Ep. 60: Chris Clulow - Embracing Technology to Lead in Accounting

Contact Chris Clulow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-clulow-3832911/
Cummins: https://www.cummins.com/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)

Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast of all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I am your host, Adam Larson, and today's episode covers a few different topics. Chris Clulow, Corporate Controller of Cummins, talked with Mitch about leadership technology trends in the industry and the combination of the two for managing challenges associated with today's crisis and its working conditions. At the end of their conversation. Chris also shares a unique perspective on the future of the accountant. Let's head over and listen to the conversation now. 

Mitch: (00:40)

So I know in recent times we've seen a number of changes to the role of the accountant and the controller. So from your perspective and your roles and responsibilities, how has technology really impacted the job that you do on a daily basis? 

Chris: (00:56)

Yeah. It has changed dramatically over the course of my career, particularly as within Cummins. I've been here about almost 16 years we've invested a lot in technology and using tools, where in the past, we may have, may have used a lot more human effort, a lot more things like Excel, a little bit, more archaic, technology tools to help drive our decision making and now we have tools and processes that enable us to spend more time doing analytics and doing, doing the work, doing the thought and I think that's really, really key where you spent a lot more time in the past, pulling information together, compilation, and you didn't have as much time putting the data to work and that's, that's the real value you can add, both in an accounting and a greater finance area where you provide, some, just some analysis to the business to help them drive better decisions, to make them aware of trends that maybe imperceptible, to those outside of the accounting or finance arenas. So it is really become quite powerful things that we rely on. And it's gradual in some ways. I mean, we've seen the change, but sometimes you don't even notice how much, you know, how different it is now than it was say, a decade ago. 

Mitch: (02:28)

Right. And you've just touched on it slightly where you said it's really about presenting this information to those who may not be as familiar with the financials. So from a leadership perspective, somebody who is, you know, in the front of the finance function, what is your leadership style in bringing other functions up to speed and how do you go about communicating this information, these new insights to them? 

Chris: (02:55)

Yeah, I think the key is to really understand what they need, what they really need to know. So oftentimes, you know, when you're working with business partners, they'll ask a question or they'll ask for an analysis, a piece of information, without maybe an understanding of the effort that is involved or really what they're asking. So being able to kind of dig into that and ask the questions back to make sure you understand what they're looking for, is really critical, to kind of come back and say, Oh, you're asking this question, but I think you really mean something quite different. Something that could take you, you know, right off the, off the top of your head, you can answer versus doing 40 hours of analysis. So I think being that good business partner really is, pushing back at times, and making sure you can provide things. But going back to the first statement with, with technology and tools, what I've found is they've enabled our business partners, people outside of accounting and finance to understand finances and even the accounting side, better because it's just more consumable. It's easier to understand when you see things in more standard formats or things that are just, calculate for you. People are more adept at, being able to understand those, what was very complicated finance and accounting. There's still areas certainly within accounting that, people do not understand and it's breaking it down to what do they really know, need to know instead of going into the depths and plumbing, the depths of what came out from the FASB and why these things are important. Oftentimes a business partner doesn't need to know that level of depth. You can just kind of bring it up to more of a 50,000 foot level of what they need to know and why. 

Mitch: (04:48)

That's great. And I think obviously today, everybody dealing with the crisis that's going on in the remote work, you know, I'm sure the technology that you're implementing has certainly enabled business continuity and you're able to just kind of go about your day, business as usual. But there is a little bit of a setback I would guess when it comes to the interaction and the communication and the leadership cross-functionally because you might not be able to have these face to face conversations or these explanations. So I'm just curious if you've noticed anything along those lines at Cummins and what your experiences have been since kind of shifting to this new remote work style? 

Chris: (05:34)

Yeah, you definitely miss out on the informal, communications and the, and certainly the nonverbal, oftentimes you may do some video conferences here or there, but you're oftentimes talking on the phone and talking on Skype or zoom and you miss out on the bumping into somebody in the hallway or just seeing somebody at lunch where you have the conversations where, you can actually keep things moving forward at a greater pace and you can kind of make sure you're understanding the needs of the business. I am at the same time, very pleasantly surprised at the continued progress we can make in that is somewhat open to technology, but also to the creativity of the people, of being able to continue to do their jobs, working remotely and finding different ways to connect. Whether it's, you know, just having informal zoom sessions daily with their teams, using WhatsApp or text or anything under the sun from a technology perspective. I know even teams, within my group are having FaceTime happy hours just to keep that connectivity together and making people feel like part of a team. And I think that's really important. it is definitely more difficult. I think one of the, this sounds strange to say it in this way, but one of the advantages we have colleagues, within China who've been through this, just very recently and they've been incredibly helpful in how they steer it through it. Many of them are still in lockdown for those. We have some plants in locations in Wuhan that are just coming out of it now after over over eight weeks, but they found a way to communicate, to keep the business going, and to really keep it moving forward and I think that was, their coaching has, has helped us a lot. 

Mitch: (07:37)

You actually beat me to my next question because I know Cummins is global and particularly your role. Overseeing a lot of the global accounting. You touched on it a little bit, but have there been any global challenges since going to this, you know, remote work and, I assume much of what you did was done obviously remotely anyway, but was there any part of this, that maybe your global offices are feeling the effects and you're kind of coaching them through it also? Is there any reverse to this, ...