The CFO Show

Latest Episodes:

The C-Suite Sweet Spot: CFO and CEO as Indispensable Partners Oct 22, 2024

Show notes

The CEO-CFO partnership is arguably the cornerstone of an organization’s success, shaping not only its financial health but its strategic trajectory. This relationship is a delicate balance of mutual respect, candid dialogue, and aligned vision. A thriving CEO-CFO dynamic goes beyond simple collaboration; it involves a continuous cycle of challenging each other’s perspectives, reinforcing financial discipline, and driving innovative strategies.

Our host and CFO of Vena, Melissa Howatson, shares such a dynamic relationship with Vena CEO Hunter Madeley. Together, they explore the unique perspectives of their respective roles and how aligning them is key to ensuring that the business is healthy today and positioned for sustainable growth.

Learn how the CEO and CFO partnership can be a strategic catalyst for success and discover how this strategic alliance is more than just a business necessity—it’s the key to unlocking the full potential of an organization, ensuring its resilience today and its growth well into the future.

Discussed In This Episode:

What’s top of mind for today’s CEOs and how finance leaders can support them through uncertain economic times
The evolving role of CFOs, and whether they should be perceived as order-takers or strategic sparring partners in shaping the future of the business
How CFOs can use their unique vantage points to help other functional leaders be more future-centric
The horizons of investments, and how CFOs can help CEOs commit to short and long-term goals

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

Building a Strong GDPR Compliance and Data Privacy Framework Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been in effect since 2018, reshaping how businesses handle personal data across the globe. While many view GDPR as solely a legal or IT challenge, its impact ripples far beyond those departments—it touches every aspect of an organization.

For CFOs, GDPR isn’t just about compliance; it’s about safeguarding the financial health of the company, managing operational risks, and ensuring long-term sustainability. CFOs must be at the forefront of creating a GDPR-compliant organization, not only to avoid costly penalties but to protect the organization's reputation.

Greet Gemels is the Chief Financial and Operating Officer at Advantage Group International, where she oversees the Finance, Human Resources, and Operations functions of a global market research company. In this episode, Greet and host Melissa Howatson discuss the critical implications of GDPR for CFOs and analyze the financial and operational risks involved.

Discover how CFOs can effectively navigate current and evolving GDPR requirements to mitigate data security risks, ensure regulatory compliance, and safeguard their organization's financial and operational integrity.

Discussed in This Episode

How GDPR data privacy laws have transformed data handling practices and regulatory compliance across organizations.
The tangible and intangible costs of achieving GDPR compliance, along with the serious repercussions of non-compliance.
The risks and implications of working with third-party vendors for tasks such as human resources and payroll.
The critical need for strategic resource allocation, cross-functional collaboration, and robust metrics to assess the financial impact of GDPR compliance efforts.

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

How Finance Leaders Are Preparing for What’s Ahead Oct 08, 2024

Show notes

Filmed at Vena’s Excelerate Finance 2024 Summit,we had the opportunity to engage with a range of FP&A leaders, discussing the current state of business operations and their financial priorities as they strategize for 2025 and beyond.

Learn what’s top of mind for CFOs, finance leaders and Microsoft, and how they plan to support business growth in the year ahead.

Featured Guests in Order of Appearance:

[00:00], [01:53] Dan Crumb, Chief Financial Officer, Kansas City Chiefs
[00:48], [11:40] Harjot Ghai, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Delbridge Solutions, Inc.
[03:05] Jesse Funes, Senior Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis, New Horizons
[03:53], [09:05] Eugene Fedorinov, MBA, CFA, Sr. Manager, Finance Database & Budget Analysis, Arizona Cardinals
[04:13] Pat Jones, SVP, Corporate Controller, PetIQ
[04:51] Sultan Akif, Unicorn Account Executive, Microsoft
[06:34] Carrie Self, Senior Director of Business Intelligence, Tacala Companies
[07:26] Brian Krause, Chief Financial Officer, Community First Solutions

Discussed In This Episode:

The state of business operations at various organizations, including recent process improvements and investments, as well as ongoing challenges
How CFOs plan to adapt their financial strategies in the second half of the year to navigate potential economic shifts or market volatility
Strategies CFOs and other finance leaders are implementing to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of financial reporting processes and prepare their organizations for growth
Where CFOs feel they need to make continued investments in the year ahead, including AI and other technologies

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

CFO’s Balancing Act: Productivity and Efficiency Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

Today's CFOs must excel at both driving organizational productivity while ensuring operational efficiency.

