Becoming a CFO through FP&A
Show Notes
Welcome to FP&A Tomorrow, where we discuss financial planning and analysis, examining its current state and future prospects, with your host Paul Barnhurst.
In today’s episode, Paul engages with Bonnie Tomei, in the discussion on what makes great FP&A, the future of AI in finance, and key strategies for aspiring CFOs.
Bonnie, the CFO of Salience Labs and Chief Strategy Officer for K2X, has a wealth of experience in finance, strategic planning, and M&A activities, including being the former CFO of Spectra7, where she was voted Woman CFO of the Year for smaller public companies by FBI Silicon Valley.
Here is a concise summary of the key points from the discussion:
FP&A professionals should act as strategic partners to executives, helping them achieve financial roadmaps and objectives. Understanding both internal and external factors is crucial for effective financial planning and analysis.
AI and software are transforming FP&A roles, pushing analysts to mature faster and providing deeper insights. Despite the rise of AI, the need for human intelligence to interpret data and make strategic decisions remains critical.
FP&A is a strong pathway to becoming a CFO, but professionals need to understand the technical accounting side and have business acumen. Building strong relationships with the executive team and demonstrating strategic thinking are essential for aspiring CFOs.
FP&A teams play a vital role in M&A activities, particularly in modeling and due diligence. Professionals should volunteer for tasks and demonstrate business intelligence to stay relevant during acquisitions.
Technical skills like Excel are fundamental, but equally important are soft skills such as emotional intelligence (EQ) and effective communication.
Understanding and defining key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial for measuring success and aligning with strategic goals.
Quotes:
Here are a few relevant quotes from the episode
"Every time they come up with something new I've always fallen back to the good old days of that quick shortcut the ctrl+C, ctrl+V anyway.”-Bonnie Tomei
“Getting involved and understanding how you can help in looking at all of that and being a trusted advisor from a financial standpoint would help tremendously.”-Bonnie Tomei
In this episode, Bonnie Tomei provides a comprehensive look at the evolving landscape of FP&A, emphasizing the importance of strategic partnership, the impact of AI, and the essential skills needed to excel in the field. Bonnie's insights offer valuable guidance on navigating the complexities of financial planning and analysis. Stay curious, be proactive, and focus on building strong professional relationships to thrive in your FP&A career.
Link to courses:
FP&A Business Partnering (thinkific.com)
Modern Microsoft Excel (thinkific.com)
Follow Bonnie:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-tomei-a288b91/
Website - https://saliencelabs.ai/
Follow Paul:
Website - https://www.thefpandaguy.com
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thefpandaguy
For CPE credit please go to earmarkcpe.com, listen to the episode, download the app, and answer a few questions. For AFP FPAC certification answer the questions and contact Paul Barnhurst for further details.
In today's episode:
[01:01] - Introduction
[01:43] - Guest Introduction
[03:35] - Defining Great FP&A
[05:21] - Future Changes in FP&A
[07:00] - Career Progression to CFO
[11:07] - Advice for FP&A During M&A Activities
[13:19] - Transition to CFO
[16:27] - FP&A as a Pathway to CFO
[27:35] - Skills for Aspiring CFOs
[30:55] - Being More Strategic in FP&A
[34:02] - Rapid Fire Session
[37:34] - Contact Information of the Guest
[39:10] - Final Advice and Conclusion
Full Show Transcript:
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Hello, everyone. Welcome to FP&A. Tomorrow I am your host, Paul Barnhurst, and we're thrilled to have you here with us, where we delve into the world of financial planning and analysis, examining its current state and future prospects. Each week we are joined by thought leaders, industry experts, and practitioners who share their insights and experiences, helping us manage today's complexities and tomorrow's uncertainties. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your journey in FP&A, this show has something for everyone. This week, I'm thrilled to welcome to the show Bonnie Tomie. Bonnie, welcome to the show.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Hi, everybody. Nice to be here.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Very excited to have you. So let me start by just giving a little bit of background. She's coming to us from the Bay area. She's currently serving as a CFO of Salience Labs. She's working as a chief strategy officer for an angel investing platform and a few other things. But on top of that, she was most recently before these assignments, working as the CFO of a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange named Spectra7, where she was voted woman CFO of the year for the smaller public company category by the FBI Silicon Valley. So while you tell us a little bit about yourself. What you've been up to since leaving Spectra7?
