GrowCFO Show

Abu Ali is a partner in a Newcastle based  corporate finance  boutique, WilliamsAli. He provides strategic M&A and funding advice to business owners and investors. Abu joins Kevin Appleby on the GrowCFO Show to explain the role of a corporate finance advisor, and the value that working with an external specialist can bring to your business. About Abu Ali Abu Ali qualified as a Charte...

We’re back after a short break with season 2 of The GrowCFO Show. Ajmal Mian and Kevin Appleby discuss the future of the high street and the impact this will have on the CFO in the first podcast of the new season. About Ajmal Mian Ajmal Mian is currently Director of Finance at SURREY SKYLINE LTD. Until recently he was CFO of Blacksheep. Blacksheep is an independent and award-winning design a...

Paul McKoen is a very experienced CFO. His career has given him experience in a number of industries and includes just about every aspect of the CFO role. We talk through Paul’s career, and highlight a some interesting experiences of the CFO needing to make an impact very quickly in a new CFO role. Paul talks about the times where a fresh pair of eyes and some cross-industry experience made...

GrowCFO has created a CFO Competency Framework that covers the key skills required to become an effective finance leader.  This is rapidly becoming the global toolkit to help finance leaders benchmark their skills and competencies against their peer group.  It also acts as a CFO Readiness Toolkit to help the next generation of aspiring CFOs. During this podcast episode, Dan Wells and Kevin Appleby...

Tanbir Jasimuddin shares his experience with digital finance. Tanbir and his team at family law firm Vardags have recently won an award. Transformer of the year at the Generation CFO Digital Finance Function Awards. He is also an author of white papers for the FP&A trends group. About Tanbir Jasimuddin Tanbir graduated with a chemistry degree and qualified as an accountant, then moved into man...

Many businesses have struggled during the past 12 months and need to adapt to ever-changing circumstances.  This may require significant adjustments to their business model and operations to help them survive. A business turnaround strategy can help with this. During this week’s podcast episode, I asked experienced CFO Baz Bedrossian to share his thoughts.  Baz has strong experience of suppor...

GrowCFO are launching our 2021 finance systems survey to share technology insights from your community . This will help finance leaders to embed technology solutions into your business operations. In addition, this will help you to act as a catalyst for change across your wider firm. Technology offers more opportunities to streamline business processes and to evolve finance functions. This is driv...

Research shows that soft skills contribute towards 80% of your career achievements.  Despite this, most people prioritise developing hard skills and do not have an action plan to improve your soft skills.  This is particularly true of the finance leader community, who spend much of their career learning technical accounting skills. The CFO role has evolved significantly during recent years.  You w...

Mark Lee has been described as the most networked accountant in the UK. Who better to talk to about building your professional network?! Networking on LinkedIn is a key part of this. Particularly at the moment when meeting up in person is so difficult. Mark is a man of many talents. He runs his own business mentoring accountants and tax advisors. Mark is Chairman of the Tax Advice Network. He is a...

Surviving lockdown was an issue raised in the last GrowCFO Situation Room networking group. I asked resilience specialist Russell Thackeray for some advice. Our finance leader community is affected by lockdown in a number of ways. Some are working solo, home alone. Others are struggling to do a high-pressure role alongside home schooling and childcare. Yet others might be finding themselves in bet...

We publish the GrowCFO Show podcast every week, but its only a small part of GrowCFO. In this week’s show we take a look at how you, the finance leader, can benefit from the wider CFO community. Grow CFO is where Finance Leaders Grow Together. Join thousands of like-minded professionals using GrowCFO to access the combined knowledge and experience of the finance leader community Being a succ...

If you are a GrowCFO member you will most likely have come across Patrick Dunne already. When is comes to boards, and how they work, Patrick is pretty much the leading authority. Inside GrowCFO, Patrick frequently talks about the dynamics between the CEO, the CFO and the board. But today we find out about Patrick Dunne the person. He tells me about his career, and why he wrote the book “Boar...

