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Contact Stacey Ashley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceyashley/About Stacey Ashley: https://ashleycoaching.com.au/about-stacey/Leading Possibility: https://ashleycoaching.com.au/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Mitch: (00:05) Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm your host Mitch Roshong and this is episode 163 of our series. Today's featured guest is Stacey Ashley. Stacey is a high performance leadership and coaching expert. With over 30 years experience, Stacey has helped thousands of individuals develop their leadership, competence, confidence, and credibility. In this episode, she speaks with Adam about creating your own positive mindset, developing resilience, and developing accountability in others to learn more about these leadership skills, among others, keep listening as we head over to their conversation now.  Adam: (00:51) Stacey, thanks so much for coming on today with us. I really appreciate you joining our Count Me In audience. One of the most important factors of great leadership is having a positive mindset and resilience. So can we talk about how one goes about creating that mindset and developing resilience?  Stacey: (01:09) Yeah, and isn't it important right now after the last couple of years? I think more than ever. So look, there are so many things that you can do, but for me it's kind of like keep it simple and I think that there's some really straight forward things that everyone can do for themselves. There's some people of course kind of come with a positive mindset, which is great, so just keep going. But for those who need a little bit of help, I think, it's kind of noticing the little things. So noticing, what you do well or something great that happened today. Really you can be quite deliberate. You know, I have a session with my team every week where we actually deliberately go "what were our wins this week?" And we can kind of accumulate them, and we keep track of them.  Stacey: (01:51) So if we're having a bad week, we can always look back and go, there was some really good stuff that we've been doing. And so let's focus on that and that kind of keeps us buoyant and positive. But I think the other one, that's really important is just to remind yourself of all of the incredible resources you have and the strengths and the great things you've done in the past. And I know a lot of the clients that I work with, I kind of get them to journal it, even if they're not big on journaling, but just to start to keep a little bit of a track again. Once a day or once a week of, you know, things that they have done well or that they have accomplished or, made progress with and sort of creating that evidence of you know what, I can do this, look at this track record that I've created of things that I've been able to do or overcome, or, you know, rise to achieve.  Stacey: (02:42) Because when we are having those kind of down days and we all have ups and downs, but you know, when you have those down days, you can just open your journal and go, actually, you know what? I can do this. Look, I've done this before and I've done that before, and I've learned all these things. So I think sometimes it's just making sure that we keep balance for ourselves because often as humans, we kind of focus on the things that don't go well, are a bit negative , and those sorts of things. So we want to offer ourselves some balancing out of that. So if you start to, kind of notice the things that do go well, what you are capable of and create that history for yourself, you're balancing your own conversation. I think that alone really allows you to then kind of rise and sort of bounce back.  Stacey: (03:26) I remember, my kids a couple of years ago, well, a few more actually, when they were little kids, they did a resilience program at school and it was called bounce because it was recognizing that we don't all stay up and positive all the time. We all have ups and downs, but it's the ability to bounce back up that actually creates that resilience opportunity. And so I think if you can do that for yourself, have that evidence of your ability to cope and have great strategies and make progress and that sort of thing. I think that takes you a long way to developing that positive mindset. Because you've got all those reminders right there for you.  Speaker 2: (04:03) Yeah. Having all those reminders is important because, you know, I was thinking, as you were saying that, you know, we do have lots of ups and downs. Nobody can be positive all the time. So are there other strategies besides, you know, not everybody's good at keeping a journal, are there other strategies that, to deal with those ups and downs as you're working through that?  Stacey: (04:22) Yeah, I think so. As I said, even just noticing things in a positive way. So just asking yourself questions in the positive, you know, what did I enjoy today? What was good about today? What was one good thing that happened today? So just in the moment you can grasp, you know, that positive element, I think, you know, other things that we can do, certainly what I've noticed in the last couple of years of course, is that goals have not been achieved. Like everyone has goals in different ways, whether they articulate them or not. And organizations certainly had lots of goals and for lots of reasons, we didn't actually make them right? Because the world changed and a lot of it was out of our control. And so for, many people, teams and organizations, they can feel like we sort of failed.  Stacey: (05:07) We didn't make it and that's not great for your mindset. And so I think a better focus just even every day is to focus on progress. You know, don't focus on, did we hit the goal, but did we make progress? Did we put some effort in, did we move forward a little bit further than we were yesterday or did we actually have to change direction because that's what the circumstances dictated. So again, I think it's just noticing day to day, how you can, you know, contribute and make a difference. And you know, that you have put effort in and all of those sorts of things and recognize yourself for it and your team and you know, all those sorts of things. But I think that's the in the moment stuff is so powerful to support yourself and your mindset.  Stacey: (05:54) And then I think the other thing Adam, that's really important is, one of the things about resilience I think is not going, Hey, everything's sparkling and amazingly wonderful right now, but, having the ability to go, okay, it might not be great right now, but I do believe that I can do some things that are going to improve it over time. And so I think having that conversation with yourself as well, like, okay, it's not ideal right now, but what can I do to actually help it along a little bit in the future? And, that feeling of doing something, of taking just a little bit of power back in the moment, again, super important for your resilience and positive mindset.  Adam: (06:36) Yeah, it's almost like you're taking back that power from the down moment. It doesn't have to make it a high moment, but you're kind of bringing yourself out of the hole and you're able to kind of push through in that way. Is that what you're saying?  Stacey: (06:47) Yeah, absolutely. And so it's not about that. I'll just, you know, be a victim of circumstances and go, ...