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes, unfortunately, about six months ago, I left Spectra7 because of a family medical situation. And since then I have needed a lot of stimulation. So I signed up with a number of companies to help them out with different strategic objectives. So K2X is an angel investing platform. I am their chief strategy officer, helping them with an IPO process underway right now. I am also signed up as a CFO for Salience Labs, a photonic company. Of course, the semiconductor is my, I guess, 20 years of the industry that I've been delving into. So I'm right at my wheelhouse and that's what I'm doing. But I'm also, being the co-chair of the CFO Leadership Council Silicon Valley chapter, would like to encourage everybody to participate in some kind of form. Anyway, Paul, that's enough about me. What could I do for you?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I love the CFO Leadership Council. I'm a big fan of what they're doing. I know Jack McCulloch, and I'm speaking at their conference in October in New York.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Oh, that's great.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes, their finance and technology expo. I've been working with them on that. Great organization. Glad you're a part of that. So this is one of the questions we like to ask everybody at the start of every interview. Given that the show is about FP&A, I like to ask each of our guests what great FP&A looks like. So if you had to define Great FP&A, how would you do that?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Well, talk about great FP&A is about being great partners to all of our strategic executives and leadership team and not just internally driven, but sometimes external. Given the example, a great FP&A should be able to figure out what the roadmap is for the company financially to achieve what it wants to achieve, and that our job, in every step of talking with our executives, is about helping them achieve what they need to achieve. Then at the CFO level, of course, we're trying to provide the resources and reallocate and reallocate and reprioritize and reprioritize. Then externally, a lot of times we get a lot of information from our supplier as well as the customer. So it's inwardly facing first and foremost, but also secondarily for FP&A guys to be externally focused.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Great. I like what you described there, particularly around helping the business achieve the roadmap that they've set out, helping make sure the financials can support the strategic goals of the business. So do you see any big changes on the horizon for FP&A? Right. We've seen all this I talk we've had a ton of uncertainty. FP&A has become much more strategic, I'd say over the last decade or so. What do you think about it over the next five years? Any big changes you see coming?
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Oh, absolutely. A ton of changes. Those changes are driven by software and AI. I don't believe the AI is going to take the job of anybody who's got a mind of their own and be able to take a look at the market as well as the company and decipher between the trees and the forest. So I think that the job for an FP&A analyst to start with, as you're going into the career would be providing using all of those tools to get a lot more insight. But what does insight mean? This insight has to come with experience. And a lot of times I think it's going to push our junior people to mature a little faster by providing him with good information and then folks like us, who's been in the industry for many, many, many years, don't look at the wrinkles, is that how we can take all of that, we know, to kind of shape an AI environment where you can get information quickly in your fingertip into some kind of intelligence? I think that's where it's going to be very exciting, and hopefully, it will also drive a lot of satisfaction.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: I think that's a good point, particularly around driving satisfaction. If it's able to eliminate the mundane, the routine, the cleaning data the average person will be grateful for that. There'll be a few disappointed that don't get to do all that cleaning, but most people will be quite happy. You told us a little bit about your background, but I'd like to ask a question related to that. Can you talk about your career progression? I know you started as a controller, you served as a head of finance, and then ultimately you're a CFO of a public company. So maybe talk a little bit about that career journey that you've had.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I think I would probably start by saying that getting my double, I guess, two degrees one in accounting, one in finance, passing the CPA exam on the first shot, and then thinking about how I could help clients, particularly in the audit side. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed as auditors at that time, clients didn't want to talk to us. They thought that were adversarial and then went into the consulting realm and wanted to make an impact. I think that has helped me with curiosity about what makes something work better. I think the Controllership was pretty easy, and coming in and understanding all of the technical applications of accounting, pronouncement into what actual should look like, and then looking at FP&A side, how I could do the planning and therefore helping all of the executive team to achieve what we need to do. The majority of my career has been in public companies, So as we're thinking about being public, the FP&A side is very important to be able to provide guidance. But if it does not work in step with the accounting side, it's missing the point about how the report card is being issued on what GAAP earnings per share look like, and all the rest of it. So I see that my progression in looking at where to go is about getting involved in all aspects of accounting and finance, and then a lot of people don't think about treasury and tax as well as compliance. And when you think about all of that, it's being able to move around a company and understand in all these different perspectives how to fit it all in and therefore preparing me, or anybody for that matter, to be a better CFO.