Brian Krause is the CFO at Community First Solutions, brings more than 20 years of experience building and leading financial teams, having served as a VP of Finance, Controller, and three-time CFO. He joins host Melissa Howatson to break down the difference between productivity and efficiency, and to explore how CFOs can strike the right balance to drive stronger results.

Learn how to maximize productivity on your finance team without sacrificing efficiency, and vice versa.

Discussed in This Episode:

Distinguishing productivity from efficiency, and the critical importance of ensuring all team members grasp this fundamental difference.
The potential pitfalls of emphasizing either productivity or efficiency.
How to leverage technology and streamline processes to build lean, agile finance teams.
Actionable insights to help CFOs become ultra-efficient leaders in today's dynamic business environment.
Strategies for finance leaders to cultivate an organizational culture that prioritizes both productivity and efficiency.

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

Strategies for Impactful Financial Data Storytelling Sep 24, 2024

Show notes

The ability to transform raw complex financial data into a compelling narrative has become a critical skill. Mastering the art of finance data storytelling enables finance professionals to distill complex information into strategic insights, driving pivotal boardroom decisions and shaping business strategy.

Akash Kapoor is the CFO at ColdBlock Technologies and has been advising finance leaders on operations and strategy for the last 25 years. Host Melissa Howatson welcomes Akash to explore the transformative power of financial storytelling. Together, they delve into how mastering this critical skill can revolutionize organizational decision-making and propel finance professionals to new heights in their careers. As new technologies give us access to swaths of data, it’s more important than ever to have a finance department that can interpret data and turn numbers into clear business narratives.

Learn how financial professionals can break down data silos and guide strategic decisions through compelling, data-driven narratives.

Discussed in This Episode:

Discover techniques to transform complex financial data into engaging stories that inform and inspire action.
The importance of tailoring presentations to various stakeholders, including C-suites, employees, and investors, depending on their financial acumen and objectives.
Learn how to leverage storytelling techniques, narrative structures, and data visualization tools to bring your financial data to life and make your insights impossible to ignore.
Understand why emerging technologies are elevating the role of finance professionals within organizations.

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

Investing in Customer Success: The CFO-CCO Business Partnership Sep 17, 2024

Show notes

In today's customer-centric business landscape, a leadership team that truly understands its customers is crucial. Everyone in the C-Suite should be learning from one another and challenging one another to be more customer-focused.

April Oman, the Chief Customer Officer at Resilinc, brings a unique perspective to the leadership team. While her primary role is championing customer success, she's gained invaluable insights about her customers from unexpected sources—including the company's CFO. April is an accomplished customer success executive with 20 years of experience. She is known for driving results and revenue and transforming organizations to be customer-centric in a wide variety of industries and company sizes

In this installment of our "Better Business Partnering" series, April joins host Melissa Howatson to explore the powerful synergy between Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Chief Customer Officers (CCOs). They delve into April's collaborative experiences with CFOs, examining how this partnership drives innovation across the organization, improves operational efficiency through cross-functional teamwork, and fosters sustainable growth.

Discover how breaking down silos between finance and customer success can lead to transformative outcomes and customer satisfaction.

Discussed in This Episode:

Strategies to nurture a strong partnership between the finance and customer teams
How to align financial strategies with customer-centric initiatives
The number one trait that April values in a CFO, and how a CFO can help a CCO be more effective
The value a CCO offers to CFOs and the broader C-suite
Points of friction between CFOs and CCOs, and how to overcome them

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

Agile Finance: Strategies for Streamlined Annual Budgeting and Planning Sep 10, 2024

Show notes

Agile isn't just a buzzword—it's the key to unlocking your finance team's full potential in a changing market.

While annual budgeting and planning can be daunting, adopting Agile methodologies can transform this process into a dynamic, collaborative effort that propels your business forward, replacing rigid forecasts with flexible, data-driven strategies that adapt to market shifts in real-time.

Dominic DiBernardo is a Partner at Citrin Cooperman, where he helps middle-market businesses optimize their finance and business operations. In this episode, Dominic shares how to incorporate agile strategies into a finance team’s annual budgeting and planning cycle. These methodologies, he argues, will make finance teams more efficient and collaborative, so that they can withstand changes in market conditions and foster growth.

