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About Brad Ledford: https://www.dhg.com/people/userid/278?filter=bledfordContact Brad Ledford: bledford@dhgsearch.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/expertrecruiterbradledford/DHG Search:https://www.dhgsearch.com/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Adam: (00:00) Welcome back to episode 95 of Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Adam Larson, and I'm here to preview today's conversation and introduce our featured guest speaker, Brad Ledford. My cohost Mitch talked to Brad about the changing job market and the new norms and job seeking, interviewing and hiring. Brad is the President of DHG Search, where he provides advisory and recruiting services for candidates in finance, accounting, audit and tax. In this episode, he explains what recruiting looks like today and describe some new opportunities in the workforce to hear a great career-related discussion, keep listening as we head over the conversation now. Mitch: (00:48) So Brad, to start in broad terms, from what you've seen, how has the job market really changed over the last six months? How did companies change their approach for hiring? What did the overall job availability look like? You know, just from your perspective, what has this last few months done for the job market? Brad: (01:09) Yeah. Great question, and there's no doubt, it looks different. The one thing the unemployment rate has jumped from 2.4% approximately now up to 8.4%, and that's down to slightly where it was maybe just just a few weeks ago. So that, that right there in itself is a very good indicator of some significant change in the job market. And what I saw during that window, as COVID-19 started to impact the marketplace, were companies really pushing the pause button or, in some cases, opportunities just drying up. And really from that, I'd say that March to May or February to June window is where that started to really show,and of course, unemployment rates started to spike. You then saw in that same window of times, companies starting to lag their process or slow their process significantly. Even if they already had just started a search or recruiting process. So a lot of times individuals would be, in the beginning stages and all of a sudden feel like, Hey we're where did that search go? Where does that process, end up and companies were kind of, Hey, wait and see mode during that window. And then some just really were not interested at all in hiring, during this last six months. So you've seen a little bit of pockets in both areas where, you know, some companies are starting to come back, but, you know, from that last six months, we've, we've seen a big change and, and how, the market has been impacted. And then part is your second question, I guess, how the companies approach hiring and what does it mean to overall job availability? You know, I think companies started to realize there are some candidates coming on to the marketplace and then they started looking at their job profile and their role and what they needed. And what I saw was companies starting to add more boxes to the checklist that they needed. So instead of it being, Hey, at 2.4, under 3% unemployment, and if these people had these couple of things and then this good accounting skills or certification or background, it jumped to, wow, I need these 10 things checked and their background to consider them for the position. So it really did change how companies were approaching, hiring, and then also, you know, availability, job availability changed. Now I'll also say it was interesting that there was, there was some organizations that looked at this as a scenario of, hey, there's an opportunity to add resumes to their database or add connections or contacts. And so you may have still saw some folks, I guess, taking candidates, but it just, it just slowed significantly. Mitch: (04:19) So our listeners, accounting and finance professionals, they span many industries, and I'm just curious again, from what you've seen, are there particular industries that remain more active or even successful in hiring through this? And then I'd like to get your thoughts on the opposite as well. Are there any roles or industries that really suffered more because of the change in the hiring process and the availability and everything you just mentioned? Brad: (04:47) Yeah. Great, great question. At the firm, I'm part of Dixon Hughes Goodman, and the team I lead within DHG Search. We go to market as an industry and service specialists, of course. And so that industry piece was very important that we had a wide range of industries we serve during this time, because there were, there was significant change in that as well. You know, a few of the industries that stood out as continuing to hire with course ones that had the essential business aspect to them, and those were construction, healthcare, some real estate, and then the other one that you saw kind of spike during this window of time, is IT, and IT companies, or IT roles because as people were going more remote, IT needed to step in and really add to their team to be able to service their own internal teams or external clients that they were serving. So those, those are a few industries that jump out to me as, as, we saw continued, activity in. And another one that was kind of surprising was automotive space, the automotive dealership space. I have a team, and a leader that does a great job in that space,  and what she saw was definitely they pushed the pause button, but it kind of came back a little quicker than others. And I don't know if that was just where some confidence was or some opportunity was there for individuals to, with low interest rates or whatever the case may be to, to purchase a vehicle. And so we saw that bounce back a little quicker as well. But then there's others that were a mix I'll, I'll put healthcare in that space too, because in some areas of healthcare, it was, we need talent and we need to find talent, but there was some specialty areas where people were not being able to utilize or get out to that then also were impacted. And then the other one that was significantly hurt was hospitality, and the restaurant space. That space, there, there were companies that are no longer in business now due to this pandemic. Mitch: (06:57) And how about what things look like today? What is recruiting, as far as what's available and, you know, for our listeners, whether they are passively looking for work or, you know, actively looking for work, maybe they came from one of those industries that really suffered, you know, what can those looking for a job? Or those looking for recruiting help, expect today? Brad: (07:19) Yeah. So it looks a lot different today. the first thing I would say you want to do today is make sure you have your own technology ready to be able to do Zoom videos, paint team videos, videos, remotely of course, for these interviews. So that, that's the first thing I would say. That looks way different. A video, a viral video comes to mind as you asked that question and our world looks a little different in, and I think it was several years ago, maybe 2017, 2018, a reporter maybe in the BBC or a professor was on a reporting segment and his child walked through the background of the video, and then the wife walked through the background of the video and he he's trying to do this very serious news report and just, it just goes wrong. Right. So what I would say today, is the first thing is ma...