Contact James Petrossi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamespetrossi/PTNL Website https://www.ptnl.com/"Know Your True Self" Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-your-true-self/id1575535864Know Your True Self: The Formula to Raise Human Consciousness Book https://www.amazon.com/Know-Your-True-Self-Consciousness/dp/1734669144/ref=sr_1_2?crid=V853BCIL5IQB&keywords=know+your+true+self&qid=1636492862&sprefix=kbnow+your+true+self%2Caps%2C260&sr=8-2FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:05) Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Adam Larson, and I'm pleased to bring you episode 162 of our series with featured guest, James Petrossi. James is the founder of PTNL and a researcher on human connection. He joined my co-host Mitch to talk about individual perspective, wellbeing and employees feeling fulfilled. Burnout has been at the forefront of everyone's mind following the demands of global work environment. So James has set out to help leaders develop organizational consciousness and recreate wellness for individual purpose. Keep listening to hear more about these strategies as we head over to the conversation now.  Mitch: (00:54) So James, there's been a lot of talk about the workforce across all industries in recent times. So, you know, from your perspective, I'd like to kick things off today with asking you, why are so many employees feeling unfulfilled and why are they choosing to resign at this time?  James: (01:11) Yeah, we're definitely facing a really challenging time and one extremely unique to evolutionary history and one to really embrace, accept and learn from. And I think there's three main reasons that employees are feeling that unfulfillment right now. The first is really the inability to cope with change. We've been going through so many changes over the past couple years and living in a state of uncertainty, especially as it relates to our job. One when the pandemic first hits, we're in a state of survival, anything to keep our job, then we're adapting to technology, Zoom calls being out of the office, changing landscapes, having kids at home, then all of a sudden there's a bright light and it looks like we're going back to the office and we're preparing ourselves for that. But our children aren't necessarily prepared to go back to school. So we've been navigating change in so many different aspects of our life and our brains rely on habits and it's through habit formations and repetitive actions that neuron chains develop in our brain. And we start to do things unconsciously. If you remember the time when you did commute to work, when you were either going there or going home, you sort of got lost in the commute. You weren't thinking about how to navigate to the office or the routine about stopping to get your coffee. Those all become unconscious behaviors. So as we continue to splinter those neuron chains and try to develop new ones, it really makes us feel lonely, disconnected, searching to find peace. So that's been a really big challenge is just navigating change. Making people feel unfulfilled and just comfortable in how they're navigating life holistically. I think another one is especially with the millennial generation and all generations, but specifically millennials and the emerging centennials in the workplace. We were coming out of the experience economy, really at the pinnacle of the experience economy and inside the experience economy or concerts, activations, all of these Instagram moments that we can share with friends and all of a sudden we became so used to just experiencing so many things on a moment to moment basis. And now we're with ourselves, we're with our thoughts, we have to contend with our emotions and our unconscious mind is not going to like this. And it's gonna tell us, you deserve to have all these things like you deserve to have life the way it was. I think it was Helen Keller said something to the effect of like character can't be developed in peace and quiet. It's through suffering that the soul gets strengthened, that we learn, we grow and we develop. So, you know, we can't get back time. We can only embrace the present moment and helping employees connect with the present moment. And the reality we face on a moment to moment, day to day basis helps us cope with change, and also feel like there's no getting back what we had. We can't quit our job and earn time back. We can only address what's currently happening. And then some of the onus of why employees are feeling unfulfilled at work is really on the employers themselves. Clearly identifying the purpose that you're creating in people's life. Just because we might not feel like we're contributing to a higher purpose on a day to day basis because not all work is infused with meaning, but it's the small actions. The things that we learn from the trying relationships that we have, the way we connect with our teams, the problems that we solve, all of these small moments in the workplace help us connect to a higher purpose. And if an organization can share their purpose through their vision, their values and making sure they're showing their employees how we help serve humanity, cuz every business that's out there is serving humanity. Whether they're providing pleasure, whether they're providing food, whether they're providing connection, we're all in the business of serving humanity and employees need to know that and make sure that an organization is living up to some type of core values. I think definitely where that connection gets lost between employers and employees is core values are sort of on the placard somewhere in the office, but how do we now activate those core values? And those values bring virtue into people's lives and help them feel like they're connected to a purpose bigger than themselves. So that purpose is really about creating a unified shared experience that truly builds a culture around an organization. And one employees can really, you know, glam onto and enjoy.  Mitch: (06:05) So you touched on many things that I can personally relate to over the last year and a half. You know, this is now we're recording this end of calendar year 21. And a lot of the things that you mentioned are certainly relatable having kids around when you're trying to work on teams calls and even the idea of commuting again, I think it's interesting because I know at least I had a bit of a longer commute. It was almost an opportunity at the end of the day to kind of stop your mind from working and transition to home on your way. And you know, nowadays it's a bit of a challenge cuz there isn't really that time to break. You know, it's just one thing to the next you're living in it at all times. I'm sure that's just one of the many. So I'm curious: you mentioned a lot of reasons for unfulfillment, but I think, you know, employees certainly still have an opportunity to feel fulfilled, you know, and organizations have an opportunity to really hone in on those core values. And I think a lot of businesses, you know, if they didn't adapt right away, they certainly have by now. So wh...

Contact Omar Choucair: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omar-choucair-cpa-80264815/FULL 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 I'm pleased to introduce you to Omar Choucair. Omar is the CFO at Tritech a world class financial operations and insights company committed to transforming financial processes to best in class levels of efficiency and effectiveness. Omar is a senior level financial executive with broad experience in corporate finance, accounting, corporate governance, and FP&A management skills. Here, in episode 161 of our series, he talks about why and how corporate M&A operations are falling short and where he sees the trends going in the future. Keep listening as we head over to the conversation now.  Adam: (00:57) Omar, thanks so much for joining us today, and we're gonna jump right into things in Bain's global M&A 2021 report, they state that M&A is expected to spur 45% of revenue growth over the next three years. Up from 30% over the last three years, one of the first lines of the report says as the world locked down and masked up M&A endured, do you agree with their sentiment?  Omar: (01:23) Yes. Wholeheartedly. And, thanks for taking the time it's, you know, the last 18 months have been quite overwhelming in terms of, the things that have happened to, you know, public companies and private companies. And, you know, to the extent that, somebody would said back in, the February, March timeframe of 2020, what was about to happen? I think a lot of people wouldn't have believed it, but yes, it's, it's been astounding.  Adam: (01:50) Definitely. I think everybody's just their minds have blown what's happening. but what's great is that business seems to be booming or not really booming, but increasing, which I think is one of the things that with everything locking down, we're still moving forward, which is great.  Omar: (02:07) Yeah. It's if you go back and think about just how many companies have grappled with, employees working remotely and the technology and the processes and the procedures that all these companies had to deal with early on in the pandemic. And to think that whether it was, you know, strategics, large strategic public companies, private equity, venture capital that this M&A engine continued, and not only continued, but accelerated all the way through the end of 20. And then, continuing through the first, you know, 10 months of 2021 is absolutely stunning.  Adam: (02:48) So even with this positive outlook that we've been talking about, many corporate M&A operations seem to be falling short still, can we focus a little bit on why and how this continues to occur?  Omar: (03:01) Sure. I would say a couple of things. So first of all the large strategics, you know, they had the capital. So I don't think there was an issue with respect to capital. I think they had cash on the balance sheet. They had plentiful access to, you know, to public debt, private debt, et cetera. I think what could have happened was that these large strategics had a process and a control procedure about how to do M&A, it was like very programmatic. And I think what could have happened was when everybody went and started working from home and the remote side, that a lot of that programmatic process, it wasn't hardened for people working from home. And that's my personal belief. And I think additionally, to the extent that those companies, those large strategics had, built in technology, whether it was on the FP&A side on the financial close side, just in terms of, you know, R&D, those companies that were really hardened and connected on the IT side, I think they did extremely well versus their counterparts that maybe had not invested in technology. And they saw this like, gap between what they thought they could do and what they actually could do. And just the, the astounding pace at what's, the M&A, you know, market continued. It really, it probably put a lot of pressure and squeeze on some of those companies.  