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes. It sounds like you had a good robust experience, especially mentioning the audit, the consulting, the comptroller role, and and seeing all of that. So I'm curious, was it always your goal to become a CFO or did it just kind of happen as a natural part of your career progression?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I think it's pretty natural to get there. I think a couple of other things that may not be coming naturally to anyone is to think strategically. The word strategic means a lot of things to a lot of people, but strategically, for any company is about how to get things done faster and achieve those goals. For example, M&A has probably done about 2000 transactions, and it comes with due diligence and understanding how to read a company quickly and then thinking about the systems process. The objective of the company. Are we trying to get more revenue or are we trying to just acquire a list of a big team and save a lot of recruiting costs? So when we think about all of that, it's getting into the know about what those objectives are and therefore being a part of that. And I think I've been pretty lucky in that because of my, I guess, willingness to be curious, to be a part of a team, and to drive to excellence. I think a lot of folks have kind of included me in their team in, in thinking about, well, okay, if these are the strategy, how would we go about doing it? I think to be invited to that, you had to be good and this is what I said earlier, what good FP&A looks like is to be a partner. And I think that's very, very important.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: I couldn't agree more. You have to be a good partner. You can't just be in your spreadsheets anymore. That just doesn't cut it for FP&A as a whole. You have to be helping the business and guiding questions. You mentioned you've worked on a lot of transactions and M&A. I just have a question I'd like to ask you. What would be the 1 or 2 pieces of advice you would give to FP&A departments when M&A activity is going on, or certain things they should be looking for or doing particularly, let's just say if you're looking to acquire versus being acquired, any advice about what FP&A should be thinking about during those times or focusing on?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I think the FP&A team may not necessarily be involved too much with the acquisition process. And when thinking about all those transactions I've had in multiple companies, the majority of the time it's being done through a business development team who may have their own analyst, and if they don't, they may be tapping on your shoulder FP&A team to pull together the model on how this company will add up to a valuation that would make sense for the acquisition cost, and then also focusing on the key strategic about why we wanted to acquire this company. Again, it could be revenue. It could be headcount, it could be a market, uh capability that we don't have. And all of that would come out to what do we think is going to drive in terms of value? The FP&A team may be secondary to the accounting team for the due diligence because then we have to figure out what happened in this company. So the FP&A team should be as dialed in as possible and volunteer themselves to pull those models together and then do a combination between that company and our company or the acquiring company to see what the synergy could be and how it could be taking one plus one equals three. And if in case you're not invited, that's okay. Volunteer anyway to any aspect that you could be of help.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: That's a great point of volunteering if you can. And often you'll be tapped to do the model. My last company before I started my own business, I was the one who was tapped to work with Cortdiv on a couple of different models. I remember doing all that they had we had a corp dev team and many different calls, due diligence, and different things, and it was a good experience and it helped our FP&A team. Okay, here's what we planned for so they'd know what to put in the budget versus oh Yes, we don't have any good numbers, but we'll figure it out. I've seen that as well. That never works. Well Yes. For the budget anyway. Yep. So I'm curious when you became a first-time CFO, what was the hardest part for you? What was the biggest adjustment?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I think your job has changed a little bit. between a controllership, which always looked historically to applying pretty complex accounting guidance until the financials and then, and of course that would be equivalent to a CEO anyway, as well as transactional processes, I could also say that being Controllership also sometimes manages tax and treasury as well for the heads of finance and or FP&A side of things. Of course, the annual budget the operating plan, and utilizing that as an excuse to make sure that we have alignment between all of the top-down objectives and bottoms up of what people could need. Then utilizing that process on a monthly basis or not a quarterly basis to realign those priorities. Whereas a CFO, I did a lot more. I spent a lot more time with investors. So IR became a bigger portion of my job. As picture seven. I was able to finish four rounds of financing all well, within three years, all of that, of course, maintaining the eye the investment, community communications, presentations, and attending conferences, all of that became a little bigger portion of my job. Second of all, having a direct relationship with your CEO is very important.