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:05) Welcome back to Count Me In. IMA’s podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson, and I'm pleased to bring you another bonus episode for my co-host Rouba Zeidan. For this conversation, Rouba talks with Asha Merugu, senior manager at EY. Asha explains her career journey in the finance industry and shares her perspective on how gender parody is being driven in many private and government sectors in India. Let's head over and take a listen to the full conversation now. Rouba: (00:38) So according to the Global Findex database released by the World Bank, roughly one out of two bank accounts in India remain inactive, which is about twice the average of other developing economies. What is the worst, you know, is notable in terms of the gender gap when it comes to this amount? So for example, 54% of women account holders report not actually using their accounts as opposed to 43% of male holders. Do you think that there's a need for financial education amongst women in order to render the more financially savvy? Asha: (01:18) No, it's a great question. Obviously, yes, right. So there has to be a financial education amongst women. There is no secondary view about it, but if you look at like in today's era, what is very important, is it just not awomen, like, even men need financial education, but of course they are considering, you know, I have gone in a very small region India and you know, so my mother is a working professional. She was, she is a doctor, and then I have seen as a kid, how challenging it is for working mothers to manage a finance and a home and a work. So finance was always in the hands of the father, right? Like the major decisions were made by fathers and anything to do with the major investments in India is always made by of, you know, father of the family. So that's how the most Indian families, which are traditionally like, you know, middle class and maybe a little bit higher upper middle class families would do except for some exceptions. But, but I agree with you, I think considering the way, you know, the India is going on. Oh, you're right. Like most of the wommen in India does not have active bank accounts. You know there could be majority of the reasons, like, for example, if you take working women, they do have bank accounts, right? So because salary gets credited to bank, but look at the number of transactions that happens in the account. Oh, I mean the service here sees that most women are not very, very, investment savvy. They don't really want to invest and take risks. This is like a majority of the mindset because it's, it's always a protective or culture that we have grown up. Right. We have been grown up as a kid that, okay, you have to save, you have to take care. You know, you have to, or you have to secure yourself, and this is how I think the education system in India works too. And this is what makes women very conservative, especially I feel in India. And most of the women though, they earn salaries and their bank account would be limited to the salary account. You don't find them making the investments, which meant there to make it aggressively. Right. They don't actually spend the portfolios aggressively. Now coming to the question of, you know, like how do you give this education to your question that, do you think there's a need for financial education? Yes. I think there's a very, very, very important need for financial education, especially amongst I think the middle class families and, you know, the working woman category, the Indian government is also doing quite a few things to get this education spread amongst the communities. In fact, I think if you look at Jonathan Yogendra that India, God, which makes every household to have an account bank account, you know, compulsory for the purpose of getting the pension or maybe for the purpose of getting any of the amenities, which our government is passing on, the government made it mandatory. I think that was a great initiative from a government perspective to get women  data, at least as a concept of saving. And there's a concept of you having an account to get your money. That way the woman doesn't just take all the money and put it in the hands of men. In some families, I think it's very unfortunate that this will happen so that the government has done some initiatives by having this agenda huge now. And I think bringing some education, bringing all the schemes through which the small amount of the money reaches, right. It reaches through an account itself. So even though I think the report says a lot, gradually my view is that is India speaking up. You know, the people are becoming extremely, you know, now savvy about using the bank accounts, you know, using digital means and more so because of the COVID right. In the last six months, I think we have seen a great transformation in India. Maybe this question would have been definitely very relevant six months ago. And I see, Oh, you know, because there was an option for people to use and not to use digital means and accounts and et cetera, or, you know, people may be what I think, not, not really compelled to do it, but if you look at now, I think because of all of these initiatives of a government and the COVID and the digital initiatives, which are coming up in India. Digital India is a biggest initiative in India where everybody is forced to use it. I'll give you like a very small examples of how I see in, you know, women are using, you know, bank accounts now, because they're compelled to have ATM's and pay apps and, you know, all of those digital wallets. You know, I live in a very small place, like, you know, like it's actually cost mobility. And I live in Bangalore, you know, which is, which is a very good city, but there are some places of the Bangalore, which has got, you know, a small streets where all the women sit on the floor and they sell jewelry, they sell vegetables and they sell all the types of items. And I see a biggest advancement amongst them, as they do accept digital mode of cash, which means they're getting comfortable, right, to start using digital initiatives. I think I feel, yes, there is definitely a need. I mean, it is definitely important for government to think through more, to provide a financial education, but there is definitely some kind of an advancement happening in India. So that's what I feel. Rouba: (06:20) Amazing initiatives actually. It kind of gives you a very promising view of the future, but I mean, despite this rapid, rapid and consistent growth of the financial sectors, we want to zoom in on that. And specifically in India, there's a widening gender gap in the country's financial industry. I mean, with women, underrepresented, underrepresented in employment, at nearly every single level, this is the very same ecosystem that you rose to a leadership position, and yet you remain undeterred. So how has your experience been, and what were some of your guiding principles? Asha: (06:59) Yeah. So it's, it's a journey, Rouba, isn't it? It's all about a journey. Leadership is all about, I think the purpose of a life and living life. And I truly believe in it, you would not be able to achieve anything overnight, you know, in life, right. You have to really strive for it and you have to dream for it. And I've believed in this principle that, you know, you're all about your thoughts. If you think you can, you can, if you think you can't you're right, because you thought that you can't, right. So the human mindset is always about the thoughts and the thoughts makes you and, and thoughts breaks you. So of course, I think the women in India definitely has to, you know, has to support each other to, you know, like get into the ecosystem and understand each other and understand that...

Contact Neta Meidav: https://www.linkedin.com/in/netameidav/Vault: https://vaultplatform.com/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:05) Welcome back for episode 94 of Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson, and today I'll be bringing you right up to a conversation between my cohost Mitch Roshong and Neta Meidav. Neta is the Co-founder and CEO of Vault, a reporting platform designed to resolve workplace misconduct incidents. In this episode, she discusses the pitfalls with traditional internal reporting or whistleblower policies within organizations, and how technology such as her platform can enhance internal, ethical reporting moving forward. So without further ado, let's hear their conversation now. Mitch: (00:45) So we're here today to talk about alternative and innovative solutions to traditional whistleblower policies within organizations. I'd first like to set the stage for our listeners and kind of explain the why for our conversation. So can you share some examples of activities that would require employees to act as whistleblowers? Neta: (01:04) Sure, of course. I'm happy to do so. Maybe first it would be helpful to distinguish for the purpose of this conversation, between whistle-blowing and internal, reporting. I think it's important to explain that, the way we see it, whistleblowing is the act of reporting misconduct or ethical breaches externally. For example, to an enforcement agency of sorts like the SEC, whilst, internal reporting is really what, we want to be talking about today and the process which we want to fix and optimize, for, for everyone's benefit. So when we talk about kind of activities that would require employees to act as whistleblowers, I think that the past year showed how that category for internal reporting has it has expanded. So, we of course consider the traditional corporate and financial fraud and corruption issues that require people to, come forward and report, and only today, I, woke up to, the interesting article on the Wall Street Journal about, Volkswagen, which I'll, I'll come back to, later on in this conversation, because I think it's, it's crucial, but the things that happen in every organization, that require, to kind of surface up concerns and, and make management aware. Mitch: (02:43) So then in response to these activities and the various things that go on within an organization, what are some of the traditional solutions or policies that companies have in place, whether it is the internal or the external, like you mentioned, and what are some of those normal outcomes in your opinion? Neta: (02:59) Sure. So I think, you know, I think company’s are largely trying to do the right thing by saying, come forward to us internally. Speak to your manager speak to someone in the organization, speak to our compliance office, but if you cannot, here's a hotline for you, right. And that's the, the traditional mechanism that we've seen for decades that was, you know, became specifically popular, due to, the Sarbanes Oxley Act and the requirements on, on a third party operated whistleblowing platform that was put in place back in 2002. The issue with such legacy solution such as, third party hotlines is that number one, they don't really do much to build trust, right? They're not helping with building the internal trust that we need to see today, in every modern organization, because essentially what they're saying is if there's an issue, well, call this call center and report a problem, and the company will communicate with this call center and pick it up. But here's an intermediary for you and this is how you need to come forward because the act of reporting is just so scary and difficult, and