Corporate CPAs and the Wide World of Opportunity

Becoming a CFO or member of the CFO’s team are excellent career path choices for CPAs. This feature highlights the author’s personal career journey as an example, and includes the skills and experiences he believes are key to success on the CFO team.

Why are you a CPA? Did a college professor encourage you to become one? And where did you begin your career journey? Was your first full-time role with a public accounting firm, maybe one of the Big Four? More importantly, where do you ultimately want to be? Is it your dream to be a partner, maybe even the managing partner, of a CPA firm? To become an accounting professor? Or maybe you have what it takes to be a CFO or CEO?

I believe being the CFO, or member of the CFO’s team, is an excellent career path choice. The variety and impact of responsibilities is enviable. In this feature, I will share anecdotes from my personal career journey as well as what I believe are the skills and experiences key to the CFO team’s success.

My Career Origin Story

During my senior year at Villanova University, my favorite professor and trusted adviser, Dr. Thomas F. Monahan, asked if I had interviewed with any of the (then) Big Eight public accounting firms. I said no, so he made me promise to interview with at least one. Ultimately, I interviewed with several and landed with Price Waterhouse (now PwC) in Philadelphia.

As part of PwC’s audit team, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with a wide range of clients across various industries, large and small, public and private, and nonprofit organizations. I was encouraged and supported as I pursued my CPA license.

Public accounting was the perfect start for me, but even then I knew that PwC would be a stepping stone. I knew I wanted to build my career at a company with products I knew and loved. So, after a few years at PwC, I went back to school, earned a master’s degree in international business studies, and began a long career at Campbell Soup.

Building a Career

For those with aspirations of becoming a CFO, building one’s career at a Fortune 500 company offers many advantages. Specifically, such companies (based on my experience) prioritize professional development by providing training, mentorship, job rotation, special project work, and other unique opportunities that enable CPAs to become well-rounded financial leaders.

I built my career at Campbell Soup for nearly 25 years, starting as an internal audit senior at its world headquarters in Camden, N.J., and ending as the finance executive for Campbell’s largest supply chain operation based in Northwest Ohio.

As an internal auditor, I traveled to Argentina, Australia, Europe, and throughout North America, gaining insight into each of Campbell’s business lines and meeting nearly all of Campbell’s cross-functional executives. These experiences, and the general business acumen they afforded, prepared me well to deliver value through leadership roles across Campbell’s brand, sales, supply chain, corporate finance, and special project teams.

My first role beyond internal audit was finance manager for Mrs. Paul’s Kitchen’s (MPK) in Campbell’s Frozen Foods Group. This was my first cross-functional team – including marketing, sales, supply chain, and research and development (R&D) professionals – and my first taste of business partnership. I was encouraged to visit each of the MPK manufacturing facilities and to shadow a member of the MPK field sales team. Management knew that professionals like me would be more effective business partners after “rolling up the sleeves” to gain a deep understanding of the Mrs. Paul’s business, from products and production to sales and customers.

As the finance director for Campbell’s portfolio of ready-to-serve (RTS) soup brands, I was part of the cross-functional leadership team, specifically accountable for strategic planning, annual budgeting, financial reporting and analysis, and forecasting. Through my business analysis, we justified Chunky Soup’s partnership with the NFL (remember the “Mama’s Boys” campaign with Jerome Bettis of the Steelers and Donovan McNabb of the Eagles?) and a 21% marketing spend-up on the Campbell’s Select brand. In addition to honing financial planning and analysis skills and developing a business partnership mindset, I had my first taste of project management when given the opportunity to lead the RTS Easy Open Pop-Top Cans transition team.

In college, I had no idea that building a career at a company like Campbell Soup, specifically as part of the CFO’s team, would offer so many unique, challenging, and exciting opportunities. Here are a few additional highlights of my career journey at Campbell Soup:

• Finance leader of Campbell’s customer investment team: Represented 60-plus business and information technology professionals and developed and deployed a new trade spend program to drive more profitable business growth.
• Co-lead of Campbell’s original global Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance team: Defined Campbell’s overall SOX methodology, built a structure to assess company-level controls, and created tools to ensure delivery of quality SOX documentation.
• Finance director for a new Campbell USA division: Coordinated strategic and operating planning, developed performance analysis and reporting, and defined strategy for a new private label business.
• Finance executive for Campbell’s Napoleon & Flavor Operations: Created the Americas Inventory Control Center of Excellence to manage 60-plus warehouses with about $450 million in inventory, implemented SAP without business interruption, and advanced Campbell’s corporate sustainability goals.

Being part of a corporate finance team is exhilarating and full of growth positions, as you can see. Unfortunately, many college students and young professionals only have a narrow understanding of the many paths a CPA can take in their career journey. I’m thankful that I was able to build my career as part of a Fortune 500’s CFO team!

A Successful Transition – Improving the Odds

The amazing thing about being a CPA is that you don’t have to stay where you are (unless you want to, of course). Maybe you started out at a large public accounting firm, or maybe it was a major financial institution, consulting firm, or Fortune 500 company. Or maybe you have worked for small to midsize organizations throughout your career. But if you want to grow your career and travel a different path, you can.

