Mitch: (05:18)
 I appreciate you sharing that context because it does, you know, there are different interpretations, different definitions and, you know, to speak to the freelance economy, as you said, that's actually the first time I've heard something like that. So I think now getting your perspective on, you know, kind of, like I said, what do you anticipate becoming more prevalent in this freelance economy? I would say, freelance was something that was futuristic almost for the accounting profession, not too long ago. And now you're saying it's, it's pretty much, you know, a part of your company. so what do you see becoming more prevalent and, you know, how do you kind of differentiate the current state from your definition of the future of work?
 
 Michael: (06:01)
 Yeah, so I think there are three key things that are gaining momentum very quickly, specifically as it relates to the future of work and freelance economy. One is on-demand expertise. If you really think about what a firm model or a job or working at a large company entails pretty much requires the worker to morph and change into. It's almost like a fitting around peg into a square hole. The worker has t...

Email:  heatherp@heatherpsolutions.com

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherpolivka/

Design your hybrid/remote work experience:  https://www.heatherpsolutions.com/

Train your new/first-time managers to lead hybrid and remote teams:  https://www.awesomepeopleleaders.com/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In. Here with you again is your host Mitch Roshong and this is episode 153 of IMA's podcast series. In today's conversation. You'll hear about leadership needs that relate to hybrid or remote teams as you listen to my co-host Adam, speak with CEO advisor and speaker Heather Polivka. Heather founded Heather P solutions to work with progressive leaders of small and mid-sized businesses to accelerate revenue growth by creating work environments where people thrive. Keep listening to hear her discuss the evolution of business leadership styles and how to overcome the challenges associated with each.
 
 Adam: (00:50)
 We're talking about remote work today, and it's been something, a topic that everybody's been talking about, especially with the commencing of COVID-19 and every that, how that shook the modern world as far as the work world and everything else. So we're going to focus really on a remote and hybrid work, as people are coming back to offices. And so let's start with this question. How is remote and or hybrid work benefiting teams or businesses now?
 
 Heather: (01:17)
 There was a lot of benefits. I obviously, I think people know the benefits from an individual employee perspective in terms of flexibility, maybe saving on that commute. And you give some of the time back to the company and some of the time back to your, your personal life. But that also that, that benefits teams a lot, first of all, teams and business now have a broader access to talent. You're no longer stuck within your particular geography in terms of, you know, who has the skills or the experience that you're looking for. So it allows you to build the team with the skills and capabilities and experience needed to forward your business strategy. The other thing is retention of talent. You know, an employee moves away, goes to school for whatever reason gets married here, relocates, you don't have to actually lose that talent. You can keep them wherever they go. And I think that's particularly when I've worked for employers that really like to employ military veterans and their families. And so that is a whole host of talent that you get to retain even as they, as they move around. And there has been some productivity, at least maintenance and in many cases gains. And I think it's because the number of people are doing what I said at the beginning. I used to do this. Like if my commute time was an hour, I would give a half hour back to me for sleep or working out or whatever, and I'd give a half hour back to the company. and so that has helped with some productivity. And then the last thing I'd highlight is it's broken down some of the barriers between work and life. And I know that, millennials in that have not necessarily had those strict walls between work and their real life, but I know maybe for those of us a little bit older, we kind of had that separation going on. But when you've got kids hopping in the zooms and dogs barking in the background, it makes everyone more human. So while we've had less one-on-one interaction, it's also, I think, broken down some of those barriers that we used to maintain between work and life and a good way.
 
 Adam: (03:27)
 It's almost like you can still be professional and then have a dog barking in the background and under, and everybody's been there and seen that, and it's no longer this taboo thing, you know, like that businessman who was talking on the phone in the news and his wife came in and the kid came in, his wife came in to just get the kid out and nowadays people are like, oh, there's your child. And they would just keep moving on, you know?
 
 Heather: (03:48)
 Exactly, exactly. And I think that's, that's, I think that's healthy and that's really good. And I think it's particularly healthy for leaders to kind of shed a bit of that and make themselves a bit more human and vulnerable in the workplace.
 
 Adam: (04:05)
 Speaking of leaders, how do you think they need to evolve their style to work with remote teams? And then, you know, on the other side of that, what types of leaders should companies be looking for in this type of environment?
 
 Heather: (04:19)
 Yeah, that is such a great question. I think one that a lot of companies are struggling with, particularly I tend to work with more small and mid-sized businesses. And, but my background obviously is in fortune 100, many times, especially when you're talking executive leaders, regardless of the size of the organization, there is a way that we have all learned how to be successful. I pulled this lever, I do this thing and it creates those results, right? So we're now asking a whole host, a generation really of executive leaders to no longer really use the formula that they know, and that has been successful for them. And guess what, they're human and that scares them very much. And that's led to some of the defaults thinking of, we've got to get everyone back in the office and because that's the way they know how to lead. And so when we asked, like, what do we need from leaders to lead in this environment? You know, one is the old command and control model of leadership doesn't work well in hybrid and virtual work, right? Because even if you're in a hybrid work, you can see how people, when they're in the office are going to be doing more of the kinds of work that it involves interacting with other people. So a leader could walk through an area and just see a bunch of employees sort of sitting and talking in the lounge area, which quote, unquote, doesn't look like work. And yet that's the kind of work they're going to focus in on when they're in the office, because their intense focus, productivity work is the work that they can do at home. So that command and control of if you monitor and you manage employees that doesn't work well in hybrid or virtual work, instead leaders have to shift to managing the outcomes and the objectives and supporting people in whatever they need, whether it's what resources do you need, or what roadblocks do I need to break down? You know, what is it I can do as a leader to support you, to deliver on that outcome? And that's very, very different than managing people.
 
 Adam: (06:34)
 For sure. So what are some of the challenges that come up when you're, when you're, when you, so let's say you've gotten that style, you're getting that style down. What are some of the challenges that you are going to start facing as you work with remote and hybrid teams?
 
 Heather: (06:46)
 Yeah, there's, there's four buckets that I see most of the challenges come into and it has to do with communication, performance management, relationships and project or task management. Those are the four buckets and some...

Contact Nishant Nair: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninair/

Forbes Technology Council: https://profiles.forbes.com/members/tech/profile/Nishant-Nair-CEO-RecVue-Inc/329296c5-b50e-4cfc-a7dd-c6813580978d

Fintech Times article: https://thefintechtimes.com/recvue-dont-let-outdated-systems-become-your-legacy/

Global FinTech Series interview: https://www.recvue.com/blog/qa-with-recvues-ceo/?utm_content=172261129&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-6640106

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host, Adam Larson, and you're now listening to episode 152 of our series. The guest speaker for this series is Nishant Nair, CEO and founder of RecVue, a modern order lifecycle management solutions provider. In this episode, Nishant speaks with Mitch about the value of new financial systems over traditional legacy systems and the importance of streamlining your corporate structure to enable further innovation. Nishant believes businesses are walking when they should be running through today's business landscape of adaptable digital technology. So keep listening to hear more of what he has to say as we head to the conversation now.
 
 Mitch: (00:54)
 Why is it important now more than ever for companies to implement new financial systems within their businesses?
 
 Nishant: (01:01)
 Oh, that's a great question. Which, a simple way to explain this would be with an example that we are all too familiar with. Now, we don't go and get our movies from Blockbuster anymore. We have Netflix, we have Amazon, we have Hulu. Essentially we are in a digital economy and companies are changing the way they do business. They're not selling products anymore. They're converting the product into a service and selling services. So if you look at the financial and audit systems that were essentially designed for the Blockbuster world just does not meet the needs of the Netflix business model. I mean, they're just not designed for it. And it requires a completely new technology architecture and thought process.
 
 Mitch: (01:53)
 Now with this new technology, these new thought processes, obviously there are a lot of opportunities. So for those businesses who are working on traditional legacy systems, what are some of the main issues that they are really coming across today?
 
 Nishant: (02:11)
 Sure, sure. So the main, the main challenge, right, that we see with a traditional legacy system, it's its inflexibility, inability to scale and the need for an army of IT resources and business analysts to maintain it. Now compare that to modern cloud-based server-less platforms that lets companies be agile, right? Modern platforms built on cloud technologies make businesses nimbler and more flexible to meet the customer's need. I mean, if you look at, you know, these modern cloud platforms take away the whole operational aspects of running and managing huge software applications so that companies can now solely focus on growing the business, introducing new revenue models and making the customer successful, and then modern systems don't require an army of people to maintain it as well. So a lot of things that a, you know, a lot of challenges that we see with traditional legacy systems that, that, that we don't, or that can be avoided by transforming or with modern technology.
 
 Mitch: (03:31)
 Now you've mentioned some of the challenges that businesses are facing. And again, the opportunities, the more streamlined new approaches that are available for listeners in business who are interested in taking action, right? What are some of the key actions? these business leaders can take within their organizations to accomplish a more streamlined, you know, simplified corporate structure, where the army is not needed, as you just said.
 
 Nishant: (04:01)
 So it all starts with aligning your finance, your it, and revenue operations team towards a singular goal of transforming the organization and, setting the course to innovate and win in what we call a digital economy, right? And, that requires, fostering a culture that is receptive to change. That's going to be very important, right? To streamline operations. And even for these digital transformation projects to be successful, finally, it's the, it's the people that's going to make or break any transformation, like this.
 
 Mitch: (04:48)
 And now you provided a great analogy, right? Going from say, Blockbuster to Amazon and the trends that are happening all across business. In general. I'm curious if you have recognized and seen other trends, you know, are there other things happening and obviously, particularly in finance financial services, what are some of the trends that are really exciting you and things that our listeners should be aware of? Maybe a little bit more interested in.
 