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Secondarily, a dotted line to the board. Both of those are very important in driving the strategy for the company. And, of course, all of that. I now became the middleman. Sometimes our CEO and the rest of the executive team are in communication of how to allocate resources. So all of that has been very helpful because we all know that we're all driving in the right direction and hoping to meet all of those strategic objectives. So I think that's probably the major difference. However, I think, for FP&A teams, who are working with business-specific business, leadership, they should look at those business leaders being the COO or CTO or the CEO the VP of engineering or sales marketing team. They should look at each individual who is the lead in their department to be just like a CEO, get involved, and understand what is their objective. Getting involved and understanding how you can help in looking at all of that and being a trusted advisor from a financial standpoint would help tremendously.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes, I hear people say, it's in many ways almost kind of a mini CFO role, if you want to call it that. You're not taking care of the board. There are certain things you're not necessarily doing, but like that manager can look at as a CEO and they have their leadership team. And often you're coordinating things around allocation and resources. So I could see a lot of similarities. And it sounds like from everything you've said and just kind of want to confirm your thoughts on this, I'm guessing you believe that FP&A is a good path to becoming a CFO. Would that be a true statement?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I think so, oh, absolutely. I'll put it in the perspective of a public company. Public companies generally look for somebody who understands the economics and it's a lot more revenue-driven, less so at the bottom. Well, it's also equally important on the bottom line, of course, but understanding and being able to talk about business import is very important. What is the vision? What kind of product are we going after? What? What market share are we going after? And I think that FP&A has a better vision. And it's better than a controller if you will. A controller could still be a CFO. but I think the controller needs to be able to switch over to the FP&A side a little bit to demonstrate the acumen of the business. However, I do know a lot of controllers who have great acumen on the business and have a very good dialed-in into the economics of the business, so I think that's also helpful. I think it's about getting the exposure on both sides. I do have to say FP&A sometimes may not make, uh may have a blind spot where they may not understand the technical accounting behind how the actual numbers come out. Why does it look different than the contract? So I would highly encourage everybody on the FP&A side to shuttle your controller. As for some training time and understanding how to read the financials and understanding why it's done a certain way.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Makes a lot of sense. You want to. You have to be able to understand some of the accounting well enough to understand those financials. FP&A should have that. Not everybody does. There are different levels. You probably need some basic attacks. You need to at least know how to work with audit, which I know I've done in some FP&A roles. Often the accountant comes to you and says, okay, what was the thinking on these accruals? Why did we do this? And usually, you get some of that, but you need to have that broad. Then what I like is that a friend is the first time his first time as a CFO. One of the first things he did, goes, I know I'm not as strong on accounting. I've done FP&A, I've done Investor Relations. I don't have an accounting degree. His first hire was a good controller because he wanted to make sure he had his weaknesses covered. So I think you make great points. It's good to have that and also make sure where you need help, that you hire the right team with you because no. And I'm sure you would agree, that no CFO is going to have it all. None of us know everything.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Absolutely, absolutely. Two other areas as I said earlier, tax and treasury.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes, I always skip Treasury. I have a good friend who's he's a Treasury guy and we have fun. He's always he always posts on LinkedIn and everything. He's like, you need to talk more about Treasury. I'm like, that's your department. I skipped that for a reason. And he gives me a hard time. But it is important. Especially the cash flow and all your money and the time I had to work with Treasury. You'll find this interesting. So an FP&A. I supported traveler's checks for American Express. That's a lot. I left in 2017. All our money was being made off a liability. We got no money off new sales. That all went to our network to keep it open to in-cash stuff. So people couldn't cash the checks they had. So all our money came from bonds. There was a $2 billion liability on the balance sheet. So you can imagine with all that being invested and the interest, there's a lot of conversations with Treasury and trying to forecast call rates and what's going to happen. So that was a good opportunity to spend a lot of time with Treasury. Then I also supported some other prepaid products where there were a lot of different cash requirements and needs. And it taught me a lot.