so here's, here's a route for you. The second thing is if you look at the data and the statistics, they actually tell you that hotlines are in many cases, not only are there not the solution, but I would say that they're part of the problem, because if you look at, the global business ethics survey that was published this year, it talks about, the fact that only 6% of all cases that are reported internally in corporate America are reported to the hotline. In other cases, you find, so one of the biggest providers of hotlines in the world, I was talking about 11% of reporting happens to its platform. So that's a very low number, and that comes to show that people essentially do not really trust that option, and do not find it as a, as an optimal solution for when they are experiencing something that is in fact very difficult, to come forward and speak up about. And I think that is perhaps one of the reasons that we're seeing, the Department of Justice just published its guidelines a few months ago, to measure the effectiveness of your ethics and compliance program, and, now it's time to do so because humanity has moved on and so did technology, and there are other ways to create today. And there are other ways to ensure that people feel like they're comfortable, in, in coming forward and reporting misconduct when, when and where it happens Mitch: (06:10) So let's talk a little bit more about your thought process when it comes to this whole situation here. Obviously you looked at these outcomes and recognize there's a gap or there's insufficient resolutions going on. So what did you really try to come up with as far as a need that you recognized when evaluating these outcomes and where did your thought process take you, before we get into these actual innovative solutions? Neta: (06:36) Sure. The few guiding principles, that have guided us in looking at this is that we need to look at, these legacy solutions and processes that are in place, and we need to completely, reinvent them by putting the employee at the center of the experience, right? So we need to look at the solution from the outlook of the employee, because essentially we want to encourage people to come forward and report more. So when we're thinking about creating this new employee centric experience, we need to consider several things. Technology is just one of them. It's really, it's an, it's a very important element of it, but it's just one of the elements. And indeed, you know, this we're, you know, the year is 2020. people communicate through their phones through, apps. They're used to digital solutions that are serving them. That's how, that's how the workforce is communicating today, and it's important to bring those solutions forward, to meet, uh, where, where we are and to meet your employees where they are. So that's, that's the first element. The second element is to do with trust and, and there's, you know, that's really important to highlight that trust can only be rebuilt if there is a direct communication between reporter and company. Be it, if the employee is anonymous or not anonymous, it's really important to create that trust internally, and we can do that by taking the intermediary outside of the equation and empowering people to come forward and report.  The third element is to do with psychological safety. So one of the things we looked at with our technology is not only how you create a sense of, you know, not only how you digitize the old ways of reporting, but how you can really create a sense of psychological safety, and, empower more people to report who would have otherwise not reported misconduct when they experienced it. So we were thinking about how can that be created, and  recreated the technology in a way that empowers people to speak up still safeguards everyone's data and privacy from each other, but ensures that people have that sense of, what we call a blind network and t...

Contact Jolene Lampton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolene-lampton-b40127164/IMA's Ethics Center: https://www.imanet.org/career-resources/ethics-centerFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMitch: (00:05) Welcome back to Count Me In. IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Mitch Roshong, and today you'll be listening to a bonus episode featuring a conversation about Global Ethics Day. Jolene Lampton, Professor of Management, Accounting, and Area coordinator for MBA and Accounting Programs at Park University, joined Count Me In cohost, Adam Larson, to talk about the significance of ethics and values. Jolene is also a member of IMA's Committee on Ethics and was kind enough to share her perspectives with us on this very important day. To hear more, keep listening as we head over to their conversation now. Adam: (00:47) Since we're releasing this podcast on Global Ethics Day, I wanted to start out by asking why is this day important, And what does it mean to you? Jolene: (00:53) On this global ethics day, I believe it is a day for all of us to search within ourselves, our beings, to bring our values to the surface as we think about a common set of values. People with high self efficacy have conviction within their beings to do the right thing. This in turn gives them confidence. They do not second guess their own intentions. They act in accordance with their convictions. People with high self efficacy can speak about it. They can articulate their values. This is called efficacy. It means you have the ability to produce an intended result. It is intrinsic. It comes from within one's being, your persona. With  conviction, you feel willing or even compelled to speak your beliefs. This is a point where you can exude confidence to others, and this will show in your behavior. On the other hand, people with low self efficacy cannot do this. Rather, they doubt themselves. They are intimidated. When speaking with others about a situation, they do not feel confident on how to act on their own convictions. So you want to achieve high self efficacy. You want to feel good about yourself and be motivated and confident to take action accordingly. On this global ethics day, I hope you will examine your own values and start to speak about them. Adam: (02:56) So when we look at ethics from an organization perspective, how important is it for an organization to have its foundation rooted in those ethics? Jolene: (03:06) Your values are rooted in your internal beat. They come from within. Even before you go to work for an employer, you should check on their websites to see if their values align with your own. And if you can't find the employer's core values on their website, it's a great interview question. You should ask them what their core values are. When this alignment is achieved. That is the best fit for both the organization and the individual. It's an ideal cultural fit. You want to work for an organization with your same core values, your intrinsic values. Adam: (03:57) So you just mentioned that, you know, you want to work with an organization that has your same values and organizations are made up with lots of different people, and how can someone build the confidence to do the right thing and to speak up when they need to? So let's say they've done all that legwork that you said the organization meets up, but then they notice something that doesn't, that doesn't match up with their values. How do they build that confidence to do the right thing? Jolene: (04:22) Human beings have special abilities related to learning that sets him apart from other species. Social cognition theory says we learn by modeling and imitating others. Think about it. This is how your own youngster learn to walk and talk. They looked at you as a role model. Then you grew up and you mastered performance, gaining some morals and we acquire the ability to function independently, which is a good thing, and we gain the unique ability to self reflect, which gives us the ability to have self efficacy, which gives you confidence to do the right thing. Giving Voice to Values is an approach that will let this happen more readily. Giving Voice to Values was created by Mary Gentilly in 2010. This approach advocates that you will speak your mind when you know what is right. What you really should do is prepare and practice for actions and not just any action, but the difficult, hard, and risky intricate values-based actions. This is a first step to building ethical muscles, which will give you confidence to act on your own values. The habit of voicing one's values takes practice to make our values just come out instantaneously. So start by crafting your own scripts and responding to others, when you feel compelled to come up with a response, let's begin with the scenario of shared values. When talking about cheating in a cheating episode that you witnessed. There is a shared respect for academic integrity that you should work to build upon in order to reduce cheating behavior. Giving Voice to Values empowers anyone and all of us to voice a sense of doing the right thing. This scenario requires for you to look clear eyed and honestly about the act of cheating. Who we are, who we have been, we can be. To speak up about or wrong, takes a kind of courage that requires a special set of skills like those needed to speak up when you see, when you witnessed your first episode of fraud in action. You need to prepare your script in advance and practice that message out loud in front of a mirror. Remember in such instances, you may need allies and supporters. You may even need to convince your own boss or other official, and you will need credibility with others when you speak or take action, or you may need to just pause and gather more data to make a compelling case. As a mature and capable performer. You are the determinant to take action or select a time after which you've gathered sufficient data. You will decide. If you've prepared scripts in advance, you develop your ethical muscles, just like a weight builder develops muscles. This takes practice a lot of practice. This is what Giving Voice to Values does for you. It prepares your ethical muscles. So you normalize your behavior. Individuals who have exercised their ethical muscles often enough find that it becomes a part of their own self-definition the trick is that when it's normalized and you come up with a stressful situation, you will, calmly react and respond to the case at hand, if you practice voicing your values. This is the position for your behavior to be values-based, and it'll give you a can do attitude. The more you begin voicing your values, the better off you will be. Adam: (09:16) So as each person finds that ability to bring that voice to the values, and it's important to know what your values are, how can each person see how their values align to the organization that they're a part of. Jolene: (09:30) You should know, your organization's values. Core values should be on your company website. They should be in your policy and procedure manuals. They should be in on your bulletin board or other requisite sheets. And more importantly, they should be in your mind. Begin today, looking for your corporate values and speak about them in your workplace. As you work today, examine how your work reflects your core values. As you're performing reconciliations or preparing reports, think about it. Start sharing with others in your own department, share with your supervisor and your colleagues. They too should be reminded that procedures should align with c...