 Nishant: (05:19)
 Yeah. From a, I mean, that is a lot of innovation. I mean, a lot of innovation that is currently happening in the financial services industry it's happening across, but specifically in the financial services industry, there is a lot of innovation that's happening that I'm really excited about. Right? I mean, if you look at, you know, if you, if you go back 10, 15, 20 years gone are the days when you had one or two large financial systems doing a mediocre job of all the different business processes. Now what I'm seeing is companies coming up using these modern cloud technologies and focusing on one particular business process and excelling it and being the best at it, right? I mean, if you look at, Cooper is a good example for procure to pay. And if you look at RecVue, which is for order to cash are prime examples of cloud technology being used to essentially improve or optimize a particular business process. And another area that I see is with cloud technology and API based architecture, it actually allows different systems to seamlessly talk to each other, and that's driving a lot of adoption as well. I mean, people, especially the next generation users are no longer compromising on any business process. They want a system that is the best for that particular business process. And today with the cloud technology and all the different integration platforms that are available, it is possible, right. And they want the best solution for each and every business process. And that is resulting in a lot of innovation in the financial services industry. It's a very exciting times with both, you know, technology and the business knowledge pretty much aligning with each other.
 
 Mitch: (07:25)
 And what happens if businesses essentially don't take your advice, right? Everything we're talking about here, if a business chooses to continue using its legacy, the antiquated processes and systems, if they haven't gone digital, what are the risks? You know, what would you predict will happen to these businesses?
 
 Nishant: (07:46)
 The world is changing. The world is changing. We all recognize that. I know the common example is obviously Blockbuster to Netflix, but what I see is that same change happening in each and every industry t...

Contact Hema Vyas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemavyas/

Hema's Website: https://www.hemavyas.com (Book a complimentary 20-minute Discovery call!)

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host, Mitch Roshong and today I'm happy to introduce our guest speaker for episode 151, Hema Vyas. Hema is a renowned speaker on heart wisdom, human consciousness, spirituality, health, and energy. She works with individuals, corporates, startups, and diverse global audiences to provide needle turning solutions for problems of all kinds. In this episode, Hema speaks with Adam about the significance of heart, passion and emotion. When it comes to leadership and building high performance teams. Keep listening as we head over to their conversation now.
 
 Adam: (00:52)
 Our initial discussions or, conversations back and forth. I was seeing you have this term omnipreneur, and I, you know, for many years there's been a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and business. And I was looking in like the definition of entrepreneur is a person who organizers or operates a business or businesses taking a greater risk than normal or financial risks. Cause they're usually going out there and starting their own business. So I'd like to take a step. So where is it? Where does Omnipreneurs fit into all that? And how does someone to get from an entrepreneur to an omnipreneur?
 
 Hema: (01:26)
 I think an omnipreneur is what the world needs now. So, you know, we have lots of businesses. We have lots of entrepreneurs now, more than ever. We've got so many startups and people wanting to run their own business and run with their own ideas and taking the risk. As you said, you know, an entrepreneur who's willing to take risk and, and put the money behind themselves. And for me omnipreneurship is really about the next level where you align those sort of business skills. You align the financial and entrepreneurial skills together with health, wealth and meaning. So it's not just about, you know, in terms of running a successful business, it's about how we look after ourselves, how we look after other people, not just the people we employ, but also the people around us, the people, you know, when we're putting out products, how we're taking into consideration, you know, what's going to be for the benefit of the whole and also the planet. So for me, it's really a holistic approach to business, a holistic approach to life. And I believe that each of us should be omnipreneurs in our own way, where we are not only taking care of our own financial success, whether it's in a corporation or whether it's in as an entrepreneur doing, not running our own business, but also taking care of all aspects of our lives, making sure that we have time for relationships, family, making sure we have time to take care of ourselves and those around us and doing it in a way that is sustainable to the planet and the world that we live in.
 
 Adam: (03:11)
 So it's taking all of the things that an entrepreneur would do, but adding in a holistic approach, it makes me think of terms like sustainability and those things are becoming more and more prevalent in business and being able to connect all those things in a holistic manner, which is not the easiest thing to do, especially when the bottom line is most important thing in any business, right? Because you have to make money to stay in business.
 
 Hema: (03:39)
 Absolutely so, you know, one of the things that we teach is really how to be a tucked down business, where, you know, the people at the top are taking care of more than just the bottom line. They are taking care of people, making sure that they're fulfilling the sense of purpose that they have a sense of meaning. And they are also contributing to a sustainable business as well as a sustainable growth of business because you know, a lot of startups sort of growing exponentially and then don't have the means to take care of the people. Other dues. There's a huge turnover of staff because they're burning out and, and, and that's not healthy for anybody. It's not healthy for the people. It's not healthy for relationships, but it's also not healthy for business every few years. If they have to keep training new people or get new people involved in the vision and the goals you want people to grow in a healthy way. So really teaching the leaders how to lead in a way that takes care of, the people in such a way that the bottom line gets fed or can make do.
 
 Adam: (04:49)
 That makes sense. I was reading that you say that you have to put your heart into it. So what's the role of like heart in leadership and in life, I guess, because we're trying to talk about the holistic approach.
 
 Hema: (04:59)
 Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of the qualities that we teach I would say are qualities of the heart. So, you know, we have the cerebral intelligence, we have cognition, we have intellectual ability. We also have the gut intelligence, which is a body's intelligence, which is our instincts, you know, and that feeling, that knowingness that we get, which is more from an instinct place, that there's an instinct about something. And then there's heart intelligence, which I would say is more of a wisdom. And it's, you know, really tapping into that sense of wisdom that allows us to have that holistic approach. It is being able to come from our heart space to lead from our heart space, to make sure that we are being really heart-centered so that we have all the qualities, you know, that are heart centered sort of leader would have in order to be able to take care of the people in order to take of themselves. So heart has everything to do with business as far as I'm concerned, because that is where we get balanced. If we're not in balance, then whatever we're doing is not going to have the desired effect. So that's what causes extremism. And when we're too focused on one thing and not enough on another, eventually the way the universe works, that it creates his own balance. And that's what burnout is, is it, if you're not giving enough time to people to really, really take care of themselves and what's going to happen is they're going to burn out. So what you think is good, pushing people, for example, ultimately ends up not being good when we're centered in our hearts. We know what that balance is because each individual is different. So there's no sort of set of rules that says, well, you know, you have to stop people working at five. Some people might thrive working late into the evening. They might want to come in later in the day. You know, there's that flexibility that comes from not being so structured, not being, so process-oriented not being so cerebral, not being seen to lecture and not going well, this is what works, and this is how we have to do it. But actually looking at the people that you're working with, who you're working for, who's working for you and how to get the best out of that situation so that there is genuine expansion of the heart, which means that there's a, a sense of flow. And there's a sense of balance, which is really where real happiness lies, but also where prosperity lies. And if we want to be successful in business, I think we have to be successful and happy and heart centers qualities are those qualities that help us to really relate in that.
 
 Adam: (07:48)
 Yeah. It's not something that you talk about often you don't, you don't pick up the Harvard business review and see, you know, things of the heart. but what you're saying ...

Contact Mfon Akpan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mfon-akpan-5702325/

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Virtual Reality: https://www.biographbook.com/bookstore/hitchhikers-guide-to-virtual-reality/

TED Talk - "Incorporating virtual reality in the classroom": https://www.ted.com/talks/mfon_akpan_incorporating_virtual_reality_in_the_classroom

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:00)
We're so happy you decided to come back and listen to Count Me In's 150th episode. Welcome to today's conversation. I am your host, Adam Larson, and the speaker for this milestone episode is Mfon Akpan, assistant professor of accounting at Methodist University. Mfon has a passion for emerging technologies and as an expert in virtual reality technology. He researches new technologies and educational methods to offer students occurrent effective and relative teaching experience and his conversation with my co-host Mitch, Mfon talks about the value of social media and its accounting implications for accountants and finance professionals. Stay tuned now and thanks again for listening to another episode of our series.
 
Mitch: (00:51)
Social media is not something that many, you know, accounting and finance people probably keep top of mind, but following, you know, initial conversation here, there are a lot of dots to connect between social media and accounting. So to kick off our conversation, can you please explain why is it important for our accounting and finance listeners to really understand the value of social media?
 
Mfon: (01:15)
Well, I would say that, well, first of all, that's a great question, Mitchell, and I would say in one word data and another word funnels. So when we look at the outage of Facebook and Instagram, that just happened, there was a huge disruption in both of those areas, one data, so information, two funnels. So you have many businesses that use social media to drive traffic, not only to their websites, but also to their physical locations. And this was completely disrupted. So, so many of those, those individuals may say, well, my business doesn't rely on, social media is not that important. What, when it was gone, many, many business owners felt the impact of that. And I think it's important as accountants for us to understand number one, to advise clients on their situation, but also the environment as a whole. And we need to also understand where the environment is going. So, one thing, and we talked about this a bit before the interview was I found out that Facebook was down because I started getting text messages from, from companies and place idea of business with that said, "Hey, come to our website, Facebook is down, this is a chance for you to check out certain things". That's how I found out because I was getting text messages from it. So, you know, understanding how this can impact the flow of business, I think is very important. And I think the outage of Facebook for many business owners was a wake up call on its importance and also the importance of having some type of backup plan, which translates to a strategy on what to do if it's not working. And or if that platform that you are on for some reason is not as popular or as not as, effective.
 
Mitch: (03:32)
Yeah, those are great points. And, you know, we, we talk about data, obviously, data technology, evolution across accounting and finance and, you know, social media, it kind of lives on all of that. So, you know, you don't, like I said, it may not be top of mind, but through our conversation and considering everything that happened with Facebook and Instagram and, you know, we're talking events of the start of October, but, you know, I think there are, are a lot of other points to connect with our listeners. And, you know, we also heavily rely on metrics right in different benchmarks and other data points specifically. So as far as that goes, what kind of social media metrics, really affect the accounting and finance team as these, you know, events trickle down?
 
