With thousands of finance and accounting podcasts available, it can be a challenge to know which ones will offer valuable insights. To make it easier, we have narrowed it down to the six best episodes featuring CFOs, in no particular order, for your summer listening enjoyment.
1. Secrets of Rockstar CFOs
- Episode title: Building Trust and Transparency: A Look Inside Fundrise’s Success With Alison Staloch
- Air date: 7/9/2024
Alison Staloch, CFO of Fundrise, joined Jack McCullough on his Rockstar CFO podcast and talked about her relationship with the other executives, many of whom are founders of the company.
“As an outside CFO, someone coming in, not founding the company, I view my job as operationalizing that and executing on their vision. Building rapport with them has been critical. Building and understanding their vision is critical. I would tell any aspiring or current CFO that investing in those relationships, you can never invest too much. It’s critical for a CFO to be close to the CEO or other founders and those with the vision of the company.”
The importance of collaboration and building a relationship with the other executives cannot be understated. “The longer we’ve worked together, the easier it has become to have difficult conversations about what we think is going right and wrong. Again, that’s about investing in the relationship and spending time getting to know each other.”
2. Bloomberg Businessweek Podcast
- Episode title: Hilton CFO Kevin Jacobs
- Air date: 6/3/2024
Hilton CFO Kevin Jacobs discussed how his company’s recent efforts to tackle debt have prepared them for uncertainty.
“We’ve always been focused on financial flexibility. It’s not just the ultimate quantum of our debt or the cost of our debt, which of course we care about a lot, but we are always looking for opportunities to push maturity. We have one small maturity in 2025, and then we don’t have maturities for a while.”
“[This strategy] surfaced well during COVID-19 when our revenues went to near zero, we didn’t need to amend our credit facilities because we didn’t have any near-term maturities, we didn’t breach any covenants, and so we’ve always really been focused on financial flexibility as one of the core tenets of our capital allocation.”
3. Beyond the Numbers With Fresh CFO Chris Ortega
- Episode title: Jab, Hook, Uppercut: Avoiding Punches in Business
- Air date: 3/21/2024
Chris Ortega, CFO of Fresh FP&A, had an interesting interview with Suzana Rodriguez Griffin, founder of La Jefa Promotions. Griffin, who owns and operates a boxing gym, discusses the parallels between boxing and business and how leaders can develop strength and toughness to overcome challenges.
During a segment on emotional and physical availability at work and balancing fitness within that, Griffin shares how availability and time management, even at the entrepreneurial level, are just as pivotal there as they are for CFOs.
“When I first started my business, I was available all the time. If you want 5 a.m. training, even though I am not a 5 a.m. person, I will show up and make it work. But nobody respects your time like you respect your time. Once you demand yourself to a certain [schedule] or price, you [can] set your boundaries properly. When I first started, I was always available, and I got burned out to a degree…Time is important, and it’s just as important for [CFOs] as it is for an entrepreneur to demand that other people respect your time.”
4. Secrets of Rockstar CFOs
- Episode title: Growing the Game: Kelly Mahncke on Leading USA Hockey’s Financial Future
- Air date: 6/28/2024
Jack McCullough’s Rockstar CFO podcast episode with USA Hockey CFO Kelly Mahncke highlights an interesting phenomenon when it comes to talent retention at her organization. According to her, a large number of people throughout the company, including her direct team, have been with the organization for multiple decades.
“One of the things that is unique to USA Hockey is we have people who have been here for more than 30 years and a very high percentage that have been here for a very long time. The mentoring I’ve done hasn’t been so much at USA