Adam: (04:28) Do you think that there was a bit of a change management gap as well for those companies that were not kind of up to par?  Omar: (04:36) I think the, the change management is always difficult. And if you kind of, you know, zoom out a little bit in terms of change management and just the integration, I know the first hundred days are just, it's almost like it's the, it's all the due diligence, you know, up until the time that there's an M&A deal that gets signed. And there's a whole process around that. And I think we can talk about that in a little bit, but in terms of the first hundred days after, those first hundred days after are critical in terms of culture, in terms of what did companies buy, did they buy technology? Did they buy, did they make customer list? Like, what is it, what was the strategic asset that they bought? And I think that's really important.  Adam: (05:16) Do you think that first hundred days is even harder when you have a remote workforce?  Omar: (05:21) I think the first hundred days are significantly harder when you have a remote workforce. And the reason is because there's two cultures that have to get fused. It's the it's, you have to prep the buyer's culture, right. In terms of now we have this additional responsibility. And a lot of times, you know, the C level and the board, they're all super excited about, you know, doing the M&A, but then it's the mid-level management. Everybody else go, wait a minute, I've got all this additional work I have to do. Right. So, sometimes there's a gap between the board and senior management and what, you know, the people that actually are doing some of the work. So I think there's that. And then I think also to the extent that, you know, the systems and the process and technology are not really running at optimum level, when you bring on an additional, you know, set of revenue streams, and HR and people and technology, it can be a very stressful period. And then if all those people are working at home and they don't have that culture. Yeah. It's a lot of work. And I think, you know, for the CEO, CFO, et cetera, there's a lot of gut checks that have to be made all along, all along the way.  Adam: (06:36) All right. So we've been talking a little bit about the, how and the why and how it affects the people, but can we focus now just what's some steps that we can take to overcome these challenges and the things we've been discussing.  Omar: (06:49) Right. I would say it's really in two pieces. So the large public companies, you know, they have obviously the large public companies versus, you know, private, you know, PE-backed companies, if you will, it's a different ballgame, right? So those public companies, they have, you know, legal obligations to have programmatic controls and processes, et cetera in place. So, so any company that's a public company. And then we can talk about the SPAC and little bit, they they've had to jump into that public company real quickly, but to the extent that they have controls and procedures, it's a little bit easier for them to solve the gaps because they have a roadmap and they have certain monthly and quarterly controls that have to get done. And they're very well documented. They're very well tested. They have third parties that are testing them all the time. So the gap is a little bit easier for public companies because I think they know what to do. I think the real question then is for the management is how do they get folks th...

Contact Katie Thomas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiethomascpa/ Leaders Online: www.leaders-online.com4 C Process: www.leaders-online.com/4cprocessFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:04)Welcome back to 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 episode 160 of our series. Katie Thomas, owner of Leaders Online, rejoins Count Me In today to talk about finding, connecting, and developing relationships with key stakeholders. Katie does a lot of marketing and social media for executives and helps them increase their presence in the industry. In her conversation with Mitch, she talks about the power of technology and social media as it pertains to increasing influence and nurturing lasting relationships. Keep listening as we head over to the main part of the episode now.Mitch: (00:51)So Katie, the first time we spoke, you talked about how technology really changed the landscape of the accounting industry. We talked about analytics, growing your business, becoming more profitable, things along those lines. But I understand a lot has changed since we spoke and that was, you know, February of 2020. So what I wanna kind of get into and, and start off is if you can kind of explain, you know, what you've seen over the last year and a half, and what else has changed across the accounting industry?Katie: (01:20)Yeah, so man, since February of 2020, I feel like technology has had to be embraced more than ever. I mean, there were a lot of firms using technology, but then there were a lot not, and I think it was this thing where the firms who weren't fully embracing technology, they knew about it, but it was kind of scary be because what you've done before, and if it was working, it's like why fix what's not broken, but then the pandemic hit and there was something that was broken. You could no longer have face-to-face meetings. You could no longer operate as you did before. And so it really forced the accounting firms and their clients into digital relationships, even if they were traditionally local relationships, like come in, meet face-to-face, it was, Hey, we've gotta find different ways to communicate with our clients. A lot of people jumped on Zoom and then managing the staff and the firm members that also had to change. So if you didn't previously use project management tool or document sharing, all of that had to be quickly learned and leveraged and utilized. So I think that the outcome of all of this is really cool because firms had to become confident in using this and they realize that they don't necessarily need as big of an office or they don't need to meet in person as much. And they can still maintain those relationships, whether it's with clients or with staff. I know a lot of firms I work with. They're like, okay, we miss getting together in person and we're still gonna do that. But you know, maybe it's, you don't have to be in the office eight to five every single day. There's some flexibility.Mitch: (03:02)Yeah. I think that's a great point. And you know, our focus for today's conversation really is on these relationships, right? Whether it's clients or key stakeholders inside or outside of the business, we'll get into, you know, how we connect with them and such, but to kind of connect the dots where we were and where we are. Can you first talk a little bit about maybe some of the things that technology can influence when it comes to stakeholder relationships and where we're going with our conversation today?Katie: (03:29)Yeah. So people really connect in two ways. There's gonna be emotional connections. So like that's just gonna be like conversations and how you feel out someone. maybe you have similar views, goals, thoughts, and people really connect this way through talking and through stories. So there is some technology that can help with this, even like Zoom or Loom or apps that just connect us. But really I see technology on the other side of how we connect the logical way that we connect and with technology, you can really see into the data and create a story through this to then help you connect and talk about why you're doing certain things, the outcome of why of what's happening. The data really gives us the facts and the technology and able to us to access the data to then create stories around this data. So technology is a key piece in communicating, but I really see it supporting a lot of that logical side of how humans can connect.Mitch: (04:28)That's really well said. And we did briefly talk about analytics last time and you know, the data and everything you just mentioned. It's, it's a great point. So to take it a step further, you mentioned Zoom and some other, you know, apps, as far as technology goes, whether they're specific tools or more broadly social media, just in general, what kind of resources can our listeners use to better find, connect and develop relationships with key stakeholders? You know, what can they go out and access in order to improve these relationships for the long term?Katie: (05:01)Yeah, so I definitely think Zoom's a really popular one. Another one I mentioned was Loom. So that's like a screen recording tool, which is super helpful if you're trying to explain something and you're not, maybe you're gonna deliver this through an email. You can walk someone through like financials or maybe a process or a report. And you can actually show yourself talking about it as well as share your screen. I think this one's great client portals are great tools. So client portals can be used to share documents, securely, communicate through them. I think that's a great one. and then social media platforms are also awesome because you can create content for a wide variety of people. You can have conversations in the direct message. You know, there's a lot of platforms out there. Maybe it's even like your project management tool where you're communicating, but really it's just identifying maybe where there's a gap in communication. And since there is a tool for about everything, if you Google that, you'll probably find someone that's found a solution or created a solution that you can utilize.Mitch: (06:02)Yeah. Google is a, it's a great tool in itself and very, you know, very helpful on a daily basis. But as I said earlier, you know, there's obviously a lot more to our conversation than technology. There's a lot more to the profession than just technology. So I do wanna take this a step further and really make sure we cover, you know, our listener side of things, the management accounting side, a little bit more of the accounting finance profession. As far as connecting with individuals, I know something that you really focus on with the marketing side of your business is enabling individuals to increase their influence. So I'd like to hear your thought on, you know, whether it's tools or strategies, what can individuals do to increase their influence and really make a greater impact on the business.Katie: (06:47)So I think one of the number one things that individuals can do to create a greater influence on the organization and individuals as a whole it's to really align their why with the company's why and wh...

