Ep. 254: Soufyan Hamid - Mastering the Art of Finance Storytelling

Welcome to the Count Me In Podcast! In this episode, host Adam Larson invites Soufyan Hamid, a highly experienced finance professional with over 15 years in the industry. Soufyan is also the founder of SouFBP, a global consulting firm that helps finance professionals enhance their presentation delivery. Join Adam and Soufyan as they delve into Soufyan's remarkable journey in the accounting field, from working with top-tier firms to transitioning into corporate finance. They discuss the challenges of effective storytelling in the finance world and the importance of clear communication to effectively convey complex financial data. If you're eager to gain valuable insights into the world of finance and accounting, this episode is a must-listen!

Catch Soufyan live at IMA's European Accounting and Finance Conference in April 2024

Full Transcript:
 < Intro >

Adam:            Welcome back to Count Me In. Where we bring you compelling stories and insights from the world of accounting and finance. In today's episode, we have a fascinating conversation with Soufyan Hamid, an experienced accounting professional with over 15 years of corporate experience. As the founder of SouFBP, a global consulting firm, Soufyan's expertise lies in helping finance professionals, globally, master the delivery of their presentations by improving their preparation, messaging, and visuals.

Soufyan takes us on his remarkable journey, through the accounting field from his early days at a Big Four firm to becoming a finance business partner. We'll hear about practical strategies for becoming a more effective communicator, and how human skills are more vital than ever, in the age of automation. Let's get started.

< Music >

Soufyan, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. We're really excited to have you. I thought we could start off our conversation by, maybe, you could tell us a little about your journey, in the accounting field, and what initially drew you to the profession?

Soufyan:        Well, it's quite easy because this is basically following the leads, that I started following in my studies in business, finance, and economics. And suddenly I realized that I liked the logic of accounting and the logic of finance. How precise it is, how organized it is to know the debits and the credits from one side. It has to be perfectly equal on both sides, so I liked the logic. And when you are in such an orientation, when you are in your studies, well, it goes quite easy because the Big Four are all over you, even before you end your studies.

And, so, in my last year, I directly signed a contract with PwC, and that's how my accounting career started, basically. And, so, I started as an auditor, working for PwC, and I did that during four years. And I liked that journey because it was an accelerated program, to understand better accounting without having to go through all specializations. You're easily brought into the whole picture, into the helicopter view of a P&L, for example, or a balance sheet.

And, so, I didn't have to go through all the transactions like bookkeeping AP, or AR, or cash, to finally become a general accountant. Thanks to that, after two years, I was already working on analytical reviews of the P&L, and working on the full balance sheet. So it was really a second university, I would say, and I love that.

But since I didn't want to become a public accountant for a living, and I didn't want to end up my career like that, I decided to move. And, at that moment, I was still considering myself as a rookie because you understand a lot of things when you work in audit, but you're still somehow in studies.

And, so, I wanted to face the reality of working in a company. But, obviously, at that time, I didn't have any experience working inside a company. So I decided to join Deloitte in temporary work department, with the business process solution department. And they offered us the possibility to work in accounting, but also controlling treasury, all finance fields, as a temp. Meaning that I had assignments of three months, six months, sometimes, one or two years.

And, so, I had the opportunity to continue learning how to work inside of finance department, under the umbrella of Deloitte. And that was really where I discovered what it was to work in finance. And this is also where I discovered my passion for controlling, FP&A, and finance business partnering.

Adam:            Mh-hmm, I think that's amazing. Because many accountants, whether they go the traditional route, starting at a Big Four like you, or they go right into corporate, right into the finance department, or the internal accounting team. They find themselves, eventually, getting to that point where they're looking at those finance, looking at the FP&A side of things, and being that business partner.

And what are some of the main challenges that you find when you get to that point? Or you've been doing all these things and you get to, "Hey, I'm going to be analyzing this complex data and trying to tell the story." When you're trying to convey these things to people, not even in finance. So you're no longer working with auditing teams or working with accounting teams. You're talking to people who don't understand how it all works. What are some of the biggest challenges that you find, when that happens?

Soufyan:        Well, I found these challenges when I started to work as internal for a company. Because when I left Deloitte, after five years, I decided to join a Belgian Telco company, as a finance business partner, and I was really good, technically.

Technically, I was really good. I was one of the few to master financial modeling. I was one of the few to master Excel, visual basics, Power Pivot, everything, that was, somehow, what made me successful at Deloitte. And I was kind of happy, and in finance, everybody was happy because I developed dashboards, I helped them automate many things.

But when I had to compare how I was welcomed by non-finance people, it's another story. Because I was so convinced that my success would go through the technical stuff, that I completely missed the fact that I was working with people, not mastering the same things as me. And I was there, telling them about the many exceptions you found in the data about I don't know which IFRS rule that made an exception to their figures. Another [Inaudible 00:06:05] that I had to reverse this month because it was too old to be there.

And, so, I had a difficult time having a real partnership with them. And since I was supposed to be a finance business partner, that made it tough. So I thought I was right, and I just understood that when you're working inside a company, and that you leave the world of PwC, of Deloitte, of one of the Big Four, and even one of the consulting firms, you don't have that shield.

You don't have that umbrella anymore, to protect you, and to give you the credibility, you need to convince people. So you have to work on your communication, you have to work on those ...