Mfon: (04:18)
Well, I think it goes back to, as far as social media, understanding that. So from a, I guess, putting at a very simple level, understanding the dashboards on the social media platforms that you're using, that's very important from the side of the accountant, because if you're going to advise your client, you need to have some type of understanding of it, what data is there and what may be relevant to your client. Your client needs to understand it cause needs to understand who's engaging with their content. And when we think about social media, it can be broken down into three areas. So you've got owned, you got paid and earned. And when you think about your, your own accounts, so what you're posting, if it's a Instagram, if it's a Facebook or if it's a Tik Tok understanding, okay, what I post who's looking at it, who's looking at it. What are their demographics? You know, are they moving? And you can also look to, to determine where the traffic is going. Are they coming into the store? If it's a physical location, are they going to the website? If they do go to the website, are they buying same thing. If they go into the physical location, they call that conversions. So understanding that, and really that, that movement of getting people from that social media to your website and location, that's, that's a funnel, what they call a funnel. So understanding that I think is important on both sides. So from the accountant side to the, to the, business owner side, the other thing is that what I tell people is, you know, many people are, are, overwhelmed. They said, well, this is a lot of stuff to learn. And I say, you know, you don't have to become an expert at it, but you should be knowledgeable, particularly if you're, if you're using it for your business, you're posting it. You may be missing out on opportunities by understanding that information. And particularly you need to be knowledgeable if you're doing what's called paid media, you're paying for advertising. You really need to understand, are you effectively using your, advertising dollars on that platform? But if it makes sense.
 
Mitch: (06:46)
I think, you know, for accounting and finance, everybody's looking to, you know, make sense of the numbers, right. And quantify things. And obviously everything you're talking about certainly relates to that. And I think one of the best or most common, however you want to say it, metrics really is, you know, that ROI, what is the returns? So when we talk about that, what is the actual measurement, as far as social media impact, you know, what are some scenarios where understanding ROI is really most important for, you know, the business owner, the accounting function.
 
Mfon: (07:22)
Yeah. It is very important because you want to make sure that it's specifically would that pay media portion. You want to make sure that it's, it's being effective. It's being effective. There's measures, not in the dollar sentence, they call volume and valence, but you want to make sure that, okay, if I'm spending a thousand dollars a month, what does that equal in conversions? What, what is the return for me on that as a business owner and as an accountant, you want to be able to understand if these, these campaigns, as they call them are being a few, if you're advising your customers or your clients to, use paid media, is it being effective? So you, one of the measures as the impressions and the, the overall engagement with whatever, posts, which could lead to further...

Contact Kevin Au: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwau/

Bill.com: https://www.bill.com/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. We're happy to have you back for episode 149 of our series. This is Mitch Roshong, and I'll be your host getting you ready for today's conversation. In this episode, you will hear from Kevin Au - bill.com's head of product marketing, accountant, and wealth management. In a moment, you'll hear him talk about lessons learned in the accounting industry and what the profession can anticipate as far as roles changing and skills needed in the future. So without further ado, let's transition over to the conversation now.
 
 Adam: (00:47)
 So Kevin, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. We really appreciate you taking some time out of your busy schedule to be a part of count me in.
 
 Kevin: (00:54)
 Great. Yeah. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. I'm a big fan of podcasts, so great to be here.
 
 Adam: (00:59)
 Thank you. So there has been a tremendous lessons learned, and changes across society and business over the past 18 months, we've all been affected by it. You and I were just chatting about it before we started recording. What have you seen in the accounting industry? And do you think those changes are here to stay?
 
 Kevin: (01:16)
 Yeah. So what we say in the accounting industry as small to size business markets is that the innovation and the adoption it's been accelerated about three to five years. And while every industry has been disrupted by digital transformation as a result of pandemic and working from home, right? This industry in particular has been ripe for disruption like for years. We've been just saying that over 90% of SMBs rely still on paper-based processes and checks, and that realization will be over-reliance on outdated labor and manual intensive ways to do business. As you know, bill.com works closely with the accounting community work with 85 of the top 100 firms plus 5,000 firms in total. And I remember I was talking with a couple of accounting partners and one partner in particular. I heard a horror story, literally during the pandemic, they had to use Uber and Lyft to transport documents between houses to get them signed. And they even use bike messengers. Like, I mean, this isn't sustainable, whether it's pre pandemic or post, and we believe that this community deserves innovation and we're here to deliver it.
 
 Adam: (02:24)
 So when I hear innovation, I think of keywords like automation and AI, the, the buzzwords that we're hearing all around, and these are powerful tools that accountants need to have in their toolkit. Can you tell us a little bit about what bill.com harnesses, in your solution?
 
 Kevin: (02:39)
 Yeah. So as, as part of the industry deception that we talked about earlier, you know, we believe that digital tools that all, that all three help our customers and partners to see it's really important, right? And automated those back office tasks and day-to-day activities. It gives our campuses actually more time and focus on areas of interests and right. So like inviting automation into the office, ultimately it just provides the accounting professionals just more time take control of their careers and just have more of a better work-life balance. As an example, you know, one of bill.com's customers is a wealth management firm and they mentioned that when they use bill.com, they experience a say percent time savings by streamlining all their accounts payable processes, but just then allows them to do something more that matters to them around financial planning and then managing their clients assets. An example for us on our platform, we do use artificial intelligence and we have a tool that we named, IVA, which stands for intelligent virtual assistant. And what IVA is, is a feature that just uses advanced technologies like machine learning that helps us extract invoices and vendor information from documents in our inbox. So that helps you actually create vendors and bills faster. So it takes information like the invoice number, like the, the amount you have to pay the due date, the amount. And it makes us so simple, like just literally imagine if you had a camera and he took a snap shot of your invoice and it gets automatically loaded in and IVA can read it and put all that data very easily for you to just help you get paid, to get paid faster. And that's, what's really exciting about, you know, automation and AI space.
 
 Adam: (04:15)
 That is very exciting. Cause it, it allows you, it takes time away from the menial tasks, sometimes those tasks that take up more of your time and allows you to do other things right?
 
 Kevin: (04:25)
 Exactly. Exactly. It's always about like the stuff that, you know, what would you be doing on a Friday night? Would you rather be doing all the manual checks and everything, or would you be going out having dinner with your family? And what we do is like with our technology and systems, it allows you to do the latter.
 
 Adam: (04:39)
 So it sounds like the accountant's role is expanding and has been expanding, especially during the pandemic, you know, maybe they're saying, "Hey IVA, print me out my invoice". I don't, I doubt it's voice activated, but you've talked about a new Renaissance of the adversary accountant. What does that look like?
 
 Kevin: (04:56)
 Yes. So even before the COVID pandemic, we saw, we heard businesses had a clear, and active need for advisory services. During the pandemic they became the go-to person, when they're helping clients through their PDP loans, through changing regulations and so much more. And they were the lifeline, they're literally the heroes, I think for a lot of the SMBs offering their clients the best, the latest information and advice actually keep them afloat. Like it was a really tough time. And we heard like accountants were just working endlessly nights and weekends to make sure, like they have to figure out how to do the PPP loans. Right. And that was a big thing that they did and their SMBs where their clients were also thankful for that. So now, as we're kind of getting out of the pandemic, right, accountants are just taking the opportunities to redesign their day-to-day jobs, especially by putting more time and focus through these advisory services. And they also offer things like client analysis and strategic counsel. And the goal here is not to add more hours to their already busy Workday, but instead it's about optimizing the work. And so for instance, you know, build a compromise, a lot of different tools, insights, and data, and we believe that data is going to be necessary to provide that efficient and essential path for that advisory services. How? It's that it can raise up all those data insights by unlocking that data in real time, in, in ways that they couldn't have done before. We're like in the past, this data will be trapped in some hidden spreadsheet or in a separate system that you can lock up. Now you have these systems and tools to bring this up to light and show it at the right time. And so we believe that the shift in like the bookkeeper's role is going to be actually more rewarding. It's also a really smart time for these firms in terms of growth and what we did like bill.com, in 2019, we had a fire hire index survey and we just asked them like what they're doing. And one of the things they said is like more than half of the S&P participants are actu...

Contact Gregory Kogan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-kogan-083bb07/

Self-Service Data Analytics and Governance for Managers (book): https://www.amazon.com/Self-Service-Data-Analytics-Governance-Managers/dp/1119773296

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
 Welcome back to episode 148 of Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Adam Larson, and I'm pleased to kick off today's episode by introducing you to Gregory Kogan. Gregory is professor of practice and accounting at Long Island University, focusing on teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in accounting and finance. He is also currently pursuing his doctorate in business administration at the university of Scranton with the research focus of data analytics and accounting. So in our upcoming episode, you will hear Greg discuss self-service analytics. Keep listening as we head over to the conversation now.
 
 Mitch: (00:49)
 In the field of finance and accounting, there's been a lot of talk about data and analytics. And, I know in your space you have a lot of experience. I'm just curious from your perspective, what is really driving the accelerated pace of analytics and the overall adoption at these larger enterprises?
 
 Greg: (01:09)
 Yeah, so I think the biggest thing, and if we're talking about the finance function, it's really the, realization of ROI (return on investment), where companies can use these new techniques, analytics, automation to accelerate their processing, right? So in finance accounting, for years, we've been doing things manually and repetitively. And now with these new tools and these technologies, a lot of companies are adopting these tools to accelerate processing, reduced processing time, reduce hours, accelerate processes, and there are benefits like it's more accurate, there's more control, better internal control. And those are really big benefits on top of the financial benefits. So there's sort of a convergence, I think that, companies are just taking advantage of this, the, to have more smooth and streamlined processing. That's more efficient.
 
 Mitch: (02:08)
 Now I know something that you focus on or, you know, you'd like to share a little bit more here are these, self service tools, right. And, you know, just for our listeners, what are some of the defining characteristics of this subset and how does it work into analytics? And, you know, when it comes to again, advancing some of these opportunities, I guess you could say, why do these tools lead to more of a decentralized pattern for your reference?
 
 Greg: (02:36)
 Right? So the tools, yeah. So the tools we're talking about, you know, and coming out, you know, very much out of the what's happening in public accounting and what's happening in the finance function in terms of, financial and managerial accounting. We're really talking about Tableau and Alteryx, which are off the shelf tools. And even in higher education, we have a lot of these now in the classroom. So this is a still pretty, fairly new, but very much highly used. And we call themselves service tools because, it's not something you develop, what you end up developing is a specific process within that tool. So for example, an Alteryx, you can create a little process that say does a reconciliation or a certain reporting. And it's something that used to live in Excel. That's really now living in this tool and we call it self service. It's in that bucket of you can really do it yourself, much. Like you do Excel yourself. You could really, as a finance professional, since it's low code or really no code you pick up the tool you put in your data, which you really, you already have access to. That's really something you work with on a day to day, and you can set up these, we call them analytics, assisted automations for Alteryx and in Tableau it's really dashboards and visualizations. So it depends what part of it you're working with. But yeah.
 