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Well, so when we think about the Treasury, there are so many other areas as well as risk management as well. not just cash, right? It's also amassing enough cash and or other assets in order to help the company think about acquisition. What if you don't have any cash at all and you don't want to issue shares? You've got to think about what other things I could do in exchange. So from an acquisition standpoint, the Treasury aspect is, very important in managing how much we have and how much will we have, and therefore gives a clear view about how to accomplish the growth in the fastest path.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes, of course, can you fund an acquisition off the balance sheet? Do you need to raise debt? Do you need to raise capital? Are you going to go back to your current investors? I imagine there are a ton of different questions, both just practical and tactical and strategic about how you do it. How will the market respond if we raise it this way? How will it impact the stock? All those types of things. Are those all the fun questions you get to go through?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Yes, absolutely.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: See, the ones I worked on were all small. They were funded off the balance sheet and were a private company. So there wasn't as much. Obviously, there's some conversation with the Treasury, but is a much easier acquisition on these ones. I've been on part of one where I got asked all the questions. We almost went public one time, and that was when we got grilled left and right. The deal fell through. It'd been announced rumor had got out about it, but it never got finalized. It was a Spac back when SPACs were hot, a couple of years when everybody was doing them. That was a good learning experience. But that's the other thing. FP&A if you're on the side where someone's looking to acquire, you just plan on being able to answer a ton of questions about your data.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: On the acquiring side, FP&A seems to be a very tough position, right? Because a lot of times G&A or even SG&A are considered to be a synergy. It's going to be eliminated because they already have their own team. But I would have to say don't give up. It's not just about that job being eliminated, but if you're a great candidate, a lot of times folks are looking for good people. Therefore my recommendation for anybody who happens to be in the seat of being acquired and sitting on the FP&A side is to demonstrate acumen of the business and offer up information once the definitive agreement is being signed. Being the nicest guy out there or gal and being helpful will help you establish new relationships with the new team and see if you have a place in their job if nothing else is about making sure that the company that you're helping to sell is going to lend well in the new environment. And if nothing else, even if you don't work with them right away, you build up a good reputation for yourself and you never know where you're going to land up. Lastly, don't stop looking.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: I agree. You have to be smart about things and take care of yourself. But I like how you said to make sure you're putting your best foot forward, not being a complainer or negative because you see a transaction happening and you're worried about your job. If you perform well, people will notice and it will benefit you. Does it mean you'll get a job with a company? Not necessarily. If they have one open, it means you're a good candidate. Yep. And that's what you're looking for, good opportunities. Because the more good opportunities you have, the more likely you are to land one. It's just like sports, right? The more you swing at a pitch, the more likely you're eventually to hit something, or the more you shoot a basket, the more likely you are to make it. There's a numbers aspect to all of this. As much as we sometimes don't like to acknowledge it. Because it can take a long time. But no, I think that's good advice. So I want to ask you another question, kind of when we talk about CFO, what do you believe CEOs are looking for? What are the top 2 or 3 things you see them looking for when they're looking for a CFO?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: A lot of CEOs are not sure about what to look for in a CFO, particularly in a smaller company. I would have to say, in my experience, CEOs generally are looking for a partner. Well, partner is a big word. They're probably looking for someone who makes sure that they can sleep soundly at night. So the CFO's job is to make sure that all aspects of financials, particularly on the compliance side, are taken care of. Then on top of it, that's just the minimum requirement. But the second most important thing for me, I think, is the ability to work side by side with the CEO and understand from a financial perspective to give good intelligence. So then the CEO can make decisions. I'm not just talking about, gee how much cash we have in the bank. That's also just par for the course. But what I'm saying is what does it look like in a few months? How do we want where do we want it to project out? Where do we have resources and how much money do we need? When do we go out and raise the funds?