As CFOs, we have a full plate of responsibilities for financial reporting, planning and analysis, and risk management. We’re often skeptical of “breakthroughs” that promise to “transform the finance function” and “shift the paradigm of accounting and finance.” To us, these types of phrases just sound like more of the same – another overhyped management consulting fad based on a Harvard Business Review article. All we hear is just “blah, blah, blah” and we tune it out.

Should we feel that way about the current wave of Artificial Intelligence as well?

The name itself suggests, AI is a technologically derived intelligence. But AI models mostly just repeat what they have been taught. They don’t really “know” things or think like people do. When truly original “thinking” is required – such as creating an original, testable scientific hypothesis – it turns out that current AI models are quite dumb.

Looking at it through this lens, is AI a bane or boon to today’s CFOs?

Having a hard time finding talented accountants for your business? That’s no surprise. I see news headlines every day that indicate many businesses are struggling with this hiring challenge. Here are just a few:

The reasons for today’s accounting shortage are well-documented, and include:

• A changing educational landscape
• Competition from other fields
• Increased demand
• Work-life balance concerns
• An aging workforce with fewer younger entrants

While there is a lot of press around the shortage of accountants and challenges in finding accounting talent, I think it’s important to consider why accountants are leaving their jobs and strategies to retain key accounting talent.

Let’s answer the question, “Why is there so much turnover in accounting these days?” …and more importantly, “How do we stop it?”

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”
- Alan K. Simpson

Originally published: 6/30/2021
Updated: 5/10/2024

Integrity in finance should be the foundation of a lasting bond between a business and its clients. Everyone wants to believe the promises that a company makes to them with respect to safeguarding their interests. But how many organizations can follow through on those promises? 

In an ideal world, we would have absolute trust in our financial institutions, advisors, and government regulators. Unfortunately, history and public sentiment tell us a different story. Sure, ethics and integrity still exist in finance. And those organizations are the ones that will consistently find success. 

Here at CFO Selections, we are always in pursuit of the knowledge needed to continue growing personally as well as professionally. We are constantly reading, watching, and listening to resources across many different topics as well as discussing what we are learning along the way. Our goal is to foster a culture of continuous learning in ways that transcend our roles in the office. In keeping with that spirit, we periodically spotlight books our team members are reading.

In today’s CFO Selections book review and share, Jen Girard is highlighting The 36-Hour Day – a book that she has not only read recently but has also been living for almost a year as she journeys through her father’s memory loss. We hope that you will find the memory care tips that she shares here not only helpful but also inspirational if you are in a similar situation.

The first thing you need to know when creating a budget is that it is wrong from the start.

In the world of accounting and finance, we like things to be precise and tie out neatly. A budget, on the other hand, is meant to be a predictive tool and a roadmap to help you get to where you are going.

When you enter an address into your GPS, you often get three to four different routes you can take to get to your destination. Sometimes the route has construction or other traffic impediments along the way. Think of a budget somewhat the same way. You build assumptions that you can change based on the route you decide to take and the detours you may face along the way.

As fractional CFOs and Controllers our team engages with organizations in either a short-term or part-time capacity. One area where we often lend our expertise is in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and MRP (Material Requirements Planning) installations. Properly implementing and managing the accounting and finance elements of these systems requires a depth of financial acumen that is best suited for an experienced CFO to handle because there are wide reaching business implications to consider with this type of strategic execution.

In the many years that we have been helping clients with accounting systems conversions, we have noticed the same pitfalls tend to trip up organizations time and again. We are sharing those with you today in the hopes that calling them out can serve as cautionary lessons to help you avoid moving forward with an accounting system conversion that you will end up regretting later.

Originally published: Dec 20, 2022
Updated: April 8, 2024

According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) the U.S. job market has finally ushered in positive employment growth after several years of decline. However, growth is occurring far slower than employment analysts would have liked to see. In the nonprofit space, hiring remains challenging, especially within more skilled, technical, and senior-level roles.

How should nonprofit organizations overcome today’s hiring challenges?

As outsourced CFOs we are brought in to assist in a variety of situations across many different types of organizations. Every instance is unique in terms of what kind of financial position they are in, where they are excelling and/or struggling operationally, and what they are looking to get help with across their financial functions. As a result, their expectations can get hazy for the consulting CFO coming into the role. When this unclear view of what a fractional CFO should be doing is combined with financial management activities that are (either unintentionally or purposefully) against best practices or downright unethical, an outsourced CFO can find themselves in a sticky situation.

So, whether you are a consulting CFO looking for advice or a business leader looking for an idea of what to expect from the engagement, we have put together a quick resource to offer some guidance on how external CFOs handle ethical questions and issues.