Episodios

  • The Hidden Power of CFO-CRO Collaboration | Puneet Arora

    The Hidden Power of CFO-CRO Collaboration | Puneet Arora
    Jul 16 2024
    If a CRO is expected to know the balance sheet, shouldn’t the CFO should know the sales playbook? After all, a strong partnership between these two roles is instrumental to a company’s financial health, and they need to be able to support one another.

    In this installment of our better business partnering series, Puneet Arora, President at Yellow.ai, talks to Melissa Howatson about how CFOs can form strong partnerships with their CROs. Puneet was previously a CRO himself, and has over 25 years of experience working alongside CFOs while leading sales teams at high-growth SaaS organizations. In that time, he’s had a variety of strong CFO-CRO relationships and tells us about the ones that were the most effective.

    Learn how to nurture a strong partnership between the Office of Finance and revenue operations by fostering not just rapport, but strategic alignment.

    Discussed In This Episode:
    • The unique responsibilities of the CFO and CRO, and how a strong partnership leads to better business outcomes
    • The increasing importance of the revenue operations team in modern organizations and the layer of support they bring to the business
    • Some of the top challenges CROs are facing in today’s business landscape, and how CFOs can support them through these challenges
    • Common points of friction between the finance and revenue operations teams, and how they can work better together to uncover growth opportunities and get deals done
    • Traits CROs appreciate in a CFO, and tactics CFOs can use to facilitate a productive relationship with the revenue operations team
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    40 m
  • Navigating the Digital Financial Transformation Journey | Stacy Brown

    Navigating the Digital Financial Transformation Journey | Stacy Brown
    Jul 9 2024
    FP&A professionals spend so much of their time gathering data, and only a small portion analyzing it. Integrating digital transformation in finance has the potential to shift this dynamic by automating data collection and allowing more time for in-depth analysis and interpretation.

    Stacy Brown is VP at Marcum Technology and has more than 15 years of experience advising on ERP and CPM implementations. Stacy specializes in financial planning and analysis (FP&A), financial reporting, workforce planning, and financial forecasting, leveraging her extensive accounting and finance background to help organizations create efficiencies within their finance organizations.

    In this episode, Stacy talks to host Melissa Howatson about the lessons she’s learned through these implementations and her advice for organizations beginning their digital transformation journeys.

    Learn how finance can benefit from investing in digitization, and the role CFOs need to play in leading digital transformation within their organizations.

    Discussed In This Episode:
    • Identifying opportunities for digitization, and how an outside consultant can help spot inefficiencies
    • The five steps of a digital transformation journey in finance, including the implementation of a modern ERP
    • How to build a lean, flexible, and cost-effective tech stack
    • Common pitfalls that slow down software implementations
    • How to select the right vendor for your current and future needs
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    25 m
  • Staying Sharp as a CFO: Insider Tips from Melissa Howatson

    Staying Sharp as a CFO: Insider Tips from Melissa Howatson
    Jul 2 2024
    CFOs are experts in growing a business, navigating volatile economic environments, and acting as leaders inside and outside the organization. But as they focus on these big-picture problems, they naturally become removed from many day-to-day operations. It can be a challenge to stay sharp on basic skills and informed on new trends and technologies.

    Thomas Krolak, Director of FP&A at Vena, has a front-row seat to how our CFO and show host, Melissa Howatson, handles this challenge. In this episode, Thomas and Melissa flip the script, with Thomas interviewing Melissa about how to stay sharp as a CFO. Melissa discusses some best practices for continued learning, as well as some humbling moments in her leadership career.

    Learn how CFOs keep their tactical skills sharp as they move a little farther away from the day-to-day action.

    Discussed In This Episode:
    • How to stay up-to-date on trends as a busy CFO
    • The value of sharing information with your peers, mentors, and wider network
    • How to get the most ROI out of conferences and other outside learning opportunities
    • The importance of brushing up on the basics from time-to-time
    • Learning from your rising stars
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    22 m
  • Key Attributes of an A-Player Growth CFO | Vinny Prajka

    Key Attributes of an A-Player Growth CFO | Vinny Prajka
    Jun 25 2024
    What makes an exceptional, growth-driving CFO?

    Vinny Prajka might know better than anyone. Vinny has worked with dozens of CFOs in his role at JMI Equity, where he helps portfolio companies accelerate growth and navigate operational challenges. Vinny also sits on multiple boards, and formerly held two CFO positions himself, at both SonaCare Medical and BlackBaud Inc.

    In this episode, Vinny talks to host Melissa Howatson about the best CFOs he’s worked with, and the qualities these A-players all have in common.

    Discover how, as a CFO, you can help drive growth in your organization, demonstrate exceptional leadership, effectively communicate with investors and become the driving force behind business performance.

    Discussed In This Episode:
    • The delicate balance between growing an organization and managing costs, amidst economic uncertainty
    • The importance of the CFO’s relationships, particularly with the CEO and the Board of Directors
    • Creating and communicating alignment between the CEO and CFO
    • Why CFOs need to think with a zero-based budgeting mindset to assess and reassess the value of every position in their business
    • The value of a long-range plan (LRP), and how often a CFO should update theirs
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    26 m
  • Hidden Threats: The Role of the CFO in Privacy and Security | Joe Oleksak

    Hidden Threats: The Role of the CFO in Privacy and Security | Joe Oleksak
    Jun 18 2024
    CFOs wield significant influence in safeguarding a company’s financial data, but entrusting cybersecurity solely to their CIOs may jeopardize privacy and open the door to data breaches.