That said, transitioning into a new role – whether within the same company or from one company to another – can be quite an adventure.

In particular, jumping from a Fortune 500 company into the CFO seat at a small, private business can be quite an experience. You will likely find yourself rolling up your sleeves to approve journal entries, review reconciliations, sign checks, create reports, and perform other tasks that you have been delegating for years. You will surely have a smaller team, some potentially lacking basic technical skills you previously took for granted. You will have fewer resources and a more simplistic control environment. What you thought you learned during the interview process will likely differ from the reality you find once you start. At least that was my experience upon leaving Campbell Soup to become CFO of a smaller, private company in Northwest Ohio.

In thinking back on my transition, I’ve identified six tips to help improve the odds of success. But whether you are transitioning from a large company to a smaller one, from one company to a similar one, or simply from one role to another at the same company, I believe these pointers will help in your finance team growth.

Prehire Due Diligence – Learn everything you can about the business. The company’s website is a great place to start, providing insight on the company’s history, mission, values, strategies, products, organizational structure, and other information. The website should also provide financial highlights, ideally with links to the company’s annual report. Their press releases will provide recent news and updates. By reviewing staff and board member profiles, you may even find a mutual connection. Certainly, company websites have a “positive spin,” so supplement your due diligence by researching third-party resources and talking to your network.

Beyond simply understanding the business, your due diligence should include clearly understanding the job profile; learning about the CEO’s vision, strategy, and concerns; and ensuring your values are aligned with the company’s culture. In short, when considering a new role, you should do so with your eyes wide open.

If you are considering a public company, you will have access to their audited annual report and other reliable information. Likewise, if you are considering a nonprofit organization, you can gain insight via their Form 990. If, however, you are in discussion with a private company, publicly available information may be lacking, and you will be dependent on what the company is, and is not, willing to share with you. So, ask a lot of questions and follow-up questions. Consider offering to sign a confidentiality agreement to get a better peek into the company’s detailed financials.

Onboarding Plan – Once you accept an offer, but ideally before your first day, work with the CEO on your onboarding plan. Specifically, be sure you are aligned with what will be expected of you during the first 30, 60, and 90 days, even during the first six months or year. What will success look like? That said, prioritize building relationships with the CEO, your team, and cross-functional partners. Likewise, prioritize getting to know the business, including the company’s products and services, operations, customers, suppliers, competitors, and industry overall. Gain clarity regarding the company’s strategic plans, goals, objectives, and key initiatives.

Relationships – In any role, but especially that of CFO for a small, private company, strong relationships are critical to success. To be an effective business partner, it starts with the CFO-CEO relationship. What is the CEO’s management style? What is their vision for the company? What are their concerns and challenges? You also need to build strong relationships with your team, including both direct and indirect reports, cross-functional partners, and the board of directors. You also will need to build strong relationships with the business’s bank, CPA, legal counsel, insurance provider, employee benefits consultant, and other such partners, as well as vendors and customers more generally.

So, be proactive! Invite your new colleagues to meet over coffee or lunch. Learn about each other personally as well as professionally. Ask the members of your team about their goals and desires, their key responsibilities, and their areas of concern, assessing their strengths and weaknesses along the way. Meet with cross-functional partners to learn about their areas of responsibility, asking what the CFO’s team is doing well to support them and what the CFO’s team should do differently going forward. Host meet-and-greet sessions with third-party partners to gain their insights on the company and to set your expectations of them going forward.

Current State of Affairs – Upon arrival, you need to assess how the organization is really doing in terms of financial performance, cash position, talent, culture, supply chain, customer relations, and other aspects of the business. What is the good, the bad, and the ugly? Although your prehire due diligence provided a glimpse, now you need to see the unvarnished truth.

Business Stabilization – Many companies, especially smaller, private ones, hire CFOs from the outside because they are facing strong headwinds (even crises), and need someone with experience to right the ship. In these cases, your immediate priority is to stabilize the business. Specifically, you should carefully analyze the company’s financial position, tightly forecast and manage cash, prepare what-if scenarios, and educate your cross-functional partners so they can make good financial decisions within their areas of accountability.

For example, when I was hired as the small business CFO for a group of affiliated companies, one of the CEOs was perplexed because the company was unprofitable and there was insufficient cash despite increasing sales. They only manufactured two products, a food-grade and a non-food-grade resin, and they inherently knew the food grade resin cost more to produce (i.e., they estimated the difference to be about $0.01 per pound). After walking through the production process with the team and then preparing a detailed costing analysis, I showed that the food-grade resin actually cost about $0.04-$0.05 per pound more to manufacture. Since their increase in sales related to the food-grade resin, they were losing profit and cash on every pound sold. Needless to say, we immediately revised the pricing.

