This week on the Expert Voices podcast, Randy Wootton, CEO of Maxio, welcomes Matthew May, President of Acuity and CEO at Verify IQ, for a deep dive into the evolving world of SaaS finance and the transformative roles of CFOs within technology companies. Randy and Matthew discuss the strategic evolution of the CFO's office and the vital adaptations necessitated by rapidly advancing technologies. Matthew talks about the impacts of technology automation and AI on traditional finance roles and the convergence of CFO and COO responsibilities. Listen this week as Randy and Matthew explore the upward shift from data processing to data strategy and the importance of proactive business planning.

Quotes

• "The office of the CFO has changed in that there's this excuse that there's no talent there, but really what there is. There is just a harder training problem that people haven't solved yet.” -Matthew May [07:15]
• “So CPQ historically has been something I would say runs up through sales op. It's a CRO decision to buy because it's usually a salesperson that's using it. We found that CFOs are now influencing that decision in a way because they want to make sure that the contract's accurate. They can ingest it from the CRM system into something like a Maxio or have it go into the other financial systems.” -Randy Wootton [21:30]

Expert Takeaways 

• CFOs are increasingly taking on COO roles as finance functions automate and require more strategic focus.
• Content creation success hinges on consistency and authenticity; an essential lesson for finance professionals considering digital channels for their messaging.
• Emerging CFOs find themselves needing to understand the forward-looking aspects of the business, such as weekly operating metrics, rather than focusing solely on traditional financial reports.
• Global staffing and training present opportunities and challenges for modern CFOs, underlining the international expansion of talent acquisition.
• Utilizing employee churn as a critical metric, reflecting company stability and the overall health of its operations.

Timestamps

(02:20) Publishing content: consistency and authenticity

(03:42) Evolution of the role of the CFO in the tech space 

(05:29) Key technologies enabling CFOs to step into the COO role 

(06:09) Automation of general ledgers and challenges with data diversity

(09:16) Global staffing and the importance of a globalized workforce 

(11:48) CFOs moving from compliance to strategic advisory services 

(12:26) The shift from translating accounting to focusing on KPIs. 

(15:18) CEOs gaining fluency in accounting around $3-5 million in revenue.

(17:03) Lagging and leading indicators: financial metrics and operating metrics.

(19:43) Recommended KPI tools: sift, giraffe, and 90 for EOS adoption. 

(20:51) Shifting from reviewing financial statements to predictive KPIs. 

(25:36) App fatigue and consolidation in the market. 

(27:59) Building AI into accounting products for 2024. 

(32:23) AI trends and building partnerships for AI tools. 

(35:15) The challenge of balancing change and safety as a CFO. 

(36:00) Focusing on prevent controls rather than detect controls 

(39:33) Attrition has decreased due to fewer job opportunities, with employees hunkering down and staying in their current roles 

Links

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Randy Wootton LinkedIn

Matthew May LinkedIn