Generation CFO by Christopher Argent #CFOchat Generation CFO by Christopher Argent #CFOchat

Welcome to another episode of Generation CFO, this time with Henri Taipale – CEO and founder of Qvalia.

Sponsored by SSON Week - http://bit.ly/SSONCFOCHAT

In this episode, Henri talks about Qvalia and his career journey. He also shares about digital transformation and automation, pros and cons of RPA, accounting and transactional processes. Henri started in a very entrepreneurial journey working with taxation. In his experience, he found out that various organizations have problems in taxation as well as managing transactional processes. Henri and I talk about the need of creating a systematic way in finding these mistakes in taxation which is relative to the purchase and sale transactions of any business.

Moving forward to digital transformation and RPA, Henri mentions that organisation must be able to clearly identify why they need automation. Data is probably the most important asset of an organisation because the success of automation depends on it. Organisation must understand what specific technology to use for which specific business function.

Henri’s company, Qvalia, specializes on the procurement or sales side and consolidating the information in that process. Their goal is to improve and automate financial processes.

Episode Quotes

"Finance professionals needs to be with the operations and be more customer oriented"

"The success of automation depends on the quality of the data"

"Before doing automation, look at first the information you are managing and why"

"Providing customer value should be the driving force for every team in the business"

"The more that information is automated, the more that it is entangled"

"Centralised data is extremely good because it is efficient and fast"

"Organisations need to understand what specific technology to use for which specific function or solution"



Listen to Learn

00:25 Introduction about the episode topics
06:10 Getting to know Henri Taipale - career journey
09:48 Do CFOs need to be entrepreneurial? What are the benefits?
12:10 The role of accounting in the business
15:15 Taxation, automation and data
17:25 Robotic Process Automation (RPA) - when is it necessary?
22:04 Remarkable changes because of automation, How CFOs can adapt to it
23:21 The impact of automation in supplier management
25:40 Overview about Qvalia
28:20 Henri's take about Blockchain
33:00 What does the finance team looks like 10 years from now?

S1 E14 - Kyle Brennan, CFO, Tech, Start Up, Data #CFOchat

Hello Generation CFO, Chris Argent here.

I am with Kyle Brennan - CFO and startup adviser.

Today, he is going to talk about financial roles and technology in startups.

The biggest value a finance person has in startup is execution, being flexible, and able to make quick decisions

Startups relies on two things for their success: the internal side and fundraising. In an environment where cash is more important than profit & loss, finance persons in startups focus on what the business needs and how to execute it cheaply and effectively.

To do so, data analytics plays a vital role. And as Kyle mentioned, “The business strategy can be changed from one single data point, we have to get that information, analyse it correctly and act on it”. As much as big companies need automation, it is more so with startups.

Listen as Kyle and I discuss about CFOs in startups, technology to invest in, and where is the biggest opportunities for finance professionals.

Episode Quotes

"Automaton is important for every business, but probably more so for small businesses"

"Flexibility is more of a selling point as opposed to deep dive analytics"

"The biggest value a finance person has in startup is execution, being flexible, and able to make quick decisions"

"Accounting background is helpful, but what is important is to be proactive and to understand about new technology"

"The business strategy can be changed from one single data point, we have to get that information, analyze it correctly and act on it"

"It does not matter whether you are big or small company, it is about what does the business need"


Listen to Learn

00:21 Episode Intro, getting to know Kyle - career journey
03:33 Deciding factor working with startups
04:42 Day to day of a CFO working with startups
07:15 Two sides that affects the success of a startup
08:12 Small business vs large business
16:44 Workplace Environment: Digital Natives vs Old School
20:43 Should CFOs be part of the decision making?
23:53 What should CFOs focus on? Is accounting background needed?
28:29 Financial roles between startups and large companies
32:17 Technologies to invest to impact the finance team
36:26 Where is the biggest opportunity is for finance professionals?
39:04 Will the CFO role still exist in the future?

Brought to you by Christopher Argent and GenerationCFO.com

Hello everyone! Welcome to Generation CFO!

