The Accountant Quits Podcast Umar Mallam Hassam

If you’ve previously worked as an accountant or auditor at a Big4 or other accounting firm, you’ve been through a rigorous & highly sought-after working methodology and have a huge boost on your resume.

You’re now equipped to get your foot in the door of most firms looking to hire a Financial Controller, Head of Finance, or even a CFO.

Being a product of Big4 myself, I have no regret looking back at the long hours and pressure my audit assignments meant, but in the long term, the lower salaries as compared to an industry role was a turn-off.

With opportunities in web3 for accountants surging, I spoke with Léopold Wenger, the CFO at Cometh, a web3 development platform for developers to help build games and DApps.

Just like me, Léopold started his career as a financial auditor and his desire to learn emerging technologies like blockchain & AI meant he was taking his career growth into his own hands and not remaining complacent.

On Episode 61, Léopold shares his story which can hopefully inspire other accountants and auditors from Big4 companies to also make that transition.

Topics covered;


Episode intro (00:47)
Léo’s background (2:52)
Pre-requisites to work for a web3 startup (4:57)
Challenges working as a web3 CFO (8:23)
Advice for a CFO starting in web3 (11:07)
Managing financial reporting (12:51)
Time taken to build a sub-ledger (15:20)
Outsourcing of accounting (16:35)
Internal controls for digital assets (18:35)
Thanks to our sponsor Web3CFO Club (21:50)
Advice for Big4 accountants to transition to web3 (23:51)
Regulation in France with PSAN (25:59)
Crypto-friendly banks in France (29:27)
Paying employees & vendors in crypto in France (31:35)
M&A opportunities in web3 gaming (32:55)
Mainstream adoption through gaming (35:48)
How to contact Léo (38:51)

Follow The Accountant Quits:

LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits

Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Follow Léopold Wenger:

Twitter: http://@leo_wgr

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/l%C3%A9opold-wenger-076015b4/

Review

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes.

Website

For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/

A finance technology stack is the set of tools that a business uses to streamline and optimize its financial and accounting processes.

These tools and software typically fall into categories like payments, payroll, spend & expense management, accounting & reporting, financial planning, and analysis.

Until now, web3 teams have had a fragmented finance stack, thereby increasing the manual workload of running their finance and accounting processes.

Request Finance the web3 industry leader for invoicing, payroll & expenses, with a payment processing volume of more than $700m under its belt understood & capitalized on the pain points most web3 CFOs & accountants face.

Recently Request Finance acquired Consola Finance, a crypto sub ledger to offer an all-in-one finance stack for both crypto payments & accounting.

With more businesses adopting stablecoins as a means of payment, I spoke with Christophe Lassuyt, the CEO of Request Finance, and Christophe Fonteneau, their Head of Partnerships & Strategy.

Topics covered:


Episode intro (00:48)
Learnings driving stablecoins adoption (2:47)
What is Request Finance (7:08)
Scaling product growth (8:57)
Launching Crypto-to-fiat payments (14:58)
Difference with Fiat-to-Crypto payments (17:11)
Why Request Finance acquired Consola Finance (19:40)
Thanks to our sponsor Web3CFO Club (22:52)
Loyalty for crypto sub-ledgers (24:34)
Is Request Finance now competing with other sub-ledgers? (27:40)
The success of the subscription pricing model (31:02)
The story behind the Web3CFO Club (35:46)
Vision for the Web3CFO Club (38:00)
Paid partners of the Club (40:01)
Roadmap & corporate cards (41:27)
ROI between side events & conference booths (43:41)
Advice for being an entrepreneur (46:37)

Follow The Accountant Quits:

LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits

Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Follow Christophe Lassuyt:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LassuytChristop

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophel1310/

Follow Christophe Fonteneau:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chfonteneau

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fonteneau/

Review

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes.

Website

For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/

Blockchain at its core allows the transfer of value without an intermediary and offers an immutable ledger that provides real-time access to financial data while AI-based applications can be used to analyze financial data, and automate repetitive tasks like data entry,

A powerful combo for accounting.

We’re on the brink of a fundamental transformation and the impact on the accounting industry will be generational.

So where do accountants go from here? Will AI replace accountants and 10 years from now, what will the accountants of today be doing?

To help us find some answers through a discussion on the intersection of Blockchain and AI in accounting, today I’ve the pleasure to be speaking with Kareem Khattab, the Founder & CEO of Entendre Finance, an AI-powered crypto accounting software to help automate your fiat + digital assets activities.

Topics covered;


Episode intro (00:48)
Kareem’s background (2:35)
The intersection of AI & Blockchain (5:16)
Onchain data collection with AI (7:00)
Tracking & labelling of onchain transactions with AI (9:27)
Challenges building a sub ledger (12:52)
AI agents for crypto (14:23)
Overview of Entendre Finance (17:33)
Thanks to our sponsor Web3CFO Club (20:30)
Data privacy with AI (22:13)
Using ChatGPT prompts in Entendre (25:54)
Onboarding with Entendre (29:35)
Positioning against competitors like Cryptio, Bitwave, Cryptoworth, TRES (31:56)
What does Entendre actually mean (35:39)
Integrations with web3 companies like Loop, Rain, Hedgey Finance (37:36)
How can accountants upskill with AI (39:29)
Acceleration of crypto with AI (42:52)

Follow The Accountant Quits:

LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits

Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Follow Kareem Khattab:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kvreem

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kareem-khattab/

Review

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes.

