In this episode, host Eric Zhou welcomes Sean Soper, the Head of Financial Operations and Accounting at Alchemy, to shed light on the disruptive technologies shaping the trajectory of accounting and finance. Alchemy provides the leading blockchain development platform and as such, much of the conversation narrows in on the possible applications of blockchain in accounting. 

Sean begins the discussion highlighting his experience working across companies that have revolutionized whole industries with new technology. He notes that a large part of his success at these companies has been from remaining curious and developing deep industry knowledge that guides how he approaches his accounting processes and procedures. Sean then outlines his priorities in his current role at Alchemy, which include optimizing the financial close process, fine tuning reporting and analytics, and managing cash. 

The conversation quickly turns to the future of blockchain technology and its potential for revolutionizing accounting and finance. Sean and Erik discuss the state of the union for blockchain and web3, the possible accounting use cases for the technology, and regulatory considerations. 

The episode wraps with Sean’s point of view on the future of hybrid work models and the importance of community and collaboration in that, plus the funniest expense report he’s had hit his desk (hint: it was related to a very creative sales spiff). 

Key Quotes

• “My areas of focus are threefold. First, it's the financial close process and making sure that we're removing any manual processes so that we close sooner. Second is around reporting and analytics, so we can understand areas to save costs for the company. And then the last one is going to be around cash management.”
• “I think one of the crucial aspects about being a controller in the startup space is to be as much of a strategic partner as possible to your organization, to help them operationalize their goals.” 
• “Blockchain is an exciting technology that provides a distributed and immutable ledger. Accountants absolutely love controls, they like to get supporting documentation that proves transactions actually occurred with dates and times. That's all feasible and possible on the blockchain in a way that can be tested publicly and verified publicly.” 
• “It’s amazing that our process for debits and credits hasn't evolved since the 1400s, since Luca Paciolii, the grandfather of accounting. Yes, we've now got different systems and different ERPs. We've digitized a lot. We're no longer on actual ledgers. But ultimately the foundation still hasn't changed”

Time Stamps

• (1:40) Sean’s career in emerging technologies
• (9:18) Managing the price risk in crypto 
• (10:08) Blockchain and Web3 state of the union
• (11:567) Developing blockchain for the future
• (18:10) Blockchain’s future in accounting 
• (22:57) Blockchain regulatory considerations
• (38:40) Sean’s first encounter with “DONKS”

Links

• Connect with Sean
• Visit Alchemy
• Connect with Erik
• Check out Brex