Contact Jamie Gregory: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-gregory-7030455/FULL 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 you are now listening to episode 159 of our series. Today's featured guest speaker is chief financial officer at Synovus, Jamie Gregory. In this episode, Jamie talks about strategic initiatives and leading through change during a tough economic environment. As an example, he is a part of Synovus Forward. Synovus Forward is a revenue generating and expense saving initiative that began in late 2019 with the goal of achieving top quartile performance and an annual 175 million pre-tax run rate benefit by 2022, as well as best in class experience for clients, employees, and shareholders. Keep listening to hear more about this initiative, the role of innovation and adapting to change.Adam: (01:05)Jamie, thanks so much for coming on the podcast today. We're so glad we could have you on, and we all know that the last 18 months have been really hard for many, many businesses. Some shut down other ones, you know, have struggled going forward and companies have to be strategic. And something I was reading about is Synovus Forward, an initiative that your company, has put forth recently. And can you tell us a little bit more about that?Jamie: (01:29)Yeah, absolutely. Adam first, thanks for having me today. I look forward to this discussion. Synovus Forward has been transformational for us. It all started back in 2019 when we looked at our long term plan our multiyear forecast and thought about how does that relate to our objectives to be a top quartile performer. And so we looked at that, we looked at where we expected the industry to be and our peers to be. And we realized we had a little bit of a gap there. And so we took a step back and looked internally and we realized that we had opportunities to be better. We had ways we could improve, we could, improve our delivery, to our customers through enhanced processes. We could look and then ensure that we have the right physical infrastructure. We realized that we had opportunities to improve, some of our third party, including, the partners we choose to help us deliver Synovus to our clients. But then, you know, as we progressed, the world changed on us. We started Synovus Forward in late 2019, and the first quarter of 2020, the whole world looked different. And so we had to reassess. And so it changed our outlook of what was required, to be top quartile. And we pivoted from there, but Synovus Forward started off as an initiative. It became a bigger initiative and now it's becoming just a cultural mindset of continuous improvement.Adam: (02:58)So I think that's a great example of, you know, seeing the economic environment, seeing the environment around you and adapting, you know, not just, taking, taking the initiative as you first saw it, but adapting as you went along, are there some major lessons that you can share since implementing.Jamie: (03:14)Well, you hit the nail on the head. The first thing is being willing to adapt. So you have to always be stepping back, looking at, you know, the impact in your vision and how does, what your outlook for the company, what that outlook is, how does that relate to your objectives? And so we're really clear on what our objectives are. And so as the outlook evolves, our tactics to achieve our objectives have to evolve. And so that was a piece of it. And that's what we were assessing in early 2020. But other lessons we learned is that there are win-win scenarios. If you're willing to really dig in and look for them, there are ways that everybody can be a winner. When you think about our key stakeholders, we have, you know, our shareholders, our team members, and our clients, and all of these can benefit through improvement. And so, you know, that was a big lesson that we've learned. And the last thing I would say is you do have to be persistent. Change can be tough, but you have to be there to support your team members and monitor the progress. And to see the initiatives through, to the finish lineAdam: (04:21)Change is definitely tough, especially when you're looking to kind of be agile and move and adapt with the environment and financial and accounting industries. They're highly regulated, whether it's it's banking or taxing, all that stuff, everything's highly regulated. How do you continue to be agile in those types of environments?Jamie: (04:42)Yeah. First and foremost, you have to have a strong control environment, just to ensure that as you evolve, you're evolving from a place of strength, you know, but agile is, you know, bringing that up is a great point. When you break larger initiatives into smaller components, it can actually help enhance your control environment because you're able to test as you go along rather than wait to the end of a large initiative, to look and ensure that you're maintaining, sufficient control environment. So to me, agile is an important framework, as you think about, you know, maintaining and potentially enhancing your control environment as you go through these initiatives.Adam: (05:26)So control environment, internal controls, how important having internal controls been, especially as most of the workforce went to, working from home. And then now back in the office or hybrid environments.Jamie: (05:39)It's absolutely critical. And you look at ways to enhance the internal controls, both through your processes, but also through automation. and we believe that, you know, one of the major benefits, of automation is enhancing the control environment, reducing operational risk and trying to take human error out of the equation.Adam: (06:02)That's very important. So taking human error out a lot of times involves things like innovation. We've talked about agile, but now let's talk about being innovative. Change is not far behind and how can leaders, how can leaders guide their teams effectively through an innovative process?Jamie: (06:19)Well, first the first priority is ensuring you began with the end in mind that you had a long term vision, no matter what. So that way, no matter what short term changes or what tactical changes happen during the course of an initiative or a project that everybody's aligned on long term vision, so that, you know, your tactics may change and your strategies may change and the project may evolve, but it's all driving you to the same endpoint and that's what's critical. So that the team and anybody involved internally, externally, they can see that the progress towards the end, it remains the same, even if, how you're getting there may have changed from when you began the project.Adam: (07:02)Yeah. So do you have any examples maybe, of a time where you've led a team through that innovative change that you can share with us?Jamie: (07:11)Sure, sure. You know, I want to kind of go back to the Synovus Forward as you look at how that evolved. And so I mentioned that when we started this, we had a hundred million objective. This was to get us to top quartile and then the world changed. And the world changed, you know, when you have, interest rates declining, growth slowing uncertainty on capital liquidity, our outlook evolved with that. Now one thing that's interesting about our income statement is, that we are heavier on interest income, as a percentage of total revenue, than some of our peers. And so when you have that declining rate environment, it can impact us, a little bit more than others. And so when you look at what it takes to achieve top quartile performance, it changed. And that's what, resul...