Post-Onboarding Plan – Once you have successfully onboarded in your new role, from learning the business, building relationships, understanding the current reality, and taking any steps needed to stabilize the company, it’s time to collaborate with your CEO, board, and cross-functional partners to align on strategies and goals to create long-term economic value.

Key Skills & Attributes

To be successful, CFOs and members of their teams must be adaptable to the nature, size, and unique needs of their company. Each organization will have a unique set of opportunities and challenges. That said, the following are several key skills, or attributes, that will enable you to earn your seat as a business partner.

Technical Skills – Whether you are a large or small company CFO, or a member of the CFO’s team, strong technical skills will always be the table stakes. A small business CFO, in particular, is “the” technical expert, even if you have a highly competent corporate controller. You will likely find yourself hands-on when it comes to financial reporting and analysis, internal control, tax compliance, treasury, external audit, risk management, and other such matters. And you will likely be rolling up your sleeves to approve journals, verify reconciliations, sign checks, create spreadsheets, and perform other tasks usually delegated in “big company” roles.

Analytical Ability – To create economic value, you and your cross-functional partners need to make informed decisions. That said, the team’s success depends upon your ability to solve problems and provide data analysis and insight.

Say, for example, your CEO is considering a price increase. Should the increase be consistent across all products and/or services? How are customers likely to react? And what is the expected impact on volume, revenue, and profit? By collaborating with your cross-functional partners to analyze cost, profitability, competitor pricing, and price elasticity – potentially at a granular level – the team can better answer these questions and make an informed decision.

Curiosity – CFOs are curious and inquisitive. By asking questions and challenging the status quo, you can enable new thinking and breakthrough ideas. For example, after reviewing the aged customer receivables report, you notice average days outstanding increased for a large customer. It turns out the customer slipped new terms into their recent orders. After contacting their CFO and explaining why this change is detrimental to your cash flow, they agree to change the terms going forward to Net 30, even lower than before. All you had to do was ask.

General Business Acumen – The better you understand your business, including your company’s culture, people, products, operations, vendors, customers, and competitors, as well as the overall industry, the more effective you will be as a business partner and strategic adviser. Indeed, a small business CFO’s mandate can be quite broad, often including IT, human resources, strategy, risk management, and even operational responsibilities.

Developing general business acumen, therefore, is mission critical! To do so, leverage your curiosity and inquisitive nature to ask questions. Visit your supply chain facilities to meet your labor force, observe the manufacturing process, see your products, and hear the team’s challenges and recommendations. Travel with your sales team to meet customers, soliciting customer feedback on how well the company is meeting their needs and expectations. Go to trade shows and conferences to learn about current industry trends and opportunities.

Strategic Agility – Thinking forward and developing strategies that bring an organization’s mission and purpose to life are critical for any organization. The CFO, positioned to see the big picture, is therefore uniquely qualified to support, if not outright lead, the strategic planning process. To reimagine the business, leverage your insight into the company’s financial and operational performance and then engage cross-functional partners in deep reflection. Finally, translate this strategic thinking into meaningful and measurable business plans, identifying potential risks and running scenarios as appropriate.

Results-Oriented – One of the core functions of the CFO’s team is to enable decisions that improve the bottom line, increase profitability, and maximize returns, thereby driving business success. So, we must keep our cross-functional partners focused on meeting their commitments and executing the company’s plans with excellence. Fulfilling this responsibility starts with ensuring alignment between the board, CEO, and cross-functional partners regarding enterprisewide goals and how these commitments cascade to individual teams. The team must also provide financial and operational reporting that is meaningful and timely, highlighting what is and is not working. Clearly articulate required actions, and assign responsibility accordingly. On occasion, we will need the courage to deliver difficult news that our cross-functional partners do not want to hear. Especially in a small business, being results-oriented can be the difference between success and bankruptcy.

Business Partner Mentality – Throughout my career, collaborating with cross-functional business partners has always been a highlight. As a small-business CFO, the company’s success depends on having a business partner mentality. You are the CEO’s sounding board for every major decision as well as an overall leader of and business partner to the full executive team. To ensure cross-functional partners remain focused on delivering their commitments, and to support them in course-correcting as needed, keep your finger on the pulse, ask the tough questions, and communicate business performance timely.

Overall Leadership – As CFO, you are the CEO’s right hand, often first among equals within the executive leadership team. To be successful, you will need executive presence, emotional intelligence, political savvy, and high integrity. You will need to be confident, courageous, and agile. And you will need strong communication, team building, and other leadership skills.

Earn Your Seat

CFOs and their teams must earn their seat as business partners and strategic advisers. Although you must be adaptable to the nature, size, and unique needs of your company, complement your technical and analytical ability with curiosity, general business acumen, strategic agility, business partner mentality, overall leadership skills, and a commitment to delivering results, and the seat will be yours!

J. Stephen McNally, CPA, CMA, is a global finance leader and small business CFO with experience spanning Fortune 500, private enterprise, and nonprofit sectors. He is a past Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) global chair and current Pennsylvania CPA Journal Editorial Board member. He can be reached at j_stephen_mcnally@att.net.