I am joined by Simon Cole to talk about his finance career journey and the trends around his move to start up!

Do not isolate yourself, go out, talk to the people and understand how the business works!

Talking about data and automation, Simon points out that data is always going somewhere, and finance needs to be collecting it and turning it into information for the rest of the business to use.

As a finance professional, one should understand the marketing, sales team, and the different functions of the company. New talents, ideas, and technology are great, as long as the leadership knows how to exploit it.

Listen as Simon and I talk about how CFOs drive the vision of the business, startups and the rise of millennial's.

Episode Quotes

"The best thing I ever did was get involved in a company where I have had genuine interest in"

"Do not isolate yourself, you have to go out and talk to the people and understand how the business works"

"As a CFO, just make yourself invaluable. Getting another strength like technology is a good place to go"

"There is an incredible talent out there but I think there are a lot of people who are shortcutting"

"You have so much power and it is kind of down to you where you want to work your way into it"

Listen to Learn
00:01
Getting to know Simon Cole - finance career journey
04:02
What behaviors to take on to have that broader role as a finance professional?
05:55
The controller role, data analytics and automation
10:22
Describing the career path of a modern CFO
13:50
How do I as a CFO drive the vision of the business?
15:42
The future of the positional power of a CFO
19:00
Startups and the rise of millennials/digital natives in the business
24:38
User experience and its impact to the business
27:45
The essence of credibility for finance professionals
29:53
Where is the biggest opportunities and right path for finance professionals?

“You are not just the finance guy”, Mark Neil – VP Finance at A+E Networks UK and this week we break down the area of finance business partnering and a few cool resources for you to use.

Being a finance professional is not just about presenting spreadsheets and charts. It is understanding the business as a whole and knowing what the business wants. 

Join us in this episode as I break down what Mark said, focus on the value adding area of Finance Business Partnering, explain WHY we need to do this, and what if we don't.

Hello everybody!

Welcome to another episode of Generation CFO. Joining me today is Mark Neil – VP Finance at A+E Networks UK.

With more than 25 years of experience working in media and telecommunications companies, Mark has a lot in store for us about finance, CFOs and technology.

“You are not just the finance guy” - Finance professionals must understand the business

Finance is the fulcrum of any business. Being a finance professional is not just about presenting spreadsheets and charts. It is understanding the business as a whole and knowing what the business wants. As what Mark says, “The quicker we can provide strong and correct information then we are more ahead of the game.” And this will only happen if you have a reliable team. It is about the right people doing the right jobs.

Join us in this episode as Mark and I discuss about automation of finance roles, building a team that you can rely and trust, and hear Mark’s advices for young accountants when it comes to accelerating their career path.

Episode Quotes

"Once you have a foundation and professional qualification like accountancy, it does make you very mobile"

"It is trying to understand the context of someone's question. If they give you the context, then you can provide the answer much quicker"

"Sometimes finance can be seen in a very old school way - pay bills, collect money among others"

"Finance is a value adding function... It is the fulcrum of any business"

"Automation frees individuals to do other things, and those things should be value adding"

"The quicker we can provide strong and correct information then we are more ahead of the game"

"Finance can fail if you do not have the right people doing the right jobs within the team"

"Get out of your finance mindset and start to understand what the business wants"

"I still believe that you have to put the time in. There are no shortcuts"

"I do not think there are any limits unless you limit yourself"

Listen to Learn

05:49 Getting to know Mark Neil - career journey
10:58 Neil's experience working outside the finance department
13:30 Working in the telco industry (Blackberry)
16:10 Critical moment in Neil's career path
18:28 High 5 Questions
21:11 Neil's daily functions as a finance professional
24:54 Strategic business partnering
27:36 Automation of finance roles
33:07 Dynamic culture and innovative workplace
36:55 Building a team that you can rely and trust - right people doing the right jobs
38:15 Understanding the business - "You are not just the finance guy"
42:28 Neil's career path advice for finance people/young accountants
47:24 Where does the CFO role going in the next 10 to 20 years?