Contact Dawn Emling: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-emling-a04b361a/Contact Tjeerd Krumpleman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjeerdkrumpelman/Contact Shari Littan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shari-littan-58bb40114/IMA's Statement of Position on Sustainable Business Information and Management: https://www.imanet.org/insights-and-trendsFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:04) Welcome back to 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 introduce you to our panel of speakers who joined our podcast to talk about sustainable business and sustainable business information. Shari Littan, IMA's Director of Corporate Reporting Research and Thought Leadership moderated the discussion between Dawn Emling and Tjeerd Krumpelman. Dawn is the head of sustainability initiatives for Lincoln Financial Group. And Tjeerd is the global head of advisory reporting and engagement as well as group sustainability at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Together, the three of them discuss the purpose and value of sustainable business activities, the impact of reporting and how to overcome potential challenges relating to technology and streamlining processes relating to sustainable business. Keep listening as we head over to the conversation now.  Shari: (01:05) So many of the professionals who now find themselves working in the area of sustainable business came from other backgrounds, other disciplines. The younger professionals, yes, they are finding a way to this area directly from their education. And they can go directly into sustainable business or corporate responsibility teams or whatever companies are calling it. But for the rest of us, we all came from somewhere else because the field is essentially emerging and new. So I'm gonna ask Dawn and than Tjeerd to let us know, where did you come from before you got involved in sustainability? What's your basic background?   Dawn: (01:51) Yeah. Thanks Sherry. I agree with you that most people now are coming from different disciplines. I actually started out in the U.S. government and state department doing human rights work, that also included, a number of, kind of nonprofit roles. And then I was an early practitioner with Credit Suisse, in Asia and then EMIA on sustainability, the first sustainability kind of head for each of those regions so setting that up and then fast forward, I worked at Thompson Reuters on sustainability of global sustainability. And then eventually now I am with Lincoln Financial heading up their, sustainability initiatives. So yeah, kind of a long and windy road here.   Tjeerd: (02:40) Yeah. And for, for me, it's been, it's been a little less windy, because I have always worked in banking. But I worked in the private bank first with clients and then in our investment bank and our retail bank, but always with clients and always on the more commercial side of the bank. And in my recollection, I think sustainability in some sort of, some form has always been part of our conversations with clients, but, but it was like eight years ago when I moved into the group sustainability or group strategy and sustainability team, for the first time that it became, let's say a regular job. And back in that day, or in that time, it wasn't considered a promotion, right. It wasn't considered to be very fancy to move from the commercial side of the bank in a managerial role to a, let's say a cost center like sustainability. So it has evolved a over the years, to becoming quite a popular destination, for people to work, nice place to work with lots of applicants whenever we have a role available. That's interesting to see, but yeah, I came from the commercial side of the bank.   Shari: (03:53) So that's quite a bit of difference: diversity in both of your backgrounds and how you both come and arrive in almost similar roles. So I think that says a lot about the type of work and the almost entrepreneurial mindset of many of the people that you've found or have found in the sustainable business arena. Now, one thing that we are hearing over and over again is that much of the work behind the company inside the company, let me say, internally is crossdisciplinary - that there are people coming from different parts of an organization to work together on sustainable business matters. However, when the finance and accounting function get involved and they bring their skillset, it creates set of capabilities and skills to the work that's going on. And it's incredibly valuable. So if I can hear from both of you, what your experiences are in engaging the-- we'll call them management accountants or accounting and finance function members.   Tjeerd: (05:10) Happy to start to kick this one off. I mean, we need everybody in the sustainability space, right? So we need, so I'm in banking and we need everybody across the bank in all different types to step up from their own skillset. So to embed sustainability into their day to day role. So, facility management takes responsibility for the sustainability of our buildings, right? So, and of the workplace, HR needs to think of travel policies, Risk needs to think of sustainability, embedding into risk policies. And where does controlling and accounting, come into place in measuring, in reporting in disclosing all sustainability. That's where we need the talent and the skill sets of financial professionals and accountants and management accountants. And I think they are relatively late to the party, but they are most welcome. And we need them there in the reporting space, in the disclosure space, in, getting the right quality of data, getting this into the dashboarding, into the steering of companies. That's where we need management accounting. But actually I think we need everybody so I can think of, I can think of a role for IT. I can think of a role for HR, for risk finance, strategy people. We need all of them. And in that sense, we definitely need management accountants as well.   Dawn: (06:37) I would a hundred percent underscore that this is an enterprise-wide effort. We group our kind of work into 16 or 17 business lines and the E, the S, and the G cross, many of them across all of them. I would also just add that we've seen, this is a very evolving landscape. So in the last six to 12 months, for example, we are now focusing on, or we're being, you know, asked to focus on, or we're being pressured to focus on kind of new areas that we didn't six to 12 months ago. And I'll bring out, you know, human capital development, human capital management. During COVID, it was kind of a brand new issue for us to look at under the ESG umbrella or rubric. There's been a lot of focus on strategy in the last 12 to 18 months with TCFD pushing on strategy and governance. So because it's such an evolving space, you really do need senior management across the business units, and that helps you with, in my opinion, it helps you getting acceptance, across the enterprise. If senior management in every line of business is pushing this, then you, you can get enterprise-wide acceptance. You can stay ahead of the evolution because you can say, "Hey, Human Resources, I'm coming to you about this human capital management issue that we're saying, oh, yeah, we've heard about this". And then you keep the momentum going. So I completely agree that all business lines are necessary and we don't...

