At CFO Selections, we may work in numbers… but we’re in the business of people. Because behind every financial report is a person making hard decisions, and behind every engagement is a human-to-human connection. In this series, we’re shining a light on those stories — introducing the consultants who guide our clients forward and the leaders who bring those numbers to life.

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Pat Monaghan will tell you that the highlight of his accounting and finance career isn’t where he’s worked, but who he’s worked with along the way.

Getting to know the people behind the operation

On a typical day at Lighthouse for the Blind in Fort Worth, Patrick Monaghan could walk through the manufacturing floor and find himself in conversations that had nothing to do with accounting. “I’d talk with the workers, get to know them and their personalities,” he says. “And enjoy the great sense of humor they brought to their work.” Patrick wasn’t just a finance leader moving through a cost center. He was part of a community. This moment says more about Patrick’s career than any job title could.

For more than three decades, finance has been his way of showing up for people: students, parents, faculty, adoptive families, volunteers, blind workers, attorneys, and nonprofit boards. He manages budgets, sure. But his real work lives in the relationships he builds.

There is a common misconception that early-stage startups and low-growth companies don’t really need executive financial leadership… not yet anyways. This misconception holds that hiring a Controller or CFO is something that comes later, after enough growth has occurred or growth is happening more quickly than before.

And while it’s true that it often doesn’t make sense financially for a small company to hire a full-time in-house CFO right away, the need for experienced financial leadership isn’t something that a company just graduates into once they hit a certain revenue benchmark. Strong financial oversight and leadership is something that every business needs, and many business owners simply can’t provide alongside their other duties. This is especially true when the business has more complicated financial needs like a complex capital structure, multiple revenue streams, deferred revenue, international operations, and/or seasonality, to consider.

Faced with both of these realities – that they can’t necessarily afford a Controller or CFO, and that financial oversight and leadership is important – they instead opt to hire a bookkeeper or accountant to manage their finances, hoping that will be enough for now as a stopgap until they can afford more later. However, a bookkeeper or accountant role may not be enough to do what they need done if they have more complex financial needs. And, if the business owner doesn’t have a financial background, they may not even realize there is a mismatch there to understand what they’re missing out on.

With ethical challenges on the rise employee accountability is more important than ever before! And while employers understand that holding employees accountable for their actions at work is a key component of risk mitigation, they often struggle with how to achieve accountability in a way that’s financially responsible, ethically sound, and operationally sustainable.  

If you’re feeling overwhelmed thinking about how to shore up your accountability efforts, we have some helpful tips to share with you to reduce risk and improve business outcomes. Remember, effective accountability is achievable for all organizations regardless of size, budget, workforce, or industry – so let’s dive into the year’s most important accountability initiatives!

When it comes to ethics in accounting the data is in and the numbers aren’t pretty! According to a global study on ethics by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), 55% of accounting professionals surveyed said they have witnessed unethical behavior at some point in their careers and 25% said they have previously experienced pressure to act unethically. It’s no surprise then that 41% of respondents reported that ethical leadership and culture were top priorities at their organizations.

Sarah Lane, Head of Ethics and Assurance at ACCA responded to these findings in saying, “These insights underscore the need for robust ethical leadership and culture in organizations, and ongoing learning and development to support professional accountants in navigating these challenges.”

So, how can accounting and finance leaders combat these kinds of ethical challenges more effectively? Addressing today’s increasingly complex ethical issues requires strong leadership!

Executive Summary: Changes happen. Sometimes they come quickly and abundantly. Business executives rely on their Finance Teams to be in front of changes, especially when the impact is big. By proactively preparing for GAAP changes, CFOs can position their business for success. Staying informed, collaborating with experts, assessing the impact, and effectively implementing changing standards are essential to maintaining a smooth-running business operation.

As a CFO or Controller, staying at the forefront of accounting best practices and standards is crucial for maintaining financial integrity, advancing innovation in accounting, and ensuring compliance. In fact, this is a primary requirement for your accounting and finance personnel. And yet, it often goes unspoken and is seldom included in job descriptions and KSA’s (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) for your accounting team. Additionally, there are a ton of professional restrictions that can get in the way of making this a priority, like ongoing time constraints, urgent needs, and special projects.

As fractional CFOs (Chief Financial Officers) we get a lot of questions about COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) and SG&A expenses from our clients. They want to know how to classify different types of expenses, which one to focus on when trying to control costs, how to think about them when evaluating business opportunities, and what kind of impact each can have on profitability. As such, their questions often span the two interconnected worlds of accounting and finance.

From an accounting perspective, categorizing expenses correctly helps to ensure regulatory compliance and aids in ongoing cash flow management. While from a finance perspective, understanding their impact on revenue growth allows for effective long-term financial management. For these reasons, having a firm handle on the difference between SG&A and COGS is a critical component to running any business.

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?”

What would we do without our accountants? We rely on them for accuracy, reporting, transaction processing, analysis, and financial advice. For non-accountants, the discipline can be a mystery. So, we try to find a good accountant to add to our team and then we trust them to do their job. That’s what we should do, right?

Actually, no.

You shouldn’t trust your accountant. Well, hopefully, you can trust them, but you shouldn’t.