THE FINANCE PROFESSIONAL

The Big Gap Separating CFOs and Their Staff Accountants

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Finance staffers are essential to making progress. So why do so many companies leave them out of the loop?

By CPA Trendlines Research

Corporate CFOs are 2.2 times more likely than staff accountants to understand their companies’ plans for financial transformation, according to new research exposing a significant gap in the future of digital tools, the need for greater staff accountant education, and the lack of a unified vision within organizations.

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Mike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training Practices

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The Disruptors: Training can triumph over textbooks in the talent wars. 

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr for CPA Trendlines

Mike Whitmire wants to transform the role of accountants in industry from mere counting beans (though that’s not a bad skill to have) to an operational role that leverages accountant’s knowledge of company finances and operations to drive efficiency throughout an entire organization.

MORE:  Hector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be Free| Private Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt Wilkinson | When Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey Schmidt | Can Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves? | Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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Whitmire, CEO, and co-founder of accounting software company FloQast, Inc., knows a thing or two about talent acquisition and development. Before founding FloQast, he managed the accounting team at Cornerstone OnDemand, a SaaS company in Los Angeles.

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The Six Pillars for FP&A Transformation

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Chris Ortega reveals his blueprint for success.

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Career Reflections
With Amy Welch

After years in public accounting, Chris Ortega decided he wanted something different.

The Indianapolis native knew he wanted to be an accountant when Sarbanes Oxley was making headlines and accountants were in high demand. “Also,” Ortega said, “I always loved numbers.”

MORE: The 10 Financial Controls That’ll Make You a Hero | Why You Can Be a Virtual CFO | Clients Would Switch for Portals | CSR for CPAs: The Missing Ingredient | O.D. Lanier: Stepping Into Advisory | Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset
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He continued, “I started the first six years of my career in both public and corporate accounting then moved into finance and FP&A while getting my MBA.”

Armed with his MBA in corporate finance from the University of Indianapolis and a stellar resume, Ortega said something was missing.

“After 17 plus years of experience in accounting, FP&A, finance and leadership, I felt there needed to be a fresh perspective on finance,” he said. “So, that is why I started Fresh FP&A, which is Fresh Perspective on Financial Partnership & Advising.”

And, while many business owners start with dreams and plans, Ortega said his company operates with six key pillars in mind.

“Think of it as the foundation of a house,” Ortega explained.

Those six “Ps,” as Ortega coined them, are:

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CPAs See Best Outlook in Three Years, with Notable Exceptions

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Some 76% of CPA corporate executives are now optimistic about the prospects for their own organization, less so about the U.S. economy in general.

CPA execs forecast economic boom.

By CPA Trendlines
via AICPA

The economy is poised to come roaring back in the year ahead, with forecasts for revenue and profit growth not seen since 2018, according to the second-quarter AICPA Economic Outlook Survey of members in business and industry.

MORE SURVEYS & RESEARCH: Women Lag Men in Accounting Jobs Recovery  |  Tax Season Ends with Pros Covering 54% of Returns  |  Tax Pros Retake Market Share from DIYers  |  Tax Pros Race to the Finish Line |  Making Partner: What Managers Need to Know  |  Survey: Tax Season Swings into the Red  |  Who’s Heating Up Accounting Tech?  |  Another Tax Season from Hell?

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There are concerns, however. “Availability of skilled personnel” reemerged as the top-cited challenge for businesses as job recruitment turns up. And two-thirds of business executives now express concern about inflation, up from 44 percent last quarter.

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Fraud: It’s Where the Money Is

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Click to enlarge

CPA firms have opportunities here. Bonus: infographics.

By CPA Trendlines

Covid-19 isn’t the only pandemic ravaging the world. There’s a financial virus going around, too.

MORE in RISK MANAGEMENT: In These Turbulent Times, Leaders Must Lead!  |  Indemnification Helps Partners Sleep Well  |  Tax Season Is Hacker Season  |  2020 Outlook: Top 5 Emerging Risks for CPAs  |

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It’s called fraud – maybe not contagious, but it pops up everywhere. On average, an estimated 5 percent of the world’s revenue is lost to fraud each year, a median loss of $125,000, an average loss of $1,509,000.

The prevalence and seriousness of fraud is both opportunity and obligation for CPA practices, not to mention internal audit departments.

According to the 2020 Global Study on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, just issued by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, external audits were the source of detection in only 4 percent of 2,504 organizations analyzed in 125 countries. Internal audits accounted for 15 percent of detection, and internal controls seem almost not worthwhile, finding only 2 percent of cases of known fraud.

Despite increasingly sophisticated fraud detection techniques, tips are still by far the most common way fraud is discovered, responsible for 43 percent of detected cases. READ MORE →