Wes Saber, CFO for HARIBO of America, joins Count Me In to talk about the popular topic of business transformation. Wes has been an international leader in innovative management philosophy and business development for more than 22 years. His expertise in developing global enterprises has led him to his current role as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for HARIBO of America, producer of the #1 gummi in the U.S. He spearheaded the development of the $242M investment to build HARIBO’s first-ever U.S. factory, projected to create hundreds of career opportunities in the first phase build-out. In this episode, Wes talks about why business transformation is such a popular topic, his experience with transformations and the specific role(s) the finance team played, and how finance leaders can manage change and promote teamwork and adaptability. Download and listen now!About Wes Saber: https://www.haribo.com/en-us/about-us/meet-our-board/wes-saberAbout HARIBO:https://www.haribo.com/en-ushttps://www.linkedin.com/company/haribo-of-america-inc-https://www.instagram.com/haribousa/?hl=enFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:05) Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. Here with you again, as your host, Adam Larson, as I kick off episode 157 of our series, Count Me In has shared a number of conversations relating to business transformation, but today's featured guest speaker shares a unique perspective on the topic Wes Saber, CFO of HARIBO of America joined us to talk about how the finance function and finance leaders serve as best copilots for any business transformation journey. Wes is a great leader who constantly encourages his staff as he promotes change and transformation. So keep listening to hear more as we head over the conversation now.  Mitch: (00:54) We have heard a lot about business transformation, particularly in finance and accounting. So to kick off our conversation today from your perspective and through your experiences, really my first question is why? Why is this such an important topic for our listeners?  Wes: (01:09) Thank you very much for having me today. Business transformation is the constant, in the current business world. Business transformation is important to keep the business relevant, the strategy of the business agile and us as professional, very relevant in terms of competency and business acumen as we go. Business transformation is a journey that has different milestone as we grow as a business and as professional, it's very important to be able to adapt change. What makes finance and accounting professionals and overall business professionals successful in their career is the world resilience and business resilience. And us being as professionals, resilience is being demonstrated during business transformation in a form of a project in a form of system change, even culture evolution as well. So there is so many transformation that happens around us. Sometimes we're directly in the middle of it as professional as finance and accounting professional. And sometimes we are in the co-pilot seats and sometimes we're impacted with it. So it's very important to understand where we sit as professional in terms of the business transformation.  Mitch: (02:28) Well, thank you for that. Very good perspective to kick things off. And I want to go in a little bit more about your personal experiences and, you know, your company HARIBO is a 100 year old private company. Now there's been a lot of innovation and modernization since inception. So as an established company, how have you been able to manage such a digital transition over this time?  Wes: (02:51) So, I'm proud to be working me and my colleagues in a company that's privately owned and celebrate a hundred years, December, 2020. And, as we are proud of the values we live and the company, we are, very proud of the projects and the success that we achieve every year. In HARIBO of America, we started a growth journey, starting 2015 and we're embarking in building our brand and our business capability and manufacturing facility and our organization and culture. We are predominantly a European company, that adds most and the majority of the business in Europe, but the North America business is, taking off, starting 2015. So it's kind of like a startup in our hundred years old company and looking into the future, especially after what happens in 2020 with the pandemic. It's important to look at that as a challenge. However, it's more critical to look at that as an opportunity and prepare ourselves, for the future to be able to compete. digitization of business, there can be an aspect of, simply handling data to all the way to producing a product. We are, embarking on, opening our, new first North America manufacturing facility next year in 2022. And, we are talking these days about industry 4.0. Remote guided vehicles, robotics, big data, troubleshootings and to be able to actually utilize our scale and be efficient and get the best quality of our products to consumer. And as a professional and different functions, including manufacturing, engineering, sales, and finance and accounting, everybody plays role in getting that achieved. Sometimes in the most famous example of, digitization in, the finance and accounting world is the ERP implementation or the system that integrate the entire business, from end, to end. And that would include typically the costing that we have, the inventory that we look at, the analysis, the management accounting, the financial accounting, the reporting, the consolidation, of course, we all know about this, but what's changing in the digitization is how do we use PI? What tools we have in the world? What's relevant to our industry and what's relevant to our function? And how is that gonna help the company and educate from now to be competitive and continue to achieve on strategy? So digitization is no longer just, an element of the future, but actually absolutely is, how business is being done today. And it develops, and it develops in a high speed.  Mitch: (05:51) Now you just mentioned, the function specifically, right? How it's impacting the industry, and then it funnels into the individual function. So accounting and finance, how did the finance function specifically play a role in some of the transformation projects that you've been a part of so far? And what would you say are some of the top enablers when it comes to the finance function, going through business transformation, digital transformation, and along those lines?  Wes: (06:18) Absolutely. So everything starts from the strategy of the business and where the business is heading, and everybody plays a role in that, especially finance and accounting and finance and accounting always have two hats in the business, a custodian hat and a co-pilot hat, looking at the business, from a custodianship standpoint, looking at the digitization or the systems or the strategy being a custodian means finance and accounting plays such a critical role in keeping the business in, strong governance environment, understanding risk management. What will we face, during our, growth revenue invoicing, risk management to the plan we set to ourself allocating resources on budget to certain initiatives...

Dr. Sean Stein Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sean-stein-smith-dba-cpa-63307444/President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Releases Report and Recommendations on Stablecoins: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0454Stablecoins Might Be On The Hot Seat, But Are Integral For Crypto Innovation: https://www.forbes.com/sites/seansteinsmith/2021/11/29/stablecoins-might-be-on-the-hot-seat-but-are-integral-for-crypto-innovation/?sh=6628d556674dFULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:04) Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Adam Larson, and for episode 156, we welcome back Dr. Sean Stein Smith. With the constant evolution and advancements around crypto. Sean joins count me in again to talk about various reports and newsworthy information relating to stablecoins and digital assets. From standards on cryptocurrency to NFTs and decentralized finance. You'll want to keep listening to learn about what it all means and hear some of the potential future implications. Let's head over the conversation now.  Mitch: (00:48) So Sean, you've joined us for a few episodes now and in previous conversations you've discussed blockchain. Lastly, we talked about accounting standards for cryptocurrencies. Now there have been more advancements and additional considerations around crypto assets. I'd first like to get your thoughts on the report and the recommendations on stablecoins from the president's working group on financial markets. I know that came out a few weeks ago now, early November. I was just wondering if you can kind of summarize what was included in that report and why it is so important as an update.  Sean: (01:21) Absolutely Mitch. And I'm always happy to be on here talking with you blockchain, crypto asset updates, because it really is one: a hot topic and two: an area that is increasingly of importance for everybody working in accounting, finance, economic roles, whether in industry management or elsewhere. So, so in terms of sort of the highlights and the core points in the president's working group report there really what I would say is that honestly, on the one hand, I would say that the involved actors, right, be it, the OCC, FDIC, private sector corporations had done a pretty good job at outlining the, the base case and the fundamentals for how a stablecoin operates. Right. But on the other hand, they were, I believe a bit overt or unbalanced in terms of how they analyzed the whole stablecoin ecosystem, right. In terms of the pros and the cons. And especially in terms of the, risks, right, that having a actual stablecoin based payment network actually get, get to that level of being used at a commercial level by either corporations or by whole nation states. But, overall, probably the top two or three points there is that one they've, they've done a good job at researching and trying to pull out sort of who the, big players are out there. And there honestly really only are a handful of them and the, and the bulk of the transactions happening in any stablecoin outlook now are handled by a, by a handful of organizations and the bulk of those, transactions are also happen with coins backed on the one-to-one basis at the US dollar. And then two, sort of they also did a good job, I believe at outlining sort of the pros and cons, obviously more on the cons side, but, but a pretty good job at outlining the pros and cons of having a stablecoin based payment network versus the current Fiat based network. And then three. And, and here's where I think there's the most promise, but also the highest risk. On the one hand, they also outlined and by they, I mean, the members of the working group, outlined really what, what, factors and components any organizations trying to use a stablecoin payment network would have to take into account meaning who the counterparties are, who has the insurance, and then how are these platforms and these connections between these different involved organizations able to be secure. And then ultimately the end result of all of that of that conversation and I believe the actual report was about 28 pages. The end result kind of mirrors the policy paper put out by Coinbase back on October. And, and in both of those white papers, both of which were between 15, and 30 pages long. So they aren't massive documents, but the end goal or the end call to action on both documents, which I find quite interesting is this call for a new crypto specific, regulator that, that, that has powers or is imbued with powers by, by Congress to directly oversee all aspects of the, crypto asset space. So overall probably I would give it like a "B Minus" in terms of the output. Cause on the one hand, the working group did a good job at outline the issues, outlining terminology, characteristics, and traits, and, highlighting some of the core issues out there. But they were, I believe a bit unbalanced in their outlook in terms of the pros and the cons.  