Website

For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/

Anyone who decides to build a project in web3 involuntarily accepts to have to surmount heaps of legal challenges, to be legally compliant.

Many web3 businesses are borderless and this places a big regulatory burden, especially for those in their very early days.

Whether you are a centralized or decentralized project in web3, planning to issue tokens, finding the appropriate legal structure for your DAO, and understanding the legal implications of distributing tokens to employees, speaking with an experienced web3 legal specialist might save you hours and money in the long term.

You don’t want to be losing sleep thinking “Are we allowed to do that” or “Have we overlooked something in our legal structure”

To help us better understand how to define the legal strategy for your web3 startup and DAO, I spoke with Han Verstraete, the CEO & Founder of Otonomos.

Since 2015, Otonomos has helped builders and investors in crypto form and maintain their legal entities in all major jurisdictions around the world.

Topics covered;


Episode intro (00:48)
Han’s background and story founding Otonomos (2:34)
What is a Token SPV (5:45)
VASP jurisdictions to issue tokens (8:59)
When to choose BVI, Cayman Islands, Switzerland (12:20)
Legal structures for DAOs (15:27)
Best jurisdictions for DAOs (23:58)
Thanks to our sponsor Web3CFO Club (29:09)
Do you even need a bank? (30:57)
Framework for legal structure for web3 startups (38:00)
Overview of Otonomos (43:14)
OtoCo & creating an on-chain company (47:27)
Getting started with OtoCo (52:46)
Adoption of crypto in 2024 (53:56)
Closing thoughts (58:39)
How to reach out to Han (01:01:26)

Follow The Accountant Quits:

LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits

Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Follow Han Verstraete:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanverstraete

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanverstraete/

Review

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes.

Website

For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/

While there is a lot of guidance and literature on Treasury Management in traditional finance, in web3, a lot of those concepts don’t apply.

Managing treasury fiat currencies in traditional finance largely involves managing banking partners whereas with cryptocurrencies, that involves managing your wallet addresses in the event you’re using self-custodial wallets.

Many web3 firms do not have a dedicated Treasury Manager, and therefore it’s up to that person to figure out things like custody, using DeFi platforms, on and off ramps, tokenomics if applicable, or managing payroll and expenses using crypto.

To help us better understand web3 treasury management, I spoke with Nik Pletikos, the Founder of DeFiwaves, a consulting firm specializing in Tokenomics Design and Web3 Treasury Management.

Nik currently manages the treasury & tokenomics for multiple protocols and previously spent 4 years building the treasury department at Bitstamp, one of the longest-running crypto exchanges. Nik has been working with some of the leaders in the industry, such as Hacken, and Sweat Economy.

Topics covered;


Episode intro (00:39)
Nik’s background & story learning blockchain (3:02)
Hedging against volatile crypto assets (4:28)
Fiat v/s stablecoins management (10:29)
Solutions like OpenEden, Ondo Finance, Maple Finance (13:59)
Thank you to our sponsor Web3CFO Club (16:29)
Managing counterparty risk with banks & exchanges (18:13)
Investing in DeFi protocols (21:19)
Investment policies for DeFi (24:09)
Laddered investment strategy for DeFi (26:57)
Thank you to our sponsor Convoy Finance (31:21)
Native token management (33:37)
Overview of DeFiWaves for tokenomics design (38:37)
Hiring a web3 CFO to manage treasury (40:52)
Reach out to Nik (47:09)

Follow The Accountant Quits:

LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits

Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Follow Nik Pletikos:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ethreasurer

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikpletikos/

Review

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes.

Website

For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/

Choosing accounting as a career path seems to be losing some of its prestige in recent years.

Technologies like AI and blockchain will not take the accountants’ jobs but rather, it’s those accountants who have upskilled themselves on blockchain who will.

So rather than being seen as a threat, many accountants are evolving with blockchain.

On Episode 56, I spoke with Shivani Phull, the VP of Finance & Investments at Pixelynx, an AI music creation platform.

Shivani is also a CFO Advisor at the Crypto Accounting Group, a crypto accounting & taxation services firm, and a Mentor at Outlier Ventures, a web3 VC and accelerator.

To inspire more accountants to upskill themselves with blockchain, this conversation today will revolve around Shivani sharing her experience, challenges, learnings, and career advice for transitioning from a web2 CFO to a web3 CFO.

Topics covered:


Episode intro (00:39)
Shivani’s story of becoming an accountant (2:37)
Falling into the web3 rabbit role (4:43)
Initial challenges with crypto accounting (8:52)
Understanding block explorers (10:58)
Thank you to our sponsor Cryptoworth (11:50)
Helping early-stage founders with fundraising (13:33)
Best practices around web3 accounting (16:22)
Setting & tracking KPIs (19:37)
Tooling for web3 accounting, sub-ledgers (21:55)
Thank you to our sponsor Convoy Finance (23:58)
Setting chart of accounts in main ledger (25:29)
Career advice for unhappy accountants (26:50)
Getting hired as a web3 accountant (30:00)
How does Shivani take time off (31:28)

Follow The Accountant Quits:

LinkedIN: linkedin.com/company/the-accountant-quits

Twitter: twitter.com/accountantquits

Follow Shivani Phull:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shivv_p

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivani-phull-30bb1953/

Review

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes.

Website

For show notes and past guests, please visit theaccountantquits.com/podcast/