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Therefore the CFO is important in leading those charges and giving the CEO all of the support possible. So then the CEO can direct the company where they need to go. Second of all, I think maybe the third thing is to be a great confidant if you will. We work in partnership with together in supporting the CEO to share the information and update with the board. A lot of the directions and approval have to come from the board. So all of those are a good relationship. And being the right hand of the CEO, in my experience, has been valuable in that if there's anything that needs to be addressed within the executive team, a lot of times sort of the HRO or CPO, if you will, the CFO is the other arm as well in helping to shape the team in terms of culture. In terms of what's important. I think all of those are very key for the CEO.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: That makes a lot of sense. I think a couple of things there, obviously, the table stakes are compliance. They want to feel comfortable. You're going to keep them out of jail, so to speak, the saying goes. Then from there, it sounds like there's that strategic, aspect of helping figure out how to get their help and grow the resource side. As you mentioned, being a confidant, being somebody they can go to, they can bounce ideas off and they can trust in the leadership team. So almost that right-hand person in many ways. Yep. So you mentioned think FP&A is a great path for for becoming a CFO. In many ways, you serve like a mini CFO. So you mentioned you need to make sure you get the broad scope to be prepared, not forgetting about treasury or tax, but any boxes in particular, like is there anything say you're an FPA professional, you're at that director, VP level been highly looked at any other boxes that they need to make sure they check outside of maybe understanding the rest of finance. Like do they need to check some kind of strategic box or certain kind of relationship skills or anything you can think of that they need to demonstrate? That shows the CEO, hey, I'm a I'm a good candidate here. Shows companies that I'd make a good CFO.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Yes, absolutely. So again, we don't work in a vacuum. We don't just work with the CEO and then our own team. We're outward facing to investor communication and of course, that comes with timely follow-up and whatnot internally is being about the chemistry with the rest of the executive team. That has a lot to do with again, this old school thinking about, I'm the know guy, I'm here to control the cost that is missing the boat. What we are trying to do is move the company forward, and being the CFO is helping to get allocation and prioritization of the resources we have and helping everybody move the company along. So that alignment has to be done through proper communication and education. Then, of course, again, we seem like the guy and gal who put in internal control. Again, education will probably help with that. So the skill set of somebody in the FP&A who wanted to become a CFO, first and foremost acumen of the business, helps provide intelligence. Second, great people skills in moving along. And I'm not suggesting someone who is draconian in having everything done his way or the highway and make everybody act like I guess followers or someone who's a people pleaser, who's going to just try to make sure everybody likes me and therefore nobody needs to do anything. As I said that would need to one of them would be effective. What's most effective is education, alignment of priorities, making sure the entire team is backing up, and understanding why we do this, not why money gets spent here, but not there. And then lastly, putting together these KPIs will help tremendously. So again the skill set of somebody in FP&A is to understand what makes this company successful and have to measure it against it in the meantime, delivering that with great teamwork, great communication, and great education.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes. So I'm hearing a few things there. Obviously, you got to be great with relationships. I like that you mentioned that business acumen, just how critical that is. Then KPIs, I can't I don't think you can stress enough how important is to be able to measure those results, be able to measure those ones that are important that they can influence, because we hear the term KPIs all the time. But a lot of metrics aren't KPIs, even though we may want to report on all of them. So I think there's something to be said there for being able to hone in on what's important, what are the key KPIs for our strategy and for what we're trying to accomplish. Not how can I measure every metric? But the question I have for you is we've talked about that. One of the things we've mentioned is obviously FP&A needs to be more and more strategic. It's in many ways, it's a front-facing, very important business role. It's not like some people used to think of a back office, so to speak, or CF no, is a commercial-driven role. So any advice on how we be more strategic as FP&A professionals? Any thoughts on what we should be doing to make sure we're being strategic?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I think a couple of things one is you've got to know what the strategy is. So if you don't know, keep asking. And if they don't know, that could be a problem.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: I have a story about that. I'll tell you when we're done.