Mitch: (05:31) It's so funny, you bring that up because I read through the paper and as we got towards the end, you know, particularly when they summarized everything at the end, there's a statement that they gave, it says while the scope of this report is limited to stablecoins, work on digital assets and other innovations related to cryptographic and distributed ledger technology is ongoing throughout the administration. So it sounds like they are aware that they did not cover everything that they needed to necessarily, or maybe something else is in the works. You know, that's kinda where I was going with my next question. Other innovations in this space, can you take a guess at what they might be referring to?  Sean: (06:11) I mean, man, if I had access to that data, I mean, I'd be on a beach somewhere, which, but probably if I had to hazard a guess, I would say that the top two areas, and obviously there have been quite, public comments out of the SEC and the IRS in terms of their really uptick in compliance efforts, collection efforts, enforcement efforts. So I would say that probably one output or outcome that I am sort of eyeing to happen during 2022 is that there is going to be out of some agency don't know which one yet. I would say probably the SEC there is going to be some sort of, framework or guideline to help companies get a better handle on which type of crypto asset falls into which, financial instrument bucket. And by that, I actually mean if I'm issuing a token or a coin, is that gonna be treated as a, equity, security, commodity or some other form of instrument? So I say on the one hand, that's probably an area, that they are trying to work on and by they, if the White House Congress and the various, oversight agencies, and then two, what I would say is that currently I'm hearing quite a bit of, chatter about NFTs, but I haven't hearing quite a bit about NFTs because even though now the conversation around NFTs is, you know, kind of focused on like the Board Ape NFTs and you know, Beeple in March of this year. And it's more athlete and artist and artwork focused the implications for this new type of crypto asset nonfunctional token, or, NFT are actually quite broad. So I would not be surprised at all if, you know, going forward NFTs are an area that the White House and policy makers and regulators try to really get a handle on, right. Because they because on the one hand, Bitcoin ...

Jennifer Wolfenbarger, CMA, Vice President of Finance at Owens Corning, joins Count Me In to talk about business transformation. Business transformation is a term we often hear in finance and accounting, but there are numerous perspectives on the topic. Jennifer is a success driven, high impact and commercially astute executive that has a history of driving value creation, excelling in dynamic, fast paced and demanding environments and one who has a passion for driving continuous improvement. So, in this episode, she discusses her view on transformation, the finance function's role, various benchmarks to consider, and the value of change management. Download and listen now!Contact Jennifer Wolfenbarger, CMA: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-wolfenbarger-cma-5534ab1/FULL 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 will be listening to episode 155 of our series. The speaker on today's podcast is Jennifer Wolfenbarger. Jennifer is the vice president of finance at Owens Corning. She is a success driven, high impact and commercially astute executive that has a history of driving value creation, excelling in dynamic, fast paced and demanding environments, and one who has a passion for driving continuous improvement. So it is only appropriate that her focus for today's episode is on business transformation. Specifically, Jennifer addresses the role the finance function plays in enabling transformation and the need for effective change management. Keep listening to hear more as we jump over to the conversation now.Adam: (01:05)So today we're talking about business transformation and it's a term we're hearing a lot in finance and accounting and to get started. I just wanted to take, get your take on why is it so important now, especially?Jennifer: (01:16)Yeah, I think, is a great question and, you know, no matter what industry you operate in and I've, I've had the opportunity to operate in, you know, heavy equipment, building construction products, automotive med tech, and now, and building construction products. And no matter what industry you operate in, it's likely competitive. And the question is how do you differentiate yourself financially from your competitors? And what I've found over the course of my experiences at margin expansion is super, super critical. And business transformation is a key enabler to, to margin expansion, process improvement, like LEAN have been around for decades and typically drive incremental gains, which is important, but transformation is really key to moving the needle on margin expansion significantly to the point where, you know, you're, you're looking at revaluing, potentially the, the value of your company, business transformation is also critical to, you know, to a business culture, to be readily adaptable, to capitalize on opportunities to improve, whether it be through business growth or cost transformation, supply chain, transformation, et cetera, you know, having a culture of business transformation where it's, it's feels as natural as it possibly can is a game changer for a company and really a differentiator.Adam: (02:46)So when we're looking at the finance function specifically, they're going to play a role in completing the, that transformation. So how does the finance function play a role and then what are some of its top enablers?Jennifer: (02:57)Sure, sure. You know, I see the finance function playing a number of key roles and oftentimes may not even feel like they're really finance roles, not only in just completing the transformation, but also really kind of, even before you, you set the set, forward on, on, transformation itself, a key key role. They play finance plays is an identifying opportunities for transformation. And, you know, no matter from my experience, no matter where you are in, in terms of organizational capability and so forth, there are always opportunities. And sometimes prioritizing those opportunities is, is half is, is a battle in and of itself. So that's where finance plays a unique role in identifying and also helping prioritize what are what's going to make, you know, give us the biggest bang for our buck, the biggest return on investment, and be key to really moving the needle from an enterprise perspective. Then once the transformation opportunities identified, finance plays another key role in establishing governments, governance structures around how we measure progress, how we stay on track, how we stay on scope, through our goals, scope creep is, is, is quite common, particularly in transformation initiatives. And so it's important that we stay, that we have guard rails and governance systems to keep us on track. And these structures may not necessarily be financial. Oftentimes they're not financial guardrails, many times they could be operational or timeline-based, what have you, but finance plays a huge role in, in establishing governance structures. These, these structures are really critical in terms of ensuring how, how we hold, the necessary and applicable leaders that are driving the transformation, how we hold them accountable and also highlight early and often where we might need to course correct, which is, which is super important to enabling the success of a transformation. Some of the top enablers for completing transformation. I would say data can't be underscored data often plays a big role in, something that I'll likely talk about as we get into the podcasts a little further, but change management is super important in any transformation. And oftentimes that really what that means is influencing. And, it might mean getting, getting key stakeholders on board, but this is not only what we need to do, but how we need to do it from a transformation perspective. And then I'd say, lastly, enterprise focus is a key enabler. This isn't about hitting an isolated goal. When we're talking about transformation, this is about really shifting the needle on our enterprise performance. And I mentioned change management that is so easily overlooked in, in transformation. And what I've found from my experience, you need to ensure that you properly invest in train change management, because what you're going to find is that no matter how much data you put out there and how convincing it is that we need to take action. And, and this is how we need to take action, not everyone in the business is going to be on board. And that could be day one day, two days, day 30. So it's important that we go through that we take the time to invest in, in change management and ensure that we have everyone that's involved in the transformation marching in the same direction.Adam: (06:47)Of course. So it's like you're steering a massive ship and you gotta make sure everybody's doing all their parts to get where you're going in a sense. Right,Jennifer: (06:56)Exactly. Exactly. I was just going to add to that, you know, I think, you know, choosing the folks, the team members that are part of the transformation are super important. You kind of touched on that a little bit, made me think of that, about this is that diversity in terms of an address diversity in terms of gender ethnicity, it's diversity of thought is super important as we, you know, we think about who we want on, the, the, the stakeholder, the leadership team of the transformation is super important, so that we do challenge one another. And, and where that change management plays a big role, as we all agree that this is the goal that we have in mind and how we get there might vary along the way as we kind of challenge one another. I think that's, that's super important too.Adam...