 Mitch: (04:04)
 That's very helpful. And I know, you know, in our space management accounts, specifically, a lot of that, you know, internal focused and we're really into, you know, the storytelling behind it and the tools that you referenced literally enable, you know, our, our listeners, our finance and accounting professionals to present this data in a way that's easily easy to understand for everybody, right. I think that's really the goal, but, you know, taking it even a step further here, try to, you know, set the stage for us a little bit. What are some of the primary motivations? And, you know, there is some kind of investment or, you know, even if it's just a learning curve in order to adopt these tools, what are the end goals, but what can our listeners expect if they're able to implement these strategies?
 
 Greg: (04:48)
 Right. So what you can, what are the, some of the benefits, essentially, after some investment, what you can end up doing is something that you do on a recurring basis, manually in Excel, right? And, and we had this also, as a case study in the book that we're kind of referencing here, the self-service data analytics and governance for managers, but this is something that I've been doing as a case study with students and in the MBA. And what happens is we basically have like five years of data of balance sheet and income statement data. And, and we do this in Excel where we compute all the financial ratios, profit margin, asset turnover, return, and equity. And we do like the DuPont model, basically for all the companies in the S&P 500. So for example, what we did as a case study in the book, we put it in the Alteryx and then we set it up as like little steps, rather than Excel. It's sort of all in one big place and you could still see everything. And we do pivot tables and graphs. It's still a very, very good, but once we set it up in Alteryx, we're able to filter the data by industry. So all of a sudden we started looking just at information technology. We started looking at graphs for each company of all the ratios, and then we started looking at specific companies a little bit further down the line to see, oh, wait, we just keep looking for the best one. What is the best industry? What is the best company? And then for that company, we have four dashboards for each of the ratios over five years. And after we set that up, we thought, wow, if this was like, say this was in management accounting, and I was doing my own internal reports, it could still be profit margin by region or geography. I could really sit with that and just flip my filter from Europe to north America and see my ratios, you know, and then we were thinking about it for me to do it in Excel every month. And it's something I used to do as an accountant. I just imagine it's a lot of work, get the new data uploaded, reconcile it. And that's something that takes us a couple of dates and just the flip, the switch. And Alteryx where you just upload the new data. And it does it for you. That's what we sort of started imagining. And of course we have seen the benefits. We've talked to people who've seen the benefits, but just to feel it yourself, like that amount of work going down from three days to like 30 minutes is exciting. And I don't know, I don't think you lose anything in the process. In fact, it is still stable. It is controllable and it's more flexible because the, all the charts are, you still see them, you know, and you just, you do it yourself. It's not something you have to call an IT person too. So I think it can e...

Contact Jason Whitley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-whitley-18919711/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host Mitch Roshong, and today's episode is number 147 in our series. The featured guest speaker in today's conversation is Jason Whitley. Jason is the chief financial officer at Phi Inc. And he comes to count me in to share some of the knowledge he's gathered from his over 30 years of global industry experience. While talking with my cohost, Adam, Jason addresses how the CFO can become an effective business partner and emphasizes the various skills one should develop along the way. To hear more about what an aspiring CFO needs to do to contribute to sustainable organizational success, keep listening as we transition into the conversation now. 
 
Adam: (00:57)
CFOs are now being looked to for governance, risk management, business change, business resilience, technology advancement, and the list goes on from there. Are the inherited skills, finance and accounting professionals possess sufficient enough to make decisions? And if not, what are some of the crucial skills they need to evolve? 
 
Jason: (01:16)
Yeah, no, that's a, that's a great question. I would say that the, you know, the CFO role has really transformed pretty rapidly over the last several years and it's become, you know, one of the most difficult jobs in the organization to do really well because of the broad scope that you just mentioned. I know that, you know, myself, me and my colleagues who aspired to the role over the years, but it's really a job that's almost impossible to fully prepare for and I don't think the skills are easily inherited. You're expected many times to have a depth of knowledge in several different areas. The ones you mentioned, including, you know, treasury, accounting, risk management tax, IT, controls. And then on top of all that you need to really have a good in-depth knowledge of the business operations. If you want to be an effective business partner. And it probably even left out a few areas, but the point is that it's, it's really extensive. It's difficult obviously to have depth of knowledge in all of those areas. So inevitably you're going to enter the job with some, some skill gaps. And I've seen this in my role. I've seen it observed in probably every CFO that I've interacted with in my career. And I think the key is really to surround yourself with a team of folks that are they're technical experts in these areas and ensure your weaknesses are really covered by their strengths. I think it's also important to develop a strong network. I need a network of mentors and a network of you know, technology and technical aspects for service providers that you can really draw on to supplement your knowledge and some of the skill gaps that you have, or just to bounce ideas off, as the time comes and things are needed, in that fashion. I guess, in addition to, and as you alluded to in your question, and it's really imperative that you develop and hone certain skills throughout your career. And I think those can be developed in many different functions and many different roles, but you know, you're going to need these, if you really want to lead the team and be proactive and addressing the problems that come up every day in business. And I think some of those skills specifically would be, you know, leadership, analytics, planning, communication, and the strategic decision making. It's really key that you're developing these kinds of skills throughout your career. And those can be things that you develop in finance and accounting. It could be in strategy, business development, operations, or other functions, but, you know, every role should involve developing, utilizing those skills. So that you're really ready, when the time comes to take on all of the responsibility and scope, that comes along with the CFO role. 
 
Adam: (04:07)
So as I hear you talking about all the skills that are involved, one of the things I heard you mention was, having a good network surrounding yourself with people, even people that are smarter than you, I've heard, a lot of people say, it's almost like you're being, almost like you have to be an effective business partner. You have to connect with all these different people. So we've covered some of the skills needed to evolve, then what's next? 
 
Jason: (04:30)
Yeah, then I think it's, it is like you just said, you know, becoming an effective business partner. I think the, you know, the way that you do that, you know, first and foremost is you've got to have the trust and respect of, you know, whoever it is. You're partnering with the CEO, the general manager, plant manager, department manager, you know, whoever it is you're supporting as a finance leader, this comes through, you know, basically experienced performance on the job. You know, sometimes it develops quickly. Sometimes it takes some time, but every one of my CFO roles has really evolved and become more impactful, over time. So it was more impactful, I would say at the end than it was at the beginning, as you know, I've developed trust and, you know, and experience was gained, you know, with the individual that I was partnering with and supporting. So I think you have to realize you have to be flexible and, you know, one approach to partnering is not necessarily going to be sufficient, over your entire career. And I've seen really great business partnerships and I've seen some not so great business partnerships in these roles. You know, the one, you know, the ones that didn't work out were usually sort of doomed from the start. It was just, you know, a lack of trust, lack of respect, or maybe appreciation for the role or function of the, of the other person. and that was just something that was never overcome, for one reason or another. So I think, you know, as I mentioned, that's first and foremost, is that you gain trust and respect. I think it's also important to know you can have two really great people, you know, it can be world-class in their respective functions and they still don't have really an effective partnership because they can't work together as a team. So it requires a lot of effort, you need to share information, there needs to be, you know, information and thoughts being shared on a two-way basis, you're working towards common goals and as are said earlier, you really need to respect responsibilities and the focus of each other. But if you, if you get all of these in place, then you can really maximize the effectiveness of both roles. I don't think either person can be highly effective. I think, you know, they can still be effective and really good, but I don't think they can be highly effective and at their best, without really the help and support of the other person. So it's imperative that the partnership work well, you know, for the benefit of that team, for the company and really for the organization overall. 
 
Adam: (06:53)
Now, Jason, there's something I've heard, you know, other CFOs, your colleagues, your, your peers say and things I've read that in IMA's research that, you know, the CFO of an organization must not also miss not only be able to share insight, but also lead through foresight. So when it comes to innovation data value, how can the CFO navigate the challenges associated with forecasting and best position the organization for sustainable success into the future? 
 
Jason: (07:20)
Yeah, that's another really great question. I think it's one of the biggest challenges for the CFO, but I think, you know, at the end of the day, the CFO really has a great perspective with...

Contact Russ Porter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russporter42/
Contact Margaret Michaels: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-michaels/

IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants): https://www.imanet.org/

IMA's Ethics Center: https://www.imanet.org/career-resources/ethics-center

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
 Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host Mitch Roshong. And today I will be previewing a special bonus episode in our series. October 20th is global ethics day, a day created by the Carnegie council for ethics in international affairs. Global ethics day is an annual moment to empower ethics through the actions of individuals in organizations. It takes place annually on the third Wednesday of every October, ethics lies at the heart of the management accounting profession, and IMA considers ethics to be foundational to its work in core values. For this special count me in podcast, in honor, of this day, we are delighted to have IMA's CFO, Russell Porter discuss why ethics is so important to management, accounting and financial oversight for organizations. IMA's manager of brand content and storytelling, Margaret Michaels will ask for us to share his experiences working in management, accounting, some of the ethical dilemmas that can arise and how he learned to navigate questions around ethics to steer the organizations he has worked for in the right direction. Russ will also provide information on IMA resources that are available to members who want to learn more about navigating ethics. So to hear more about this very important topic, let's head over and listen to their conversation now.
 
 Margaret: (01:34)
 So welcome Russ to IMA's Count Me In. We are so happy you could join us for this special and important episode.
 
 Russ: (01:41)
 Pleasure to be here, Margaret, and, thanks for, initiating this discussion about ethics. It's a personal favorite topic of mine.
 
 Margaret: (01:48)
 I know you are very interested in helping IMA members navigate ethical questions and issues they face every day in their work. You even did an unscientific LinkedIn poll asking what the most important ethics issue facing accounting and finance professionals today is. What did you find out? And what do you believe is the most pressing issue they face?
 