Discover how finance leaders are revolutionizing their teams by cultivating nimble cultures and leveraging agile methodologies to enhance precision in strategic planning and dynamic budgeting processes.

Discussed in This Episode:

Practical tips for finance leaders who are looking to pivot more quickly in response to emerging trends, shifting market conditions, and changing business needs.
How to leverage real-time data, cultivate a budget-conscious culture, emphasizing accountability and shared objectives, along with adopting budgeting practices that adeptly adjust to market shifts.
How finance leaders can foster an agile culture, as well as a collaborative and negotiation-focused approach to agile planning and budgeting.
The importance of having the right technology in place to accommodate change and speed up processes, as well as the role AI will play in advancing FP&A.

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

AI-Powered Finance: Developing Your Implementation Roadmap Aug 27, 2024

Show notes

The Office of Finance is on the cusp of a transformative evolution, driven primarily by advancements in AI.

While finance professionals often find themselves bogged down with manual tasks, leaving little room for strategic thinking and data analysis, AI provides critical data and time efficiencies enabling the Office of Finance to focus on business strategy.

Rishi Grover, Co-Founder and Chief Solutions Architect at Vena, has spent most of his career helping companies re-engineer and optimize their financial processes. In this episode, Rishi shares how financial leaders can implement AI to reduce repetitive, manual work across their teams and increase focus on strategy.

Learn how CFOs and finance leaders can take a pragmatic approach to AI adoption to improve finance functions, transform decision-making, and drive operational efficiency within their organizations.

Discussed In This Episode:

AI’s potential to streamline and automate time-consuming processes, provide data-driven insights and handle complex tasks
Tips for Incorporating AI into the Finance Function
How to address security concerns, find internal champions, and securely leverage AI technology
Advanced use cases of generative AI and the broader implications of this technology for the Office of Finance
How to measure the ROI of AI adoption in finance operations

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

Mastering Finance Through Continuous Learning Aug 20, 2024

Show notes

Continuous learning is not just a nice thing to have; it’s a critical necessity in Finance. As regulations, finance tools, and technologies evolve, finance professionals must stay up to date to move at the pace of business.

Bryan Lapidus helps financial professionals match that change. Bryan is Director of the FP&A Practice at the Association for Financial Professionals, where he leverages his 20 years of experience in finance, risk, and operations to create and lead educational programs for AFP members.

In this episode, Bryan talks to host Melissa Howatson about the many ways finance professionals can engage in ongoing learning on the job and through outside programs and networking opportunities.

Learn how CFOs and finance leaders can instill a culture of continuous learning and how finance professionals can embrace a growth mindset to advance in their careers.

Discussed In This Episode:

Strategies for financial leaders to promote a growth mindset and continuous learning
The effectiveness of micro-learning and its application at critical moments
Analyzing the return on investment (ROI) of continuous education and strategies to counteract the inclination to cut educational expenses
The benefits of cross-functional learning in all stages of a finance professional’s career
Indicators that finance professionals should consider when selecting an employer that supports continuous learning

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.

Data Skills for the Modern Office of Finance Aug 13, 2024

Show notes

Finance teams that want to be more data-driven need both technology that can consolidate mountains of data, and skilled professionals who can interpret what it all means.

Thomas Ho serves as the Vice President at ProLytics Consulting Group, guiding clients through the digital transformation in finance. Thomas discusses how data gathering methods are revolutionizing finance roles, necessitating new skills that finance professionals need to master to keep pace with rapid change.

Learn what hard skills are essential to the modern Office of Finance and how finance leaders can upskill their teams to improve the accuracy and efficiency of financial forecasting and modeling.

Discussed In This Episode:

The transformative impact of technology on the Finance Department and the evolving requirements of finance occupations
The critical importance of data literacy, data visualization, and data analytics for modern finance professionals
The importance of learning SQL and other programming languages to perform needed data analysis and financial modeling
How micro-learning and cross-team training can allow finance professionals to acquire new skills on the job and level up in their roles
The tools and tech stack finance teams need to support data collection and data interpretation

For CFO insights, episode show notes, and exclusive blog content, visit thecfoshowpodcast.com.