Contact Michael Burdick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldburdick/Visit Paro: https://paro.io/Blog Posts from Paro:https://paro.io/blog/modern-finance-department-functions-roles-approaches-evolving/https://paro.io/blog/democratization-of-professional-talent-transforming-how-we-work/https://paro.io/blog/save-costs-through-freelance-talent/https://paro.io/blog/expert-success-story-cfo-marine-journey/FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:05) Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host Adam Larson, and I'm pleased to introduce Paro's CFO and Chief Strategy Officer, Michael Burdick, Michael founded his company with the goal of reimagining the finance and accounting industry via the freelance economy. In this episode, he talks with Mitch about how the future of finance really comes down to the freedom of choice and the ability to quickly solve problems for the business. Keep listening to learn more about on-demand fractional talent and the future of work,  Mitch: (00:45) The future of work, or more specifically for our listeners, you know, the future of finance. It's talked about a lot when it comes to what the profession needs to know. And I think as we were kind of just discussing it, it's been a popular topic, but obviously much has changed in the last year or so since the future of work really came to light. So I'm curious from your perspective, why is it talked about so much? How do you define the future of finance, the future of work, you know, and what does it really mean to you?  Michael: (01:17) Sure. Well, first off, thanks for having me. And I'm excited to dig in on this question and related topics in terms of the future of work. I think taking a step back, we need to discuss, you know, the, the changes that COVID had on worker preferences and how we all approach work in general. It was COVID was a giant mass social experiment in remote work. We're all forced to do it. And, and being forced to work remotely, all business professionals for the first time realized how mobile they can be. I think that's an important thing to call out here because prior to COVID, pre pandemic, people wanted to express that choice and have that flexibility and work on their own terms, but didn't necessarily have the platform or the burning platform really for that change specifically to occur. And now what we're seeing is a big shift in how worker preferences are popping up and specifically that people want to work remotely. You can't put that genie back in the bottle, business professionals want to work on their own terms. You know, you see all these big public battles going on at, major tech companies, even PWC announcing that, you know, I don't know something like a hundred thousand of their workers will be permanently remote. And the thing is in the future of work, it's all about that choice and flexibility that people want, and aligning that with what company's demands are. So that's a little bit of context and backstory, but I think this is really a major change, a major period of change, specifically as it relates to how financial institutions, accounting firms, enterprises approach work in general. And I think it's, foundational in a few different regards, specifically, allowing people to exercise that choice in an industry that was previously very hesitant to adopt. you know, we're talking about a pretty risk averse industry in general, so pretty hesitant to adopt futuristic approaches and demands that are being forced on finance departments are multifaceted and what's valued is flexibility and agility, which by the way, the future of work does offer. So I don't know, I think this is just a major period for change. You know, what the context being that COVID accelerated a lot of that change.  Mitch: (03:43) Yeah, that's exactly it. And I think we did a lot of research on the future of work, and this is going back, like you said, pre pandemic, and a lot of the ideas were quickly put into place, right? So the idea of future of finance, future of work, it's evolving just as fast as, you know, what we're seeing underneath our feet. So, you know, taking this a step further, where else can this really go in your opinion? You know, the future of work is, is now essentially. So what differentiates the current state of finance from what the new future of finance may look like?  Michael: (04:18) Current state from new future of finance? Well, let's take a step back. I think it's important to define future of work a little bit more and unpack that if it's okay, because that's a, that's a very big, bold statement that can mean multiple different things. Future of work can encompass the technology and tools that are necessary for working remotely. For example, it can also refer specifically to worker automation, right? Machine learning. It can also refer to how people work specifically for Paro and how we're looking at worker preference changes is related to the freelance economy. So I did want to highlight that for us future work and freelance economy, we sort of use those interchangeably because there are additional forces at play here. that dictate what the future of work is going to look like. But specifically for us, we're, we're looking at the freelance economy.  Mitch: (05:18) I appreciate you sharing that context because it does, you know, there are different interpretations, different definitions and, you know, to speak to the freelance economy, as you said, that's actually the first time I've heard something like that. So I think now getting your perspective on, you know, kind of, like I said, what do you anticipate becoming more prevalent in this freelance economy? I would say, freelance was something that was futuristic almost for the accounting profession, not too long ago. And now you're saying it's, it's pretty much, you know, a part of your company. so what do you see becoming more prevalent and, you know, how do you kind of differentiate the current state from your definition of the future of work?  Michael: (06:01) Yeah, so I think there are three key things that are gaining momentum very quickly, specifically as it relates to the future of work and freelance economy. One is on-demand expertise. If you really think about what a firm model or a job or working at a large company entails pretty much requires the worker to morph and change into. It's almost like a fitting around peg into a square hole. The worker has t...