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: But let's just say that it's a public company. Maybe is easier because a lot of the information is outwardly available. When we have the earnings call it's very easy for us to talk about what is that we're going after from a strategy standpoint. How do we measure ourselves? We could get an analyst report to see how they're measuring us. Right. When is private is harder, right? Because it may not be out there, but just keep asking the question. Well, strategically, what do you want to be if it's just according to the budget following up on it, the budget is just numbers. What was driving those budgets? Are we trying to achieve a certain milestone in the development of the product? Roll out in margin so when you take a look at all of that that's a lot to work with. Then how to be strategic, other than just counting the numbers, is understanding from your perspective, what are the levers that are going to deliver those results. So it is delivered, additional sales. Well sales team what could I do to help? Revenue team, is there anything I could help with? Is there anything that we could do an analysis on? Could I use any of the histories to show if we're up high, or low talking with marketing, maybe you feel like you're kind of going a little outside of your comfort zone or going outside of where your territory is, but that's how you get to know a little bit more about how you could be more strategic. There are certain things that we also do if they need it today, I do it today, right? If they need it tomorrow, I'll do it today anyway. And the reason is time is of the essence, right? And unfortunately, another month that we don't have revenue is another month of operating expenses invested to drive that revenue. If we think of it that way, then it's about the sense of urgency. Then now you have to prioritize like crazy. And that prioritization is pretty strategic a lot of times.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Makes a lot of sense. I appreciate that answer. I liked when you said I don't know what to tell you if there's no strategy. I was in a company, and we got a new CEO and it was funny. He'd been in the seat for about two months, and he was doing a meeting at a town hall with everybody, and he started talking about how they were going to set out a strategy. And he goes, I've been here for it was like 2 or 3 months and I haven't seen a strategy yet. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know. He was just acknowledging there's been no strategy for this company and he was working on crafting it. It was pretty funny. I just kind of had a laugh, a little scary, but Yes, it was one of those where it's like, all right, how are we supposed to know what to do if there's no strategy here? It was a unique arrangement. So that's my story about no strategy.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Wow. That is pretty unique. I mean, it's one thing to acknowledge there isn't one, and then there is one to let everybody else know there isn't one.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes, well, let's just say it was a unique company that the CFO left after a few months. He didn't last long. Well, I want to move on to what I call a rapid-fire section. And this is where I ask you. There are four questions. The idea is to give kind of quick answers to these. So we go through them quickly just to have a little fun. I'm going to start here with this first one. What is the number one technical skill that FP&A professionals should master?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I hate to say this, but Excel, Excel, Excel. I understand there are a ton of tools out there, but if you could not put together those, analysis should be. And what should it make up of in Excel and or any other manner? Kind of couldn't translate it into a tool. So not surprised. I might as well as a tool, but Excel is probably the first one.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes, I'm not surprised by that at all. What is the number one softer human skill FP&A professionals should have?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Well, I think empathy or EQ is important in order to work with all of the executives, and you're here to support them and understand some of the information. You must be able to work well with them. EQ probably is the first and foremost. Then, of course, communication comes second.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: EQ and communication, I like it. Are you currently using generative AI and if so, how?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I am not generally using it. I have to say I can't wait to see it finish, so I would highly recommend anybody thinking about using generative AI to get the vendors to support a page test static that they continue to update with good information. But anybody sitting there and looking at just a prompt, they won't come, I can tell you that.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Yes, there's software. The vendors are figuring it out. Those software strategies still have a long we have a while to go. I mean it's amazing what we've accomplished. But we have a while to go before it's into all our tools and as ubiquitous as the web, right? That's eventually where it will get. But we're not there yet.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I was going to add one more thing. The beginning of my career. One thing that I've done, obviously systems is a huge thing. I've always implemented a ton of different tools, and I was at this company where I was working with the database. Dude. Exactly. That's his title. So anyway, is to put together what the BI would look like and give a definition to each one of them and having to leave a trail of that. So then we could all speak the same language was very important. And ultimately that's exactly what's necessary.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: You have to have a good database, dude.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: All right. What's the one software you can't live without?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Oh, boy. Well, I'm just going to say Excel again.