The CFO Show

AI is poised to revolutionize the way we work. Businesses across the globe are investing resources into the development needed to make AI an everyday reality. Leading the charge, Microsoft is pioneering the incorporation of AI into business and daily workflows. Melissa Howatson sits down with Ahmed Adel , the Director of Data, Apps & AI Cloud Solution Architecture at Microsoft to discuss Micro...

New technologies are changing finance roles, freeing up time for more analysis, strategy, and storytelling. As these roles evolve, so too do the soft skills financial professionals need to do their jobs well.  Meg Bear , Controller at Turner Enterprises , has more than 20 years of experience leading finance teams and redesigning business processes. Meg sits down with host Melissa Howatson to...

Employee burnout is on the rise, fueled by shrinking budgets and mounting pressure for employees to achieve more with less. But how can CFOs and finance leaders gauge the breaking point for their teams? Ruchi Kasliwal has been building and guiding finance and accounting teams for over 15 years. With a deep passion for optimizing human and system resources, Ruchi joins Melissa to share vital strate...

If a CRO is expected to understand the balance sheet, shouldn’t the CFO be just as familiar with the sales playbook? A strong partnership between these roles is critical to a company’s financial health, and each must be able to support the other.  In this installment of our better business partnering series,  Puneet Arora , President at  Yellow.ai , joins Melissa Howa...

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  CBIZ (Formerly Marcum Technology) and has more than 15 years of experience advis...

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 be informed about new trends and technologies.     Thomas Kr...

What makes an exceptional, growth-driving CFO?    Vinny Prajka  may understand this better than anyone. In his role at  JMI Equity , he has worked with dozens of CFOs, helping portfolio companies accelerate growth and overcome operational challenges. He also serves on multiple boards and previously held CFO positions at SonaCare Medical and Blackbaud Inc.  &...

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 a 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 ex...

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’...

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 o...

Accountants work with certainties, recording and reporting on past financial transactions to ensure accuracy and compliance. FP&A professionals, 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.     Da...

The transformative potential of AI for finance teams is extraordinary. CFOs need to educate themselves on how, where and when to adopt new technologies, and what they can be doing ahead of adoption to prepare their organizations.  Howard Dresner is a technologist, researcher, and one of the foremost thought leaders in business intelligence. In this episode, Howard discusses the research his f...

Small businesses rarely have the budget to hire a full finance team, but they still need the same diverse range of support across payroll, accounting and financial planning as a large corporation. Some companies decide to outsource these functions to a dedicated finance and accounting partner as a more cost-effective and efficient way to handle their finance function needs and exped...

A CFO is expected not only to lead financial reporting and the Office of Finance but also to provide strategic insights and strategies that propel the business forward. As a new CFO, you might feel eager to start doing the latter as soon as possible.     But you don’t need to build your long-term strategy in the first few months on the job. When starting a new ro...

If you like sports, you might say  James Suh  has one of the coolest jobs in the world. After 11 years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, James became CFO of the NHLs  Florida Panthers . What a first year he had, as the Panthers went from barely making the playoffs to the Stanley Cup finals!   In this episode, James gives us an inside look at what goes into finance op...

Amid uncertain market conditions, many companies are adopting a cautious "wait and see" stance regarding their initial public offering (IPO) plans. However, instead of delaying, proactive planning for an eventual IPO launch is essential. By preparing in advance, companies can capitalize on market opportunities, mitigate risks, and position themselves strategically for a successful public offering...

As your business grows, you may feel a lot of pressure to meet increasing operational demands. However, investing in new resources brings the company additional risk, especially in times of economic uncertainty. How do you strike the right balance between prioritization, creating operational efficiencies and hiring? Andy Young , CFO at Horwich Farrelly , has led finance teams through multiple acqu...

Startups in highly regulated industries must strike a tough balance — keeping operations both lean and compliant. Sruthi Lanka , CFO at Public.com , leans on her engineering background, as well as out-of-the-box thinking from her team, to meet both criteria. Sruthi explains why she made process efficiency a top priority for her team, and how a combination of high and low-tech solutions has created...

Achieving optimal growth calls for collaboration between marketing and finance. Ruth Zive , CMO at LivePerson , joins Melissa Howatson to dive into data-driven decisions and the critical need for business partnering between the CMO and CFO. She shares insights on driving scalable growth, pipeline coverage and brand awareness in B2B SaaS marketing, as well as nuanced marketing metrics and the impac...

When it comes to metrics, less is more. Host Melissa Howatson, is joined by Craig Schiff , Founder and CEO of BPM Partners . A pioneer in Business Performance Management, Craig helped create and define the field as it evolved from generic business intelligence and analytic applications into BPM. In this episode, we unpack the crucial components, dashboards, scorecards, KPIs, and metrics that drive...

Finance business partnering is crucial for aligning financial strategies with overall business objectives, but what are the essential skills that finance professionals need to make truly successful business partners? Hosts Melissa Howatson and Tom Seegmiller discuss moving beyond finance and technical expertise to develop key skills such as empathy, communication, negotiation, leading with influen...

How can you showcase value and ROI effectively when talking about your business with customers and with stakeholders across the business? In this episode, host Melissa Howatson sits down with  Ian Campbell , CEO of  Nucleus Research , to explore the complexities of financial collaboration and its role in driving business success. Ian, a Wall Street Journal best-sellin...

A strong partnership between finance and HR is crucial to the health of any organization, and yet, studies show that fewer than half of HR leaders believe their rapport with finance is productive. What hampers this relationship? And what can the CFO do to improve the quality of their rapport with HR? Tracy Edkins , CHRO, Board Member and Advisor, joins Melissa Howaston to detail what strategic ali...

Securing funding and raising capital in today’s market can be difficult, but it's not impossible. In this episode, our host Melissa Howatson speaks with Peter Arrowsmith , Managing General Partner at JMI Equity , about businesses seeking capital in the current economic climate. Peter shares insights on what is most important when valuations are experiencing a downturn from previous years, and comp...

Finance holds a unique and pivotal vantage within a company or organization and is much more than checks and balances. Finance is at the heart of optimizing the financial and operational performance of the organization on the whole and helps to guide leadership in making impactful strategic investments and aligning financial strategies with business vision and goals. In this episode, hosts Melissa...