Tony Talbot is an experienced headhunter turned podcaster. He’s the host of the Career Move Secrets podcast and he joins me on The GrowCFO Show to talk about the hidden job market. He gives us the inside track on how most senior roles are filled and exactly how a headhunter will draw up a shortlist of candidates. Tony specialises in helping the owners and leaders of consulting companies hire...

Is 2021 the year you aim to take on the top finance job? If so the Future CFO Programme can help you get there. Dan Wells, founder of GrowCFO explains how We have upgraded the GrowCFO Future CFO programme and moved to a new platform for 2021. We’ve made the material and workshops easier to access and more flexible to use. The changes will give you an enhanced learning experience thats easier...

We’re all back at work after the festive break, refreshed and ready for whatever challenges 2021 will bring. Did you set yourself any new goals for 2021, or perhaps some new year resolutions? I caught up with Mark Channon for some help on turning those goals and resolutions into reality. Mark has some great advice to help you achieve your objectives. About Mark Channon Mark originally traine...

Goal setting is something that should be very personal. As you move to senior finance roles you need to take charge of your own destiny. You set your own goals, independently. We believe that goal setting starts with understanding your why? Only once you understand your why can you move to the what? The specific goals you want to achieve. Setting the goal is all very well, but you also need to add...

At the end of 2020 you may well find yourself reviewing your finance team. Its been a very unusual year. A test of character. Some of your team may have struggled while others have flourished. The team has adapted and survived, but the start of 2021 might be the time to make some more long term changes. Andrew Waters joins the GrowCFO Show to help us navigate our way through the review. What do yo...

On this week’s podcast we talk about investor communications. Investor communications are an ever more demanding responsibility for the CFO. We take a look your responsibilities, how these can become a major distraction from other key business tasks, and how tools built specifically for the CFO can help you. Aside from accounting software there aren’t many tools made specifically for t...

Catherine Clark joins the GrowCFO to talk about imposter syndrome. Its a problem that Catherine encounters with lots of her mentees. Its something quite common amongst first time CFOs and its something she suffered from herself in her first role as a CFO. In this podcast Catherine gives you some great strategies for coping with imposter syndrome. What is Imposter Syndrome? You are in the role that...

You are a newly appointed CFO. You need to take a view of whether your finance function and the finances systems you use are appropriate. Matt Benaron joins the GrowCFO Show to show you how to create a finance function blueprint during your first 100 days in post. About Matt Benaron As Director and Co-founder, Matt Benaron leads the VantagePoint consulting team by drawing upon his extensive experi...

Hannah Munro is managing director of Itassolutions and host of CFO 4.0 Podcast. Hannah has over 10 years experience helping CFOs drive finance transformation and reshape finance functions. We look at what you need to do as a CFO to lead a successful finance transformation There are three elements to finance transformation: People, Process & Systems Hannah Munro has a background in analytics an...

Today I explore the CFO mindset with Tony Shafar. Tony is an executive coach. He coaches business leaders and in particular people in senior finance roles. Tony believes that for most the technical abilities needed to do the job are taken for granted, but these only account for a small part of what makes a successful leader. The rest is mindset. We explore how the wrong mindset can undermine you,...

Your first CFO role will involve a big step change in responsibility and take you right to the edge of your comfort zone and beyond. You need to stay resilient in order to survive. Dr Russell Thackeray is a psychologist and psychotherapist who specialises in resilience and frequently coaches c-suite executives. He shares his expertise on the GrowCFO Show Dr Russell Thackeray started his career as...

There are many different ways to become a CFO. In this episode of the GrowCFO Show Kevin Appleby explores the seven main routes to that top job with GrowCFO founder Dan Wells. We discuss which route is best. We look at the advantages and disadvantages of each. Then we conclude by looking at what help and support you might need depending on which route you take. The road to becoming a CFO isn&#8217...

David B Horne is a CFO who has written a best selling business book, “Add then Multiply”. The book describes his FACE methodology for growing and exiting a business, and is great reading for CEOs and CFOs alike. He trained as a chartered accountant with PWC in Canada. Because he can speak fluent German, he wanted to work in a German-speaking office and so he went to Switzerland. From t...