Contact Loutfi Echehade: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loutfi-echhade-5b3601/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:00) Hi everyone. Thanks for listening to another episode of Count Me In. I'm your host Adam Larson, and this is the 93rd episode in our series. Today's conversation is between my cohost Rouba, and IMAboard member and financial advisor, Loutfi Echehade. Loutfi is a seasoned financial advisor to family businesses in Saudi Arabia and the region and joins Count Me In to talk about the implications of COVID-19 and the current economic landscape. For advice and how such owners can maneuver their businesses. During these times, keep listening as we go to their conversation now. Rouba: (00:42) So, let’s get straight into it. I’m excited to get your insights on the family business segment in the region. So analysts and economists consider family businesses to be the lifeblood of the Middle East region, and crucial to the region’s economic prosperity and stability. Why do you think that is? Loutfi: (00:59) Well I mean, you know, family businesses, as you indicated, I mean it represent at least 80 percent, some statistics say 85 to 90 percent of the economy is driven by family businesses. In our region, the largest family businesses are the most critical. They play e a critical factor not only in employment and number of employment, but in contributing to the local economies. So, they drive the whole business, you know, and this is not only in our region. Globally, family businesses really are the main drivers of economic developments, in most of the world. Rouba: (01:46) According to the Middle East family survey conducted last year, they found that 78 percent of family businesses report economic environment as their top challenge. How does such a limitation play out when you are facing one of the biggest challenging moments in the economic history since the 1930s, COVID-19? Loutfi: (02:09) Family businesses are just like any other businesses. They go through, of course, cycles and they face these kinds of challenges every once in a while. We had a financial crisis in 2007 and in 2008, before that we had the September 11 events, and before that there were a lot of events and major developments in the world. Family businesses, just like any other business, they were able to sustain and maintain their structure and business, primarily because they have certain features that allow them to do that. The flexibility, transparency, level of commitment, long term commitment. But still, they face external pressure, just like everybody else. I work on a number of family businesses in the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia, and the pandemic, COVID-19 has a significant impact on their operations. So they face the same thing just like any other business. If they are one structure, they can manage to go through these events, major events, and heavy burdens in the future, you know. Rouba: (03:34) How equipped are regional family businesses for this huge task and what are some of the best practices you have noticed from your practice? Loutfi: (03:44) By their nature, family businesses are family-oriented, family-directed. They have a clear strategic planning, they commit to the family values, the family culture. So there weree ups and downs for most of their lives, business lives. They go through a lot of turmoil, roadblocks, headaches, pressures. If they are really well managed, and have proper structure, and that’s where comes family governance. If they really have proper family governance, that unites them, that puts them together. As I said, they are not like the corporate world, like businesses for profit. They don’t focus just on the short term, they focus on the long term. There is also the level of loyalty. In family businesses you find a lot, of course, a lot of family members being united and being committed, but at the same time, there a lot of non-family members aligned, committed and work aggressively, even sometimes more than the family members. So, you have that combination of commitment to the long term, not to focus on the short term, the willingness, the desire, the interest, and the commitment to continue to the following generation. And then they have the loyalty part which also drives them into the future, and into the long term. The way I see family business, just to give you an example, there are a lot of companies now in our region and globally they are firing people of course. They put people on furloughs or extended long leaves and they cut salaries. The family businesses that I deal with face the same problems, but they manage, you know, in a way, to keep these employees with them because they have been with them during tough times, difficult times, as well as in good times. So they look at them as really part of their commitment not only to their employees but to the society in a whole to the community. And that is a little different from directional-wise, different from other businesses. Rouba: (06:24) You noted governance, which was going to be my next question. You’ve been providing advisory to family businesses in the region for many years, how committed are they to governance and do they value it? What has been your experience wit this essential aspect of the sector, as you have mentioned as well? Loutfi: (06:44) We are on a journey. In the Middle East, you know, of course you know, if you talk about governance, corporate or family governance, not many people will understand, not many people will really decipher it, if you wish.  Everyone will give you different. It did not really have a lot of meaning. But you know, things have changed, I would say in the last decade, in the last 10-15 years, things have changed. In the corporate side, governance regulators have put governance regulations, protocols to ensure that corporations have proper structures to maintain their operations as well to really ensure that they provide right and correct information. On the other hand, the family governance is also something that is a process, a set of protocols.. Most family businesses they have hurdles they understand it, but if you are to tell me, are they committed to implementing it, that’s still, we still have a long way to go. I know a well-known large number of family businesses, well known family businesses. They have already proper structures, proper family governance structure. They have what we call a family constitution that defines roles and responsibilities of family members who share on the corporate side, either as board members or on the C-suite level. They also have what we call certain committers to ensure that there is proper alignment between the corporate side and the family side, and also defines who can be employed in the company and who cannot, the matter of dividend, conflict resolution issues, succession planning, all these are critical components of ensuring a successful and easy and smooth transition into the following generations. Rouba: (08:59) With a GPD contribution of more than 60 percent, workforce contribution of 80 percent, a broad range of sectors including food and drink, manufacturing, construction, education and health, and trillions of dollars in revenue, how will the current situation impact employment within the family business segment in the region, and what are governments doing to support and to mitigate this impact? Loutfi: (09:25) Of course, you know, the pandemic, COVID-19, as we said earlier, has significant impact on all businesses, all over the world. In the US, we have unemployment reaching over 14 percent. Although I don’t have statistics on the Middle East, like in Saudi Arabia and the GC, but I see a lot of compani...