    As Partner at Plante Moran, Joe Oleksak advises businesses on cybersecurity, IT audit, and technology compliance. He has more than twenty years of information systems security and information technology audit experience in financial institutions, including banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, and insurance companies. In this episode, Joe and host Melissa Howatson discuss the role CFOs play in protecting financial data against cyber threats, and how they can partner with CIOs and CEOs to build a holistic cybersecurity operation that prioritizes culture and processes as much as technology.

    Learn how important the CFO is to modern cybersecurity risk management, and the steps CFOs should take to protect their organizations against privacy and security threats.

    Discussed In This Episode:
    • The evolving cyber threat landscape, and how hacker attacks are gaining strength
    • Why people and processes are just as important to cybersecurity as technology
    • How CFOs, CEOs, and CIOs should work together to create a holistic approach to cybersecurity
    • Proactive strategies for CFOs to safeguard their organizations and mitigate risk
    • The difference between privacy and security, and why understanding this difference is so important to protect financial data
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    48 m
  • The Future of Finance Leadership

    The Future of Finance Leadership
    Jun 11 2024
    Market volatility in the last few years has shifted the business landscape. We’ve gone from a “growth at all costs” mindset, to one that is hyper-focused on efficiency.

    This shift has had a huge impact on the Office of Finance. In this episode, recorded as a keynote onstage at Excelerate Finance 2024, host Melissa Howatson and Vena’s Director of FP&A, Thomas Krolak, discuss the ways the CFO’s role has evolved, as well as changes that are yet to come.

    Learn what the future of finance holds, and what strategic finance leaders can do to unlock the potential in their people and data as they contend with unprecedented challenges.

    Discussed In This Episode:
    • Disruptive forces that are changing the way businesses operate
    • How the scope of the finance team is growing as businesses re-prioritize efficiency and productivity
    • New ways FP&A leaders can use their skillsets to uncover business opportunities
    • Anticipated investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how new technologies will strengthen FP&A insights
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    37 m
  • The Evolution of Outsourced Finance and Accounting | Dani Sandler

    The Evolution of Outsourced Finance and Accounting | Dani Sandler
    Jun 4 2024
    A job description that is 40% controller, 20% bookkeeper and 20% Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) is going to be near impossible to fill. But for many businesses, this is exactly the sort of hybrid role they need.

    Outsourced accounting, through fractional models, has emerged as an option for businesses seeking flexibility, cost-efficiency, and specialized expertise in their financial operations.


    Dani Sandler works with those businesses at ScaleNorth, an outsourced accounting partner and NetSuite Solutions provider. In this episode, Dani shares how fractional finance services allow businesses to access a diverse pool of accounting professionals with varying skill sets, without having to increase their headcount.
    Learn how businesses leverage outsourced accounting and fractional models to reduce costs and improve processes and accuracy in accounting.


    Discussed In This Episode:
    • The benefits of fractional models in finance, from cost-effectiveness to scalability
    • How outsourced accounting drives operational efficiency and enhances decision-making processes
    • What types of businesses see the most value in an outsourced accounting model
    • How to select the right outsourced accounting provider for your business and how to get the most value out of the partnership
    • Implementing an ERP system such as NetSuite, and how businesses can optimize the platform for their unique needs
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    33 m
  • Better Together: Aligning FP&A and Accounting | David Cornfield and Tom Seegmiller

    Better Together: Aligning FP&A and Accounting | David Cornfield and Tom Seegmiller
    May 28 2024
    Accountants work with certainties, recording and reporting on past financial transactions to ensure accuracy and compliance. FP&A professional, however, are concerned with what-ifs, looking toward the future in the forms of forecasting and strategic planning. It’s no wonder these two sides of the finance team can sometimes feel their goals are incongruent.

    David Cornfield of World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF) and Tom Seegmiller of Texada Software each started their careers on one side of the finance team, and now oversee both functions. They understand what can cause friction between these two roles, and the dangers of working in silos. In this episode, David and Tom sit down with host Melissa Howatson to discuss the processes needed to build stronger collaboration across the finance team, improving data accuracy for accounting, forecasting accuracy for FP&A, and ultimately driving insights and value for the team as a whole.

    Learn how both FP&A and accounting professionals approach their work, and how to build a cohesive and healthy finance team by aligning their KPIs.

    Discussed in this Episode:
    • The benefits of a symbiotic relationship between FP&A and accounting, and how it can enhance overall efficiency and decision-making processes
    • The appreciation Tom and David have gained for accounting and FP&A respectively as they’ve expanded their responsibilities over time, and what they wish they had known earlier in their finance careers
    • How FP&A, with its focus on forecasting, budgeting, and strategic planning, can provide accountants with forward-looking insights, enabling them to anticipate financial trends and allocate resources effectively
    • How accountants, with their meticulous attention to detail and adherence to regulatory standards, play a crucial role in ensuring the accuracy and integrity of financial data used by FP&A
    • Examples of processes Tom and David have used to align their FP&A and accounting teams and ensure the standardization of data
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    32 m