 Russ: (02:11)
 Yeah, it's funny, Margaret. Unsurprisingly, I did not get a lot of responses. And a lot of the ones I did get were in one-to-one messages, as opposed to being on the LinkedIn message board. Ethics is one of those areas that people often don't like to talk about. Despite the fact that we read about issues of ethical lapses in the papers all the time, that said, when you look for them around any business environment, you'll see plenty of ethical issues. Most of them are addressed right up front in a company's culture, but when the ethical component of culture isn't strong enough, the temptation to overlook principles can overwhelm people. Keep in mind, also there are, in my mind, two types of ethics to consider: the macro and the micro. The micro is the one people often think about where an individual or a small group has to make a decision between the right way and the wrong way as if decisions were that black and white, but there are also macro ethical issues like sustainability, equitable treatment, proper governance, those are affected by individual decisions, but they can often have a much wider impact.
 
 Margaret: (03:25)
 Yes, I agree. I think we are seeing those wider impact issues around us every day. I know that I am much more aware of those macro issues. And I do think that business has really been stepping up to the plate to try to address public concerns related to the climate or income inequality or gender bias or racial injustice through their work on sustainability. In this way, sustainability really has an ethical dimension beyond just reporting non financials. Is this a change you welcome in the profession and how does sustainability change the paradigm for accounting and finance professionals from an ethical perspective?
 
 Russ: (04:07)
 So Margaret, all those items you just mentioned under the umbrella of sustainability economists call them externalities because in theory, these are effects that don't directly impact an organization making the decision. And for that reason, management accountants often exclude sustainability issues from a relevant cost benefit analysis. That idea of what costs are relevant to an organization. It's really been expanding though, in the eyes of consumers, regulators, and investors, they're all taking those elements into account when making their buying or investing decisions as society increases the focus on those areas, through the lens of ethical treatment of the planet and society, accountants, ignore those issues at their peril. I would also point out that, you know, perspectives on some of these macro ethical issues can vary greatly. Different cultures, whether those cultures are based upon geography, religion, political affiliation, or any other factor, they'll interpret an ethical approach to issues differently. Now exploring these different perspectives, that can really be valuable in increasing our understanding of the topics. But it's really important to be aware of how the societies in which we operate view these issues. For an management accountant, that perspective and that understanding - that's crucial.
 
 Margaret: (05:39)
 Those macro ethical issues do have many dimensions and awareness of that fact is critical for the accounting and finance profession, as well as society at large. And since we're on the topic of macro issues and changes affecting society, I think it's a good time to up something that has literally transformed the profession, which is technology and digitization. At IMA, we are acutely aware of how technologies like automation, AI, and data analytics have changed the way management accountants work. Upskilling in technology is something we champion, but while the technical skills involved with these technologies are significant, so are the ethical questions. What is your view of technology from an ethics perspective?
 
 Russ: (06:28)
 So Margaret, digitization, it's not just affecting the accounting profession, it's affecting almost every element of our lives and in society today. And there's a lot of good that comes out in terms of both individual, as well as societal welfare. That said, the application of technology, if not done well. Well, that can also exacerbate existing tendencies to a detrimental effect. For example, we've been hearing the term algorithmic bias lately, and that is the propensity for technology driven...

Contact Patti Humble: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patti-humble-46651235/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm Adam Larson and I first like to thank you for coming back to hear episode 146 of our series today's conversation features Patti Humble, the chief accounting officer at UPS. Patty is an experienced senior leader with a broad background in both business unit and corporate headquarter environments. She is also a passionate leader who truly emphasizes personal development and the need for knowing yourself first. Next, you'll hear her discuss steps to successfully getting to know yourself and how that translates to strong leadership. So keep listening as we head over to the conversation now.
 
 Mitch: (00:50)
 So I know our conversation for today is going to be about developing others, but I understand it's very important to you. And I know it's a topic that you're very passionate about. So for some background for our listeners, why don't you start off by telling us why this is so important to you?
 
 Patti: (01:05)
 Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And I'm just going to begin with kind of an overarching statement that, you know, what, we all have a unique purpose in our lives, right? We all want to make a difference for our families, for our workplaces, for our country, even globally. And so just pause for a second and think about that. How do you make a difference? Because in my view, effective leaders, they have to start by knowing themselves first, before they can start paying it forward to others. So for me, self journey, my self knowledge and my journey, that was a linchpin. And that's when I really started putting some of my leadership puzzle pieces together. And I'm really passionate about this because I really want to share some of my aha moments with other people. I think what I've observed is that people are often very hesitant to go deep inside themselves. It can be intimidating, it can be a little scary, but as I look back over the course of my career, I found that I really needed to know myself first. And only then is when some of these other leadership traits, my coping mechanisms, all of that started to fall into place. So that's why I'm so passionate about it.
 
 Mitch: (02:31)
 It's very fascinating. And you know, I'm curious these aha moments, you know, you said a couple of times right there, you have to know yourself first. What does that actually look like? You know, and I'm sure it's different for different people. but what do you, what does that ultimately look like to you when you make that recognition?
 
 Patti: (02:54)
 Well, I think it's knowing your style, right? It's what drains you of energy when you get home at the end of the day and you're just wiped out what happened that made that happen and what gives you energy? I mean, when you think about those moments where you're just really jazzed, what was that? What gives you energy or maybe it's where you look up at the clock and you've totally lost track of time. I mean, the hours have gone by, and you just don't even know where the time went to. It's knowing that it's knowing your personality type. I think we all kind of have a sense of what our personality types are like, what are our blind spots? Where, what are the landmines that we might step on more than once. And also it's knowing your hot buttons, right? We all, we all know what those are too, but I think knowing yourself is really, it's so important because people succeed differently. So for example, extroverts and introverts, they succeed very different in the world. And you may, or you may not know where you fit along that continuum. And when I say introvert, I don't mean people that are shy. All right, there's a misunderstanding about introverts. Introverts are people that get their energy differently from thoughtful and quiet activities, right? We know our extroverts love to, to be around people and go to events. It doesn't mean that you're different, you're different than in a way that you succeed differently. That information can be really critical to adapting how you lead and how you position yourself for advancement in your workplace. So there's that piece of it by knowing yourself and even on a more personal level, you have to know yourself to know how you cope and, and to conquer sometimes your own gremlins, whatever those might be. I mean, think about what happened to us during COVID right during this pandemic, our coping mechanisms were really taxed. They were really strained. And I think that's a global phenomenon. So you probably learned some things about yourself during the pandemic that you might not have known and some of your gremlins might've been more pronounced, but I think when you know yourself, you're aware of your thoughts, you know, how you talk to yourself and you can talk yourself through moments of fear or uncertainty, you know, how to speak to yourself in the third person. So, you know, you think about the movie that runs in your head and you know, you tell yourself, oh my God, I can't believe I screwed up or I, how could I have done that? There is not a third person that would speak to you the way you speak to yourself. So try talking to yourself, like another, someone who loved you would speak to you, they'd say, you know what? You tried your best, you did the best you could with the information that you had, or yeah. You know, I didn't handle that so great. But you'll do better next time. If we speak to ourselves that way you talk to yourself, instead of listening to yourself, you try things like being grateful, when you're stressed out, because you look to the bright side of things, it's all that, that movie that, that plays on in your head. and I think that's part of knowing yourself. It just helps all those coping mechanisms work really well. A good friend of mine recommended me to me once, to create an "I love Patti" box and then fill it up with all the positive affirmations that you get that you receive. And then when you're having a really bad day and you need a boost, you just go read all those things all over again to say, you know what I do well, I am loved. And it just helps that, that inner, that inner voice. And I think that's really, really an important part of knowing yourself because knowing your style, knowing your energy, knowing how you speak to yourself is the platform for leadership.
 
 Mitch: (07:05)
 I think that's all amazing advice. And as you were sharing this information, I started thinking, you know, we kicked things off talking about or setting the stage, really developing others. And it starts with you first. And as you're speaking, I kind of said, you know, developing others that other person can still be yourself. You know, it's, it's, you know, it's the other person that, you know, people see that maybe you don't always see. So, it's really interesting. And as you, I can understand the more you learn about yourself, the easier it is, as you just said to then eventually develop other people other than yourself and lead. And it's just all full circle. So you'd already just mentioned a few really great techniques, but I'm sure, you know, you're very passionate about this. You have other things that we could share with the listeners, you know, specific steps, anything that, again, how do you identify when you are successful in knowing yourself, you know, what, how, how can our listeners take this another step further?
 
 Patti: (08:05)
 Yeah. well, there is a wealth of information out there on the internet about personality types. I mean, if you, if you put that into a searc...

Contact Claire Chandler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairechandlersphr/

Claire's Website: https://www.clairechandler.net/

Talent Boost: https://www.talentboost.net/checklist

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Mitch Roshong and I would like to say thank you for coming back and listening to another episode of our series. The guest speaker for episode 145 here today is Claire Chandler an acquisition, integration, and onboarding specialist. Claire is a corporate survivor who draws upon almost 30 years of business leadership and consulting experience. One of her specialties is business value creation. In this conversation, you will hear her discuss what finance and accounting quite often get wrong when calculating business value. Keep listening as you will now hear from Claire Chandler with Adam Larson.
 
 Adam: (00:55)
 So Claire, according to stockanalysis.com, I was reading that there have been over around 703 IPOs in the US stock market in 2021 as of around mid August, which is when we're recording this, which is 331% more than the same time in 2020. So needless to say, there's been a lot of business valuation happening as companies seek to grow and expand. So as we start off our conversation, can we talk about what drives the value of business?
 
 Claire: (01:23)
 Yes, please. Yeah. What a great question to open up with, right. So, you know, back in the day we lived in an industrial economy, I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking we are still there. and back when we were more industrial close to a hundred percent, about 95% of the value of a business, any business was driven by tangible assets, right? So things like a company's technology, the products that it made and sold, their operations and of course their financial capital, but we don't live in an industrial economy anymore. We actually live in an intellectual economy. That economy is dependent primarily on the output of a human mind. And I know that sounds bizarre when I say it out loud, but think about it. We're really driven by intangible assets companies, brand its services, more so than its products, the intellectual property, that the knowledge in the heads of the human capital, right? And so with this shift that has happened gradually, but we are fully ensconced in an intellectual economy. That shift also, changed what drives business value. So before it was almost entirely driven by tangible assets today, it's well over 72% driven by the intangibles. And we're seeing this across every industry - in some industries, if you look at say tech and pharma, they're close to a hundred percent driven by intangible assets, right. The products of the human mind. and so it's really critical that businesses pay attention to that.
 