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: I had a feeling. That might be coming. I'm not surprised. You have a favorite Excel function. There's a question for you.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Pivot tables, hands down. Pivot tables.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: A favorite shortcut in Excel.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I have to say, every time they come up with something new I've always fallen back to the good old days of that quick shortcut the ctrl+C, ctrl+V anyway, I'm going to date myself telling you all this, but I think it's kind of like doing a piano, second nature.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: No, I'm a lot the same. ctrl+C, ctrl+V, f2. There are a few that end up being by far the dominant ones I use. I understand that one. All right. So we're going to move into the section called the get-to-know-you section where we have a little more personal questions asked. You get to know a little bit more about yourself. So what's a favorite hobby or passion you have?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: A golfer. You always find me on a golf course again.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Do you like watching or just playing?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: No, I play, I play.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Nice. What is one book you can recommend to our audience? If you had to recommend a book, what would it be?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: I would offer up the seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: That's a great one. He taught at the same university. I went.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Wow, that's great.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: He wasn't teaching when I was there, but I remember a lot of the professors talking about him. He had left to start his own business, but he taught at BYU.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Well, the book is excellent.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: I agree. I've read a few of his books. Good stuff. Favorite travel destination?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Oh, boy. I've worked many years of traveling for work. So right now I'm, I'm interested in going anywhere with somebody to build memories. It doesn't matter where.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: I love that answer. It's about the memories, not the location.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: After a while, they all look about the same.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: There's some truth to that. There's something to be said for just getting out and making memories and having fun. Whether it's local, or halfway around the world. Just get out and enjoy time with others. Great one there. Lastly, get to know your question. Then we'll wrap up. If you could have dinner with anyone in the world alive today, who would you go to dinner with?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: First I thought maybe having dinner with Mother Teresa would be great, but she's not alive. But that would be also kind of amazing to see how she's done it and how she got started and all of the impact if I were to have to say somebody today. Darn. That's a tough one. I'm going to think about that one.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: So if you could offer our audience any piece of advice to be a better business partner, particularly an FP&A business partner, what advice would you give them?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: This whole podcast is all about that, right? good business acumen, good systems, understanding of the intelligence of the business, great EQ, and great communication skills. Gee, just be yourself. Be out there and be a friend. professionally, of course, but but be a friend I think just be yourself and be curious with the right mindset. I think everybody would want to be your partner.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: I like that part with the right mindset. Everybody will want to be your partner if you focus on them. You're curious, you're engaging, you're that professional friend. You're you're making their life easier. They're going to want to work with you. If someone wants to learn more about you, what would be the best way for them to do that?
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Well, I'm on LinkedIn, so if anybody wants to LinkedIn with me, please just reference the FP&A guy so I know where you're coming from. I'm also on the CFO Leadership Council. I am the co-chair of the Silicon Valley chapter. So come on by and say hello. And I could even get you into one of our programs.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: Perfect. Well, thank you for carving out some time today to come on the show. Enjoyed chatting with you. Good luck with all the different projects you have going on, the the tasks you're doing there, and excited to see what's next for you. And just to share this with our audience. So thanks again for joining me.
Guest: Bonnie Tomei:: Thank you so much for having me. Have a great.
Host: Paul Barnhurst:: You too. Thanks for listening to FP&A tomorrow. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a five-star rating and a review on your podcast platform of choice. This allows us to continue to bring you great guests from around the globe. As a reminder, you can earn CPE credit by going to earmarkcpe.com, downloading the app, taking a short quiz, and getting your CPE certificate to earn continuing education credits for the FPAC certification. Take the quiz on earmark and contact me the show host for further details.