Contact Liv: https://www.linkedin.com/in/livwatson/Contact David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-w-29627882/IMA's Paper - "A Digital Transformation Brief: Business Reporting in the Fourth Industrial Revolution": https://www.imanet.org/-/media/e8faf3260e904bf5984fff9c9cf70382.ashxFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:05) Welcome back to Count Me In. IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson, and I'm here to bring you episode 92 of our series. Today's conversation features two guest speakers, Liv Watson and David Wray. They joined my cohost, Mitch to talk about a paper they coauthored with others about digital transformation. The paper, A digital Transformation Brief Business Reporting and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, highlights the staggering compliance costs and boldly calls for digital transformation across businesses. Liv and David share their perspectives with Mitch as they share many facts and examples of what businesses should do to maintain compliance through the data revolution. Let's listen to their conversation now.  Mitch: (00:55) From the research paper, you classify six reg data ecosystem challenges that are contributing factors to the material costs and risk in global compliance that you discovered during the Workiva research. Is that correct?  Liv: (01:08) Yeah, not that the paper really was exhaustedly addressing all of the spectrum, but some of the key challenges for companies to produce regulatory reporting is obviously set in their reg data. The regulatory data, they got it captured that sits in silos in different types of systems throughout the organization, and then sometimes as a reporting goes beyond just financial systems, they are integrating non-financial data. That data is not hardly accessible in any system. So the data processes being able to access data is kind of key to be able to digitize that data. Some of the challenges are the data types, right? You have different data types, different formats of data. So they sit locked up in documents. So the data, even if it's stored digitally, it's not accessible. Standards and supporting documents. I mean, you have many standards to follow many frameworks to follow multiple regulators, asking for multiple data points that are aligned with different supporting documents and regulation. We need to digitize these documents and they need to be machine readable. They need to be discoverable. They can't just be digitized into a word document. Technical standards. There are XBRL. There is XML, there is Excel, there is Word, there is PDF. When regulators ask for data, they need to start considering one data format because, and in machine readable way, because just aggregating all of this data and then try to create documents and report both internally and externally. There's some mission marbles. There are many different ways. Some allows the software vendor to directly connect to these digital repositories, but some you have to upload some, you have to fill out an online form. We need one way or connecting, and then the digital way and data definitions. Let's not forget that. Data definitions is just an issue all around standard sharing many data definition are the same, but mean something different. Some are the same, but describe the front. We need the digital transformation in a central place, just like a library to register these data definition into taxonomies so they can be discoverable machine readable. So during this paper, we discovered some of the key points that is costing industry today. IFAC recently said  over $780 billion a year costing the industry just to address many of these problems that we discovered in our research. So yes, quite a technical challenge that we still have today, Mitchchell, thank you.   Mitch: (04:33) Well, thank you for that, and with this whole data revolution, you know, I'd like to direct this question to David as the seasoned finance leader, I know you were both in a publicly traded and privately held Fortune 500 companies. What is your personal observation on the willingness of compliance teams to really embrace this whole digital transformation?   David: (04:56) Thanks, Mitch. It's a great question. I mean what I've noticed throughout my career, and I think it's really accelerating the last few years is that users on the ground are really beyond crying and now screaming out for digital transformation. And that's now being echoed in a very loud way by CFOs. In fact, in 2018, Accenture conducted a study, which is called From the Bottom Line to the Frontline, and they found that about 80% of CFOs said that control compliance and reporting is largely going to be digitized because they want to free up those resources to be able to business partner. That's where they see value. Additionally risk and compliance data accounts for almost three quarters of all of the data requests. So the issue is definitely not going away, and of course it naturally prompts the question around how can we digitize the end to end process, so the talented finance resources can in fact be deployed to better support the business and drive value for organizations. Our paper really captures this at its most basic level, right? The ultimate reporting objective is really trustworthy auditable accessible and machine readable information that is definitely relevant to user groups. And to do so, we've gotta be near real time as Liv alluded to earlier. It probably goes without saying that any transformation success is really going to depend on robust data governance and each business reporting data and compliance framework as well.   Mitch: (06:20) Thank you, David. And now leave, I'd like to pose the same question to you, but from a software service provider, I know you were supporting roughly three quarters of the Fortune 500 companies. What are your observations on the willingness of companies and their compliance teams to embrace this and the data revolution as well?   Liv: (06:38) It's an interesting question because as our company tried to build a compliance platform that allowed companies to digitize their processes 10 years ago, we spent most of the time educating the market, what the cloud was, because sitting on system on local hard drive and data setting, you had to change your mind and trust the cloud. What we are seeing 10 years later is something that a cloud is no longer an issue. And now with the virus and these externality that must allow data to be accessible from anywhere. We are seeing a huge change in the demand of, of the solutions that can bring this, technology transfer nation, because business reporting has never been more complex. If you were to kind of just even talk about the cost of compliance and how much data that is being generated today, just in the last five years, 90% of the data has been is being generated. There is a $221 billion last year and spent on data management. The risk of noncompliance and fines are getting much higher. So the challenge is good data governance is what is going to be a use differentiator to the profession and this, and David I also say I am a, new, competency frameworks allows for a lot of these new technology skills says that the profession needs to adapt to be able to drive the digital transformation. And in our research that David, my coauthor here and we did, we also discovered speaking to accounting professionals that yes, they know they need to change and transform and software and embrace the cloud and digital technology like ...