 Adam: (03:04)
 And then on top of that, you not only are you having to worry about the numbers and the financials, you have to start worrying about, things like ESG and sustainability are becoming more and more essential that you have to report, not only the mind, but also how, how is my business affecting the environment?
 
 Claire: (03:20)
 Yeah, and it's, and it's interesting to that point, the markets have shifted in that way as well, right? The SEC has become more stringent and, has raised its expectations on what companies do, not only in the sustainability space, but also in terms of how people are treating and nurturing the human capital. So the markets have shifted, the economy obviously has shifted and, you know, the, the more successful businesses have embraced this and sort of incorporated that into their business strategy.
 
 Adam: (03:51)
 So as we're thinking about businesses and, getting investors and growing IPOs, the other thing I was reading, I saw an article on Fortune the other day, it was saying that there's been over $2 billion of mergers and acquisitions activity in just 2021. I think that was through July, like the beginning of July. We're now like to mid August, you know, how can investors reduce the risk of investing in the wrong company, especially with so many different factors that we were just talking about.
 
 Claire: (04:17)
 Yeah, it's, it's a huge question. Obviously, the bottom line is investors want to make their money back, in multiples, right? And so the way that to reduce the risks starts with their value creation plan hypothesis. They need to be crystal clear on their end goal, right? The clearer they are on what they want to get out of that portfolio company on the back end, whether it's a holding period of three years, five years, you know, even longer the clearer they are on that going in, the easier it is on the front end to make sure that the company they're evaluating actually has the capacity and the capability to deliver that return for them. Because obviously that is the goal, whatever form it takes, that investor wants to get the most bang for their buck. So they've got to be really, really clear on the hypothesis going in on what they expect to get out of their VCP.
 
 Adam: (05:09)
 So then on the other side, what about what should companies be doing to, to attract the right funding? You know, cause you got to think about their side too.
 
 Claire: (05:16)
 Yeah, absolutely. And it's, and it's all about the right funding, right? To your point. And it's a similar process for companies on that, on that side that are looking to grow through the backing of the right investors. So they need to be really clear on their end goal as well. And it's probably not as far out for them, it may not be five or 10 years. It may be, you know, 12 months to 36 months, but they need to deeply understand where they want to take their business and how ready they are to grow in that direction with, or without funding. Right. So, and I say that to really make this point, a lot of startups make this fatal mistake of believing that money is going to solve everything right. We get to the next level. If only we have the financial capital and that's totally false, they really need to evaluate their capacity and capability just like the investor is going to do. Before that investor comes in and does that for them and finds that they're not really ready to grow and scale. So it's not just about getting investment. It's about understanding why you need that investment. Are you ready to take that investment and who is the right source of that funding?
 
 Adam: (06:23)
 Yeah. Because somebody could come to your startup and say, we're going to give you $2 billion, but if you're not ready to grow, then that $2 billion would just kind of go to waste.
 
 Claire: (06:32)
 It's going to be a wasted bet on, and both sides are going to be complete failures in that regard, right. Especially if you're talking about an investment to the tune of, you know, a billion dollars or more an investor is not going to do that on a wish and a prayer, they really do need to be very, very thorough in vetting the company they're about to put their money behind. And the company itself has to be really self-aware and disciplined before they take on that level of funding.
 
 Adam: (07:00)
 So I can imagine that there's going to be mergers and acquisitions that aren't successful. We can, you can read about the famous ones when, I forget which company bought AOL, you know, no one really knows what AOL is anymore. You kn...

Contact Sarah Hoxie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-hoxie-38b54133/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Mitch Roshong, and I'm here to preview episode 144 of our series. Today's featured guest speaker is Sarah Hoxie. Sarah is the Chief Accounting Officer at LSC Communications. In this role, she is responsible for all aspects of accounting and has overseen various projects impacting the organization. Throughout this episode, Sarah talks about her experience with business transformation projects and focuses on the people involved. Transformations can greatly affect culture, and Sarah explains how to best manage that. So keep listening as we head over to the conversation now. 

Adam: (00:54)
Sarah, thanks so much for coming on the podcast today. And our focus today is going to be around business transformation. And so just to kind of start off, what is your take on business transformation? 
 

Sarah: (01:05)
So in my opinion, you know, business transformation, isn't a straight line journey. It's not a matter of starting at, you know, "A" and working your way to "Z", and then, and then you're done. It's really about, you know, looking at the opportunities that are out there in the environment, and adapting to those, whether it's, you know, social, economic, environmental, they're all things that need to be considered. And as you're on that journey, incorporating them as, as they change. You know, in my experience, it's a lot of business transformation is about making the business or making your area of the company continue to remain, you know, relevant and I think the scope can be, you know, as narrow or as broad as, as needed, you know, I think you see a lot of companies that do business transformation well, look at all levels of a business and they never stopped looking for the changes that are out there. 

Adam: (02:08)
So when we look at business transformation, what approach do you take when you're leading a transformation? 

Sarah: (02:15)
I think the first thing that I really focus on is his tone at the top. I think to get everyone in a part of the business or even the whole company engaged in business transformation, they need to view it as a priority from the leaders of the, of the business. And I think it should, you know, my approach has been to involve all levels of the organization, right from, you know, people that have just joined the company or your interns, you know, right through people that are, you know, more senior in individuals, and getting their input. I think they have got to be helping drive some of the, the change, help identify, what the issues are, what the problems are, and then work together to find solutions for them. I think when you get all levels of the business, working behind this kind of transformation, it really does drive better solutions. You've got people that are doing some of the things on a day-to-day basis that can see how they can resolve the issues are they know what the issue is, and maybe don't know how to resolve it, but if you get everyone involved, then all those ideas are coming together and everyone's working towards them. I think another key piece of it is really accountability. Once you have that tone at the top set, and, you know, people are right behind that, then, you know, you can start to encourage everyone to be accountable for the areas they're getting involved in. From an accountabilities perspective, tracking some of the progress on the areas of transformation is really helpful as well, because, you know, if you're three months into this kind of process and you can precisely communicate to everyone, the progress that has been made, you know, and you're doing that through being able to track the progress, it starts to build the momentum for everyone to really get behind, the project. But, you know, it's in, you know, in the organizations I've been with it's, the tracking can take over. You really want something that's simple. That's not taking time away from the actual transformation activity. It kind of going back to what I was saying about getting all levels involved. I think if you're going to get true business transformation, you really need to give people a, you know, a lot of free reign to come up with those ideas. You know, don't set kind of restraints on projects or ideas that can be investigated. And I think that's, that's where I've had the most success when you've really given people a, you know, a free range, maybe hold up a brainstorming session to identify all potential suggestions of how we can do transformation out there and then start to investigate them rather than, you know, giving very tight restrictions on what can be proposed. That's something else that I've seen work well is not losing track of ideas and suggestions that don't necessarily make sense today, but may make sense in the future. Keeping an eye on those is always helpful because you know, the world is continually changing and that that idea or suggestion might be a great in, you know, two or three years time. 

Adam: (05:47)
It almost sounds like you're referring to like a cultural shift within an organization, where, you know, you're changing the tone at the top and you're listening to ideas, even writing them down and keeping them for two to three years, maybe because that idea may be different later. How would you execute like a cultural shift in an organization to make sure that the transformation is successful? 

Sarah: (06:07)
When you think about making it stick? It has to be something that continually comes up in everyone's day to day activities. It's not something that just people focus on for a month and that it's never mentioned again. It's, you know, really keeping it in the forefront of everyone's mind, even if it's small, day-to-day kind of, activities, really, you know, any chance of, you know, small meetings as a team or a larger kind of town halls, really having it as an agenda item that people talk about, that people celebrate. Some of my teams have had a great success in that. And, you know, there's been, you know, recognition and reward for those kinds of, activities, which then starts to drive more, more change within the organization. 

Adam: (07:05)
That makes complete sense. But then how do you avoid people from falling back into the old habits? Because, you know, you can, put it in front of people's faces, but then over time, you know, it's easy to go backwards. 

Sarah: (07:18)
Yeah. Absolutely true. And I think it's very easy when individuals are not seeing the, kind of the fruits of their labors, right. If they don't understand what impact their projects or their involvement is having in, driving change or maybe improving results, then it's very easy to slip back. So the more that businesses and groups can communicate successes, I think it's easier to stop them falling back into the old habits, you know, and I think it's listening to all viewpoints within an organization as well. People that have been with organizations a long time, have a very different viewpoint, than people who, you know, have only been with the company a short period of time. I think it's making both of those groups feel like their thoughts are, and input is valued. You know, people that have been with the organization, you know, a longer time may think, oh, we tried this, it didn't work. and so a lot of it is encouraging those individuals to, you know, be more open to trying again, but also listening to them and say, Hey, why didn't this work previously and trying to l...

Michael L. Schmit, CPA, is the Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of the Schweitzer-Mauduit International Inc. (SWM), a publicly traded, multinational diversified producer of highly engineered solutions and advanced materials for a variety of industries, headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia (NYSE: SWM). SWM has been experiencing rapid growth over the last few years and their accounting team has been going through a business transformation, which Michael has been the leader of. This transformation includes implementation of robotic process automation (RPA), improved operational analytics, and several process improvements to meet the needs of the growing business. Michael's career spans over 25 years where he has held leadership roles in financial reporting, operations and management accounting, finance, internal and external audit, as well as shared services. And, in this episode, he shares what has gone in to his current business transformation project, how it compares to previous transformations, and how technology and the future of work play a role. His main takeaway? Businesses must understand their "why" and the specific goals they hope to achieve through transformation. Download and listen to the whole episode now!

Contact Michael Schmit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-schmit-8350545/

Michael's Profile Magazine Article: https://profilemagazine.com/2020/michael-schmit-swm-international/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
 Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson. And this is episode 143 of our series. Today's conversation features Michael Schmit, the corporate controller and chief accounting officer of SWM. The accounting team at SWM has been going through a business transformation, including the implementation of RPA, improved operational analytics and several process improvements to meet the needs of the growing business. And Michael has been the leader of these efforts. In this episode, he discusses the importance of identifying the company's why when considering a transformation and the role of technology in the process, keep listening as we head over to hear more now. 
 
 Mitch: (00:51)
 So business transformation is not really new when it comes to accounting and finance, but the systems, the processes, the things that are being transformed have certainly evolved. So what has accounting transformation looked like at SWM and how does that compare to previous transformation projects or other things you've seen evolve in your experiences? 
 
 Michael: (01:11)
 Yeah, I think that accounting and finance really isn't new, but I think the why we're doing this and the, how we'll achieve this, really has been continuing to evolve, to ensure that we're meeting customer's needs. For instance, the SWM, our accounting business transformation is really following our overall company's business transformation. SWM's has been growing at an accelerated pace, both organically and through acquisition in the last year and a half or the last, I guess two and a half years since I've been here, we've actually grown from about a billion in revenue and 22 production facilities in eight countries to now 1.5 billion in revenue with 36 production facilities in 11 countries. And now we operate in over 90 countries. So we've been really focused on integrating our acquisitions while transforming our own accounting processes, leveraging best practices from companies we've acquired as well as adding new technologies along the way. So our why wasn't to, just, you know, cut costs. It was to obtain synergies from the business, but also improve on kind of our status quo and, add more value from our roles as accountants. The vision for the accounting organization here is to operate as one team and one company to support our company's vision, their knowledge sharing and process improvements and leveraging technologies to execute world-class business partnering and fiduciary excellence. And so all those things are kind of leading the transformation and, you know, we see the fiduciary excellence piece as the absolute minimum expectation. Yeah. That includes complying with all laws and regulations, and to do that as efficiently as possible, but then also business partnering, which is partnering with companies' leadership and management, each other on our teams, and also other groups to provide actionable, insightful reporting to assist in decision-making to achieve the company's vision. So in other words, taking the rear view kind of near view of driving down the road and focus more on what's coming on the windshield and in the future of the road ahead. So this is different than past transformations, I was involved with in other companies, cause I think the why was really always focused on how do we lower costs and the, how was we're going to offshore it to a lower cost place like the Philippines or India. You know, sometimes robotics were in there as well, but really that's the main difference I see. 
 
 Mitch: (03:47)
 We'll get back to the specific, why at SWM and some of the goals and, you know, progress that you've seen in just a minute, we'll go to that. But I first want to, you know, take a step back. You mentioned business partnering another term that's, you know, again, not new, but it's definitely more prominent, I think these days when it comes to accounting and finance. This whole conversation has a lot to do with the future of work. And that's another hot topic, a phrase that is getting thrown around a lot. So before we really dive into what all of this means and the connection between the future of work transformation, business partnering, I'm curious what you think about the future of work. How do you define it? What are some of the main considerations are really, you know, why listeners should be aware of what's going on when people talk about the future of work? 
 
 Michael: (04:33)
 Yeah, to me, the future of work really boils down to value creation. In other words, how can we as accounting professionals add more value beyond what we have done historically and what can now frankly, be done at lower rates in other countries, or be replaced by technology? You know, we're evolving from the history of being just scorekeepers to being trusted business partners. And that is someone that's going to provide those insights to help drive decisions of the business. And, you know, the rate of change now is greater than it's ever been in most industries and it's going to continue to increase. So as accountants, we have to be better prepared to change and help our businesses succeed in this. So we need to be able to evolve ourselves and improve at least at the speed of our business. And why should your listeners be, you know, interested in that, frankly, so they don't get left behind. I mean, I literally, you know, having their roles outsourced overseas or replaced by technology accountants today really must focus on continuing to develop their own business skills and be able to articulate the value they're bringing to the business above, you know, debits and credits and internal controls. That's just not good enough anymore and won't be in the future. 
 
 Mitch: (05:56)
 So that's a great point. And we have a lot of conversations about this and the need for upskilling, reskilling, and technology is a big part of that. And we'll get to technology coming up next, but to connect the dots in our conversations so far, the accounting transformation that you talked about, the specific why at SWM o...

About Sylvana Caloni: https://sylvanacaloni.com/about-me/

Humble Crumbles: Savouring the crumbs of wisdom from the rise and fall of Humble Pie:

• https://sylvanacaloni.com/humble-crumbles/
• https://www.amazon.com/HUMBLE-CRUMBLES-Savouring-crumbs-wisdom/dp/1916328571/
• https://sylvanacaloni.com/book-reviews/
• https://sylvanacaloni.com/testimonials-2/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
Welcome back to count me in, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host Mitch Roshong and today you will hear from Sylvana Caloni, as she joins us for episode 142 of our series. Sylvana is a former equities fund manager, a professional certified coach and author of the book, Humble Crumbles. She was an executive vice president when she was privileged to partner with an executive coach. She is now a leadership consultant committed to paying it forward by enabling clients to make an impact at their companies and in their communities. In this conversation, you will hear Sylvana discuss the value of failure, the benefits of clear communication and ways to propel business. Let's head over and listen to her now. 
 
Adam: (00:57)
Sylvana, I just want to thank you so much for coming on the count me in podcast today. 
 
Sylvana: (01:01)
Thank you, Adam. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and to explore failure and entrepreneurship and all sorts of different ideas coming from our book, Humble Crumbles.
 
Adam: (01:13)
So speaking of your book, Humble Crumbles, you say in that book, failure has a purpose and failure's a part of the process. So can you just start by giving us some more insight into that statement? 
 
Sylvana: (01:25)
Yeah, absolutely. So I guess we see across different cultures and across different types of businesses, if you like and academia, that there is a fear of failure. And we, as individuals often are constrained in what we do because of that fear of failure. It may be so great that we prevent ourselves from jumping in taking the leap and starting up a business, or perhaps we have started the business, but because of that fear of failure and because of a fear of not meeting the commitments we've made to our stakeholders, et cetera, again, it constrains what we can do. So if you look at tech companies, for instance, you'll often hear the phrase fail fast, fail often, or if you look at scientific revolutions and innovations and how things have pivoted during this pandemic, actually, if there had not been failures, there wouldn't have been learning. There wouldn't have been multiple iterations. There wouldn't have been new responses to the challenges that are out there. So for Paul O'Donnell my co-author and I, the idea that failure is part of the process is that we do need to sort of remove ourselves from that view that it's first time only time, and we're going to be successful from the get go, because in fact, most successful businesses have started out in some other form in their initial iterations. And it's the ability of the business owners and entrepreneurs to be flexible and to pivot and, you know, take on constructive criticism or take on impartial advice to modify their product or service, which means that ultimately it is successful. 
 
Adam: (03:15)
So when you look at these leaders who are having to transition and fail and become more successful, how do you, you know, how do you understand what makes them tick? What do you, what, what can we do to, to look at these people and see what can, what can cause you to fail and keep coming back and keep coming back? 
 
Sylvana: (03:34)
It's a great point that I think one of the key points we're trying to make in Humble Crumbles it's that the failure of the business is often attributed to external factors. So someone will say, well, you know, the economic environment deteriorated or technology changed or legislation was too prohibitive. And that's true. I mean, absolutely there can be external factors that impact the success or failure of a business. But what I found when I was an equity analyst and funds manager, was that more often than not the failure of a business was to do with the owners or the leaders, the management of the companies and the problems I often saw were whether they were not self-aware. So they didn't have a sense of, okay, well what makes me tick? What, what are my drivers? What are my motivations? How do I make sense of my world? And in having that lack of self-awareness, they're not then able to engage successfully with others because they take the view that well, it's my way or the highway, or this is the way the world works. So they don't have an appreciation that their own norms, standards, practices, ways of behaving are not universal. They could differ with other people because other people have different cultural backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, gender backgrounds, it could be a different set of, drivers within an organization. And if at what we show in the book, Humble Crumbles, and it's full title is Humble Crumbles: Savoring the Crumbs of Wisdom From The Rise and Fall of Humble Pie. We share Paul O'Donnell's story. So Paul is my co-author and Paul like me had come from the financial services world. We had both worked at Bankers Trust. So BT co. Us company. In fact, even though we were both Australians and you can hear that in my accent. So we were working in Bankers Trust in Sydney, Australia, and Paul eventually left BT and started up a couple of his own businesses. So he's a serial entrepreneur and his first couple of businesses were in what you might call financial adjacent. So they were similar types of businesses, you know, financial advisory or publishing a financial material, fundraising, that type of thing. And then he wanted to go into a business that was more real in the sense of making something so humble pie was a business that manufactured pies for the retail sector. And then ultimately also he got into wholesale. So it was, it was pies that we eat sweet and savory pies that we eat. And he came from that financial services background with the number of ways of seeing the world behaving and business traditions, if you like, or business practices that certainly worked for him, but there were others that were more relevant to financial services, but not so much to a factory where he had people in the factory kitchen making the pies or sweeping the floors or delivering the pies to the shops, et cetera. So what we found Paul was blindsided in that he just assumed for instance, that the factory workers would, like him, have a view around equity as a way of incentivizing behavior or around bonuses as a way of, you know, promoting work, et cetera. Whereas these people had different concerns, different cares, you know, for them the weekly pay pack. It was what was really important, not some notion of equity or a bonus at the end of the year. So the blind sidedness or the lack of Paul's self-awareness, which he courageously, I have to say. I mean, he fesses up basically in the book and looks at some of the errors he made with. I think, I think he's very generous and very courageous in doing that because what he's doing is he's demonstrating how sometimes the very things that we think are our strengths, if taken to an extreme can actually turn into a weakness or can turn into a vulnerability in a negative sense. 
 
Adam: (08:00)
That almost mak...