Deepika Chawla is a business woman, presently serving as Vice President of a Fortune 100 company. With 27+ years of rich and diverse work experience in Financial Shared Services and Banking Industry, Deepika believes She believes “Your legacy is in the leaders you create and the knowledge you share”. She is a Qualified Chartered Accountant who is extremely passionate about supporting women and the community she serves. Deepika has won various recognitions for promoting Diversity in the workplace & society.  She has been named as one of the 25 most inspiring women in the Coffee Book ‘Big Dreams Bigger Achievement’s and has also been decorated with the Champion Award from ‘We Are The City, Organization in collaboration with EY, for her passion, resilience and tenacity in supporting diversity. She is actively involved in mentoring youth / next generation leaders across organizations & colleges and has attended a number of events at various universities and colleges as a speaker and panelist. A TEDx speaker, Deepika supports multiple NGO’s of Cancer, Education & Thalassemia and is also on the advisory board of two of them. A mother of two children - boy 24 and girl 20 - she recently celebrated 27 years of marriage.Contact Deepika Chawla: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepika-chawla-181a319/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Adam: (00:00) Welcome to episode 90. One of Count Me In, IMA's a podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host, Adam Larson, and I'm here to introduce you to our next featured guest Deepika Chawla. Deepika is a senior finance professional and qualified chartered accountant in India. She currently serves as the vice president of a fortune 100 company and has over 27 years of diverse work experience in financial services and the banking industry. In this episode, she speaks with my cohost Rouba Zeidan about her journey to the top, and the challenges she and other women face in the finance industry to hear Deepika’s, perspective on how women can make the most out of their careers and finance, keep listening as we head over to the conversation now. Rouba: (00:55) So good afternoon, Deepika, thank you so much for joining us. Deepika: (01:01) Hi Rouba, thank you so much for having me here to talk something, which I am so passionate about. Rouba: (01:09) Same here. I'm looking forward to your thoughts and your experience. So, women in Asia occupied just 1.1% of CEO and CFO positions and country held positions, according to a 2012 capitalist study, why do you think that is? Deepika: (01:29) Yeah, good question, and really close to a lot of women's heart. So, most of the people feel that women spend more time performing unpaid work in childcare and housework and may not be able to handle a senior position. Remember they feel that they may not be able to handle this a senior position. Not to shatter the unconscious bias that assumes women should be the sole caregiver or associated with housework organizations should really create a safe and inclusive workplace where men feel comfortable being with [inaudible] and do duties and household activities, giving both men and women an equal opportunity to look at their by supporting each other. Now, really from that perspective, it is so very important that that comfort should be there to the women that they can go and work or, you know, they could be CEOs and CFOs because somebody else can do the caregiver job. Now, secondly, as you go higher women themselves have self-doubts and this will come into our conversation very often because whether they can do the job or not, and they hold back because that is very, very important. They have this self-doubt. Should I be perfect before I applied to a job? While men, at the same time even if they are at a 60% at that job, they convince you that they're the right candidate. And thirdly, and lastly, in my mind, you know, unless the top leadership does not drive the message, this may still go on as these numbers, only what you shared with me. Whichever news you're hearing today, whether it is Uber, Fidelity, lots of companies or, you know, otherwise senior women positions are coming up. When you open the LinkedIn these days, you would see one announcement or the other coming. Now that's primarily because the top, you know, the top leadership approach is to focus on the, the women candidate on the CEO positions. So, I think that's really important. And in my early career, I have seen women having children and taking promotions in the same year. So, you need both the women and the company, and of course the men to believe in that they can do it. So really that is what I think. Rouba: (04:07) Makes a lot of sense, actually. I mean, that's, that was a, I'm going to ask you a bit more about your personal experience as a seasoned professional who's been at the forefront of your sector throughout your career. How do you find the industry has changed over the last 20 years? And what are some of the plus points that you've noticed, which mark positive elements of change, evolution and progress. Deepika: (04:34) Yeah. Good question, you know, because, let me share because it's important to let people know, and they say, you know, women shouldn't share the age and I always feel very proud of sharing that. So 27 years back Rouba, I'm 51 now this year, but 27 years back when I completed my chartered accountancy, I was really one of those few women who was trying to enter the finance field and not to an MBA, but see basically like a CPA from US, right, or a CA in India. And when I went on to do my first job, I landed up in a different city from my hometown, and trust me, I went through interviews where they actually called me to say, we don't hire women, and I was in shock.  Big, big financial companies. And, I had just completed my CA. I was one 22 and a half years old, and I was in shock. I thought I was like super. And it had really hit me hard, but really, I'm not going to get a job up to doing such a qualification. And from there to where now the plus points, which I noticed to the journey, which I had, and now where we see, we are creating flexible and adaptive operating models, right? We, as companies, we are actually saying focus on diversity. In India, diversity primarily is gender that, right? And then you go on to other things, but primarily first you're looking at women because that itself is a small number. And today we actually have our own focus, making sure that you have equal number of CVs on the table so that you give an equal opportunity to them, right? You ensure that at least they get a proportion to be interviewed, and then you keep tracking till the end to see how many people were hired and was there, you know, some biasness of making, you know, not having always  men into the positions. So that's the second piece. The first one was creating flexible and adaptive operating models that, which never existed that today you would have a daycare center in a lot of cities, right? Under the place of work, where you can think in nuclear families that I can leave my child and pick it up. Virtual has become a very big reality. This is a good opportunity also that I can work, and I can take care of also.  Third is really drawing on nontraditional resources and partnerships. Where I really want to bring the focus on that, you know, we never used to look at secondary means where we want to get women back, but a lot of finance companies are looking at women coming back, from there, after childbirth, or if they have taken a break for getting married at or whatever. It is promoted, it is really well accepted. Adopting a growth and innovation mindset. Which is from the company's mindset, also...

Contact Andy Kettlewell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andykettlewell/"Reimagining Supply Chains to Navigate a Pandemic and Beyond" with the Chicago Council of Global Affairs: https://youtu.be/zAGPc9vlaxUAndy Kettlewell video for Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, Inventory Management: https://youtu.be/vkSNW6CJN7Q?t=570FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMitch: (00:05) Welcome to episode 90 of Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host Mitch Roshong, and I'm here to introduce you to our featured guest speaker for today's conversation, Andy Kettlewell. Andy is the Vice President of Inventory and Analytics for Walgreens after serving many years prior in various supply chain and inventory management roles with the company. He spoke to my cohost, Adam, about all the disruption across business and how he has managed to handle the volatility in the marketplace. Andy addresses the impact of supply and demand budgeting for these unexpected factors and how technology has enabled him to make better business decisions. Keep listening as we head over to their conversation now.   Adam: (00:54) Andy, COVID-19 has been disruptive across all aspects of business. How have you handled the demand volatility in the marketplace, and then in turn its impact on operations?  Andy: (01:08) It's a very important question for where we are in a post COVID-19 economy. So we've seen dramatic changes in not only the magnitude of demand changes and demand volatility, but also the frequency and the pace of those changes. And, and to make that real and what we've all experienced in our lives, it's everything from, you know, the run on toilet paper, and you've probably experienced those shortages firsthand and how the news media kind of helped to extrapolate and share that story widely, thus creating a run in a panic situation to other commodity items like hand sanitizer and masks and other items that were needed for a shift in consumer behavior, right? With, with COVID-19 that the marketplace has had to respond to, but what we're also seeing is a shift, in everyday items. So with the traffic patterns and how, how's it impacted all of our lives. So likely you're not going to your office right now. So that means you're not passing the convenient Duane Reade in Manhattan, or your Walgreens, you know across from your office in downtown Chicago and that's changed our consumer behavior away from maybe those instant consumption items to more of those take-home items, right? That as we shift our behavior. There's been a couple of other interesting transformations here across all aspects of the business. So Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, in their last earnings call, likened  the digital transformation of two years of digital transformation that happened in two months. McKinsey and Company's research has shown that we've seen 10 years worth of growth in eCommerce penetration in only three months. And so we're, eCommerce penetration is now North of 30% across all of retail. These are dramatic shifts in consumer behavior that, you know, our organization at Walgreens and every retailer is having to accommodate to. So in the reaction and the operationalization of that, right first and foremost, every firm is having to keep their team members safe and so when within a global supply chain, right, that means, you know, new protocols, new efficiency measures, but everything from how we keep our distribution center team members safe, to our truck drivers, to our store team members to keep operations moving was, was point number one. And that means everything from personal protective equipment to new policies, procedures, different shifts in labor management, to help keep our employees safe, to then keep the product moving. And then from there, very tactical impacts within our supply chain that we've had to address including, we've redesigned all of our demand, forecasting and replenishment algorithms. Now what that means is right, all those consumer behaviors, the systems that go behind that, that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify what you're going to buy in Walgreens tomorrow, have to be much more dynamic. I liken this to a, for most firms like a sand mandala, if you're familiar with that term.The Tibetan Buddhist monks, you know, spend hours and days, you know, building the perfect sand mandala and then they have to wipe it away and then start fresh. That's exactly what most firms are doing with their forecast models across their entire end to end supply chain to become more adaptive and responsive to consumer demand. And then sourcing, right. you know, at the heart of COVID-19, we found areas within the end end supply chain that were very efficient, but didn't have many redundant sources. And what I mean by that, right. is that, I think about that toilet paper example, right? A very efficient supply chain, the factories run 24 by seven to spit out the exact right amount of product that matches demand usage for commercial toilet paper and consumer toilet paper. With everybody not going to their offices or to sports stadiums anymore, the demand for consumer product goes up, that's manufactured on different machines and, and requires, you know, sourcing new partners and, and the capabilities to build that new product. And then lastly, I kind of on the business of response to the demand volatility is around longterm planning, right? A lot of what we do to figure out what consumers will buy  and needis really sociology at the end of the day. Right. and we have to predict how consumers are going to behave in the future, and so that means longterm planning, right? In March, we were trying to figure out gosh are public pools going to be open. And are we going to sell many swim toys at Walgreens to our consumers, to trying to predict whether or not trick or treat is going to happen right now, coming up with, Halloween season. You know, Walgreens is the number two Candide retailer in the United States and whether or not trick or treat happens is a very big deal that has massive balance sheet and cash flow impacts if, those sales don't happen as they normally would, that we have to work through in plan, and to do that, you know, we're trying to tap into new and novel data sources to, you know, try to predict what the next big thing is going to be for consumers or how our consumers behavior will change, versus, you know, the past precedence that's been is that over the number of years.   Adam: (06:20) So you've talked a lot about how you know, consumers are effective in your operations, and one of the examples you mentioned was like the toilet paper, the great toilet paper shortage that happened when the pandemic started, you know. Can we talk a little bit more about the volatility of the supply impact, especially on the balance sheet, because, you know, you need that supply to be able to sell the products to the consumers.   Andy: (06:40) Yeah, absolutely. I would, I would suggest that what we've seen through COVID-19 is the most volatile and widespread supply disruption that most supply chains have seen in the last several decades. And the difference here is, is most supply chains are built to withstand normal levels of volatility, and this is everything from gosh, the semi had a flat tire, right, and arrived a day or two late to, you know, if we're doing manufacturing, operations in areas that are prone to getting hurricanes in the Caribbean or in Florida or in Texas, you know, we're, we're, we're prepared to have redundancy in manufacturing or planning to be able to shift assets a...

Contact Mai Luu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mai-luu-693596168/"Small Business Planning During COVID-19": https://www.imanet.org/insights-and-trends/risk-management/small-business-planning-during-covid19FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMitch: (00:05) Thanks for coming back for another episode of Count Me In this is your host Mitch Roshong, and I'm here to bring you episode 89 of our series. We all know small to medium sized enterprises are a huge part of our management accounting profession, and COVID-19 has greatly affected the way these businesses are run along with the economy as a whole. In this episode, my cohost Adam talks with Mai Luu. Chief Operating Officer at Commonwealth Capital, LLC. She has also funded businesses and is very familiar with the small to medium sized business landscape. While talking with Adam, Mai discusses  various cashflow activities, venture capital funding, and other ways these businesses can obtain funding to renew themselves while still staying true to their original business purpose. Keep listening as we head over to their conversation now. Adam: (00:58) Small- medium sized enterprises have been affected greatly by COVID-19. How can businesses find a way to renew themselves and become new all over again? Mai: (01:09) COVID-19 has a far reaching economic impact in so many areas. Most every industry in every state has experienced the impact of COVID-19.  Second quarter GDP job, 9.5%. To put it in perspective, since record keeping began in 1947, quarterly job has never been more than 3%. With so much spending, making up two thirds of the US economy declines 12% percent between April and June, 2020. National debt and monetary policy for coronavirus stimulus packages are added to the national debt. With the Fed loaning money and buying financial assets,  1.41 million daily, the money supply, and two has recent sharply despite the injection of money into the system. Inflation stays close to zero, which could be a signal of a looming deflation in a near future. Disrupted supply chains and shortage of products, especially PPE products. Employment has been heavily affected. Job losses were worse than in the Great d\Depression, 50 million people out of a job. As many businesses closed, permanently and restrictions continue in several parts of the country. How business reinvent themselves in the wake of COVID-19 requires serious reevaluation of their business models, product and service offerings and financing methods to adapt and thrive in the new normal. Some of the old way of doing business are no longer effective and some products and services are no longer relevant. So understanding the renewed needs for both customers and service providers should play the central role in researching for the new business models, strategies, and product and services. While the pandemic reveals business weaknesses, it also presents opportunities for resetting strategy and business residents. With working from home businesses, adapt and embrace flexibility. So work life balance becomes work life integration, automation, core self-service portals, virtual help desk, and the use of productivity tools increase efficiency and adaptation. So this set of changes in our lifestyle transform how we consume products and services and how business operates. One thing that I can think of is cashflow and liquidity. This is one of the most important areas of business continuity. I can think of a few basic principles in managing cash that include one, reduce cost as much as possible and seek alternative financing, including the use of government support policies and working with landlord vendors and suppliers for favorable payment terms. Two, focus on generating cash, also turning a profit. Three, be transparent and fair to employees and share resources in case you end up having to cut staff. Adam: (04:48) I think you gave some great advice as people are looking to start new, and one thing I didn't hear you mentioned was something like venture capital. what are some of the considerations that SMEs should look at when seeking venture capital funding if they are trying to use that as starting new Mai: (05:05) A traditional venture capital VC business model is built based on hitting a few home runs to make up for many losing backs. Due to the high-risk nature of startup and early stage companies, VCs are extremely selective, only 0.1% of new ventures receive venture capital in any stage that leaps 99 point 99% of startups not receiving VC funding.  Ofthose that seek VC funding only 1.5% receives it. Even at this level of selectiveness, the majority of VC investments have  attractive returns. VCs prefer to fund high potential disruptive ventures in emerging industries that can offer high returns in a short period of with attractive exit options, acquisition or IPO. So those firms are known as unicorns. Businesses that can benefit from venture capital are disrupted capital intensive high growth ventures in emerging industries, host competitors are also getting venture capital funding. So when you're working with VCs, you need research to find the right VC fund. Some VC funds have restrictions that affect the investment choices. Some VC funds are geographical based or industry based or impact investing, etcetera. With that in mind when seeking venture capital you should first five venture capital funds that invest in companies like yours. Two,ensure that the VC firms invest in the stage of funding, that you are seeking. TThree, check out the VC firms past deals, and four consider location of the VC firm. I can think of as a few other considerations when seeking venture capital. One VC may seek control at the startup by taking a large portion of the equity, selling out common equity in the early stages of the company's existence, generally result in selling out the company's most precious element, which is the common equity ownership. This is a critical mistake made by a lot of entrepreneurs. Two VCs. also set the tone of the deal to make sure that they get multiples of the investment before anyone else, so entrepreneurs usually come last.. Thirdly, VC might replace startup to-dos with higher manager that could lead to the loss of the entrepreneurs, original vision and passion. Lastly, with your VC investors, sitting on the board and closely overseeing the company strategy and operations, your dream might become another job. Adam: (08:10) So in a lot of ways, venture capital is a really good investment, and if you're that unicorn that gets that, that gets that funding, it can be really important for you, but then these considerations that you just mentioned, it may not be, it may not always be the best option. Are there any alternatives? Mai: (08:26) Correct. Yes. Fortunately entrepreneurs can seek capital for their startup and early stage company without relying solely on the mercy of institutional money. So for the, for the entrepreneurs who understand the private capital markets, they can raise a substantial, substantial amount of capital through something called exempt securities offering without having to give up too much of their equity at the early stage for too little money. Keeping the vast majority of equity ownership and voting control that an entrepreneur can stay the course of their original vision and passion. The JOBS Act of 2012, brought the single most significant change to the securities law since 1933. The JOBS act lowers the barriers in the several area of the securities law permitting smart business to raise capital directly from the general public. So basically they are legally b...