Contact Anders: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersliulindberg/

IMA's Count Me In Ep. 45: Anders Liu-Lindberg - "Insight x Influence = IMPACT": https://podcast.imanet.org/45

Additional Resources from Anders:

• Link to book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Create-value-Finance-Business-Partner/dp/1724850741
• Link to the ebook: https://businesspartneringinstitute.org/research-and-networks/#insights
• Link to blog: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersliulindberg/detail/recent-activity/posts/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
 Welcome back to count me in IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson. And this is episode 141 of our series. For today's conversation, we welcome back Anders Liu-Linberg. Anders is an advisor to senior finance and FP&A leaders on how to succeed with business partnering. He is a partner, the chief operating officer and the chief marketing officer for the business partnering Institute. Back in episode 45 of count me in Anders talked about how insight time influence equals impact when it comes to business partnering. In this episode, he focuses on the influence piece of that equation and shares how business professionals can increase their influence across the organization. Keep listening to hear more about business partnering and contributing to overall impact. 
 
 Mitch: (00:58)
 So first Anders, thank you for joining us again in our first podcast episode, I know we really talked about, business partnering at a little bit of a higher level. You know, you gave us your definition of insights, times influence equals impact, and we really appreciated all that information you shared. So we wanted to bring you back and for today's conversation, we really want to dive into the influence piece of that equation and how, developing influence leads to more effective business partnering. So to start off our conversation, you know, as far as influence goes, what is the first step? You know, what does it take to be an influential business leader? 
 
 Anders: (01:36)
 So if you're a finance professional today and you want to influence business leaders, I guess the first simple step that you need to take is to identify who are those business leaders that you're most likely to be supporting, because that are always clear to people, right? So who is, who's my stakeholder, who is this person or these few people that I need to influence? I think that's, that's really step number one. And then step number two, once you have intensified them is really to reach out to them and say, Hey, you know, I used to work in accounting and finance, and now when I get closer to the business and, you know, help you drive your agenda, can we have a talk about what you're doing and how it can maybe help, right? So then you can have the first conversation and of course, then you build on it from there, but at two steps, identify and engage and then, you know, we can get it into the more details. 
 
 Mitch: (02:33)
 And then the business leaders that you work with, they're not always just interested in data and reports, right? There's a little bit more of a relationship, I think that has to be built, especially when we talk about business partnering. So as far as influence, how can I become part of the team? 
 
 Anders: (02:49)
 Yeah. So, so key for someone to send to you is obviously that they trust you and in any kind of human relation, you know, we want to get to know people before we start to trust in them, of course, from a finance and accounting perspective, we come often with the numbers and with the data and, you know, the foundation is that they can trust those, right? If our accounting is not working so well and the numbers keep changing, I mean, we need to fix that foundation first because otherwise there's not going to be any trust. The second bit is then to develop the interpersonal trust and build the relationship that can best too, by spending as much time as possible with your stakeholders. So today many finance teams, you know, they sit on their own floor in the building and they sit together and they do finance stuff. But if you want to build relationships with business leaders, you got to get out from that cubicle and move your desk and your chair down to those people you want to support and sit with them, if not for a full week, then at least three to four days a week. And then maybe you can one day finance because that's the best way to build trust, to be around them, you know, have the coffee side chat and all those small info and sometimes follow up is that we need to do, because that's how you get to know people. And if you don't know people, they probably don't trust you either. 
 
 Mitch: (04:09)
 That's a great point. And it is a lot of times I feel some of those more casual conversations as well, where you kind of learn about each other. So putting yourself out there and kind of forcing that opportunity, I think is a great recommendation, kind of building on this, you know, a little bit more, as far as the steps, is there a proven structure, you know, that could help me to really start influencing these business leaders and the decision-making, you know, beyond the relationships. Now let's get back into the business a little bit. 
 
 Anders: (04:36)
 Yeah. So we generally have like a three-step process you could follow. The first step is what we already talked about is to identify your stakeholders or the business leaders that you want to support. And then do a small, let's say a desktop, a biography of analysis and say, how strong is my current relationship with these stakeholders? How much influence do they have in decision making? And what are the currently thinking about, right? Because then you sort of know, you know, that the important ones where the relationship is maybe not so strong and then maybe they don't have such a good impression of you. That's where you need to start to identify the person and say, Hey, I want to sit down, have a lunch or talk with you. So at that talk with our coffee or lunch, or virtual, whatever it might be, you sit down and talk about three things, introduce yourselves if you haven't done that already talk about how their business is going and then, you know, get an idea about what do they think about finances right now, because that tells you one of their priorities and what do they think if you. Then you had, when you've had that talk would be half an hour, an hour, it doesn't have to be long. Then you go back to them and say, thanks for having that chat with me. Now, I know more about your, let's say your top three priorities. Now I want to try to help you. So, can we discuss how it can be a part of that? And so maybe they have some priorities. Some are maybe very far out in terms of this transformation or some very customer centric things, but some of it could be very relevant also to finance and accounting to get involved in. So you might pick one of that top roads and say, I'm going to spend some time analyzing the numbers and figuring out,...

Contact Dana Pascarella: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-catanzaro-94978a6/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
 Welcome back to count me in, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson. And this is episode 140 of our series and today's conversation. You will hear from Dana Pascarella, VP of finance at Wesco International. As she talks about staff development. Dana is a finance executive with extensive accounting experience at a global publicly held fortune 500 organization. She is particularly skilled in mergers and acquisitions, debt, financings, business growth strategies and technology upgrades, among other areas, but she is especially passionate about developing our finance staff to ensure organizational success. Let's head over to the conversation and hear more about it now.
 
 Mitch: (00:52)
 So Dana, from a finance perspective to kick things off here, what are some of the key areas you focus on when it comes to staff development?
 
 Dana: (01:01)
 Yeah, so ultimately I'm focused on providing my staff, you know, a foundation that will allow them to deliver solutions in the future. So, obviously that's, teaching them the skills to become an expert in their area. Right. I want them to become an expert. I need them to have the basics, the fundamentals, the technical skills, but also I think it's so important, especially with the younger staff that they really start to understand and learn those softer skills. So organization, adoptability, communication, you know, those soft skills are so important and can truly take years to learn and you want them to be able to really be able to draw upon that, that total foundation so that the technical skill plus the soft skill will really provide them something, to draw upon as they move forward in their career.
 
 Mitch: (01:59)
 Yeah. You know, it's interesting at IMA obviously we focus on management accounting, you know, accounting and finance and the technical skills, the emerging skills are obviously highly important, but we also really try to make sure that the foundation, you know, the, the leadership skills and the ethics, all of that is equally emphasized, I would say, and a lot of the things that we do and now granted it's for members as opposed to staff, but I think the focus is really there. And, it's all about developing that pipeline. Right. And I think that's kind of what you were touching on. So from your experience, from again finance and staff, when it comes to developing your staff, what kind of methods or types of trainings have you attempted, implemented? You know, what kind of training has been the most effective for you and your staff?
 
 Dana: (02:50)
 Yeah, so definitely every year always focus on goal setting with a couple of stretch goals, right? I want to, I want to challenge them, pull them out of their comfort zone a little bit. But you know, something as simple as regular communication, having one-on-ones and being clear and providing constructive criticism to really help them, you know, improve if you're not providing constant and regular feedback, I don't think individuals know where to begin or what to improve on. So I really think that communication is super important, cross training, getting folks into, maybe areas that aren't their area of expertise, but, allowing that cross training to really build out their, their expertise, involving folks in a new project or a responsibility for a short period of time, if something comes along again, that's part of, kind of pulling them out of their comfort zone, but also seeing how they do with these new projects and give them that role, you know, obviously guide them, but let them be the decision-maker to an extent, obviously, you know, the leader I'd have to provide guidance, but let them participate to understand the different perspectives and see how they would answer the questions. And let them feel kind of part of that process. I also think anytime you can provide a staff an offsite experience, I think that, especially in finance right, we're just the behind the scenes books and numbers. So when you can give an employee an opportunity to kind of better understand the business, the operational side of what's going on, you know, be it visit a branch, an office, accompany an internal audit to a site visit, visit a customer, a vendor. I think that really helps, especially some of the newer staff really put the full picture together. So not only understanding the numbers, but also understanding the why, the how, and how the businesses is running. I just think it helps to put that full picture together and is just so much more valuable as they move forward in their career.
 
 Mitch: (05:10)
 Yeah, I totally agree. And a lot of great practices there from my own personal experiences, I can say, you know, a lot of what you've shared that I've been through, it certainly works, and it really helps with that stickiness and makes everything kind of make sense, big picture, like you were saying, but I do want to kind of just follow up on what we're talking about here. You've mentioned a few different skills, but when it comes specifically to finance, what are some of the skills you see that are most important? You know, when it comes to staff development, we talk a lot about upskilling or reskilling. Where is the focus today?
 
 Dana: (05:43)
 I mean, clearly you have to have that mathematical analytical skill set, right. I think, you know, today also having pretty strong IT skills are pretty important and that's all part of kind of that technical skill. But I also think persuasiveness, decisiveness, interpersonal communication skills are, it's all part of, of finance, right? It's more than just that technical skill. It's how do you, how do you deliver that technical answer? How do you, how do you provide that with confidence? Right. It's one thing just to give a number, but if you provide it with confidence and decisiveness, then your audience is, they have comfort in you and what you're delivering. So it's, again, it goes back to, you know, not only those technical skills, but, but having strong, soft skills.
 
 Mitch: (06:35)
 That's great. And, again, I can really see how everything you're sharing comes together. I can relate personally to some of my experiences. So, like I said, a lot of great ideas, perspective here. I'm curious when it comes to thinking about these ideas and trying to put a plan together, how do you go about mapping out these needs? How do you go about picking these different practices to implement? Is it an individual basis? Is it by department? You know, how do you go about planning your staff development?
 
 Dana: (07:08)
 Yeah, so I think it is important to kind of first understand the individual's career aspiration, their personality. You know, you want to make sure you're stretching and challenging the right person and the person that you're giving them challenges that fit their personality. Right, so you want to align project and work with those desires because if there's a mismatch, it won't be effective. Right. But it is about understanding that person, their career goals, their personality, and providing challenges and, and stretch goals to kind of push them outside of their comfort zone and see how they perform. You know, some people they're just, you know, you're steady Eddie, but, but some people have a desire to continue to move up in their career. And so you would align projects and responsibilities accordingly. So for me, it's always been understanding that individual person and their desires and their personalities, and then al...