Contact Karin Baggstrom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-baggstr%C3%B6m-9233a72/STARZPLAY: https://arabia.starzplay.com/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:05) Hey everyone. Welcome back to Count Me In, I'm your host, Adam Larson, and I'm excited to bring you episode 88 of our series. Our expert guest for today's conversation is Karen Baggstrom. Karen is a Founder and CFO of Starz Play, the leading subscription video on demand service that streams to over 20 countries across Asia, middle East and North Africa. In this episode, my cohost Rouba talks with Karen about how the COVID-19 pandemic has actually accelerated her business. During their conversation. Karen uncovers, how stars play as harnessing the power of technology to optimize the finance function and leveraging data analytics to enhance future growth. Even despite the current challenges. Keep listening, how amid digital disruption, recessions, and pandemics finance and accounting professionals remain ahead of the curve.   Rouba: (00:58) So good morning, Karen, and thank you so much for joining us today.   Karen: (01:03) Good morning, Rouba. Thank you for having me.  Rouba: (01:05) I'm actually looking forward to hearing from you as Starz Play has been a really beautiful example of organic growth out of the middle East region. So kudos to you guys.   Karen: (01:15) Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, we're excited as well, even though the whole of COVID  epidemic is of course, nothing that we would like to have, or see of course.   Rouba: (01:28) So I want to dive right into it. has, I mean, as somebody who works in finance and accounting and you're the CFO of Starz Play, has the digital transformation of finance impacted the roles and responsibilities of today's CFO and what are the skills needed to maneuver during such trialing time, like you just mentioned now, in your opinion.   Karen: (01:51) Sure. I mean, I think in general, moving to digital environment has changed and impacted many roles in, in businesses around the world, not just finance also, of course, however, I do think that in finance, the CFO and the finance department has a little bit stepped out of just being the accounting and reporting team from, you know, looking at the actuals, just comparing things to budget. Moving into this digital environment has allowed this team to become more part of the business integral part of the business, I would say, because back in the old days, the finance department was only always the one that was just looking at, you know, this is what happened, we'll book it in the balance sheet and the P/L, and then we compare it to the budget and then you send off a report. But now I think there's so much more involvement between the finance team and all the other teams and going digital of course, is a big part of this, because when you move into the digital world, you all of a sudden needs two different systems. And I also think that the finance team has become more analytical in their way that they work. They, you need to be able to analyze what comes in and not just take, you know, the cost as they are, and just look at them and say, okay, that's it that you're challenging the rest of the business, that your, you know, questioning the other departments in the business and saying, yeah, but is that really so, or can we change anything or why is that so? So I think that the finance team has become much more analytical in the way that we work and going digital is a big part of that. I was gonna say, I mean, for us, at Starz Play, we are a hundred percent digital. I mean, we work in the digital space. Our product is in the digital space. Everything is digital. So for us, it's natural and we have a lot of data around us all the time, you know, all this subscriber data or anything that touches our service, we have data on it. So, you know, I think from our point of view, we haven't gone digital as such. We are always work that's in our DNA. It's how we started this business. But no, I for sure, I see that my team, if I compare, you know, when I started in, in finance way, way, way back when now it's way more analytic, and the finance team is challenging the rest of the business much more, and that is a big difference.   Rouba: (04:47) And you mentioned the breaking down of silos and the interconnectedness of it all with finance teams becoming more involved in other departments, and I'm sure that includes the likes of marketing and product development, what have you, and do you find that the lines between CFO and CIO for example, are also blurred and then what role does digital transformation play at Starz Play? I mean, it'd be curious to know how that's working since you mentioned it's a digital product by default and in your current business model, especially, you know, within the finance team spectrum.   Karen: (05:19) Yeah. I mean, for a lot of companies, I do think that you will see a blurred line between the CFO and the CIO, especially in companies where you cannot afford to have a big C-suite where it does not make sense. You might have a CEO and a CFO and that's it. So you cannot have, you know, add on more C level people. So I definitely think that, and it makes sense from a certain perspective to do that. For us at Starz Play, we haven't really that structure because we're such an, you know, digitalized company. We have, we have the CFO and the finance team and we manage everything that has to do with finance and analytics and so on, and then we have a very big tech team and development team. And under that tech and development team, we have, data analysts. We have a big data analyst team, that is also working on, AI. So that kind of sits for us in our company. It sits under the tech team, but I'm definitely sure that in other companies, the blending of the CFO and the CIO does make sense for sure. And then your second question on how, you know, the digital transformation, what, how has this impacted us at Starz Play and add the business model that we have? as I said earlier on we, because we're a company within the digital space, we haven't really transformed as such, you know, from something being brick and mortar to transform, but what is happening is that we are evolving all the time. So we are, you know, we, we see that we need new tools to analyze certain type of data. We see that we want to go more granular into things, into information that we have, be it, you know, just simple, we get a supplier invoice and we want to be able to challenge what is that, you know, that data that is on that invoice and we can go more and more granular. So I think we didn't go from brick and mortar to become digitalized, but we are digitalized, but we're becoming more and more sophisticated.  Rouba: (07:41) But I think it's such a model is yours was actually born as a result of the digital, disruption. You're a disruptor! So successful leaders around the world, pride themselves on being lifetime learners and the, and they say that this is the secret for ongoing success, you know, especially in this era where there's new ways of doing things every day, what is your view on the need for continuous upskilling and reskilling, and obviously wellbeing a lifetime learner, you know, and not just for you for also your team and how do you apply that as well?   Karen: (08:24) I mean, I can only agree with that statement that, you know, you need to continue to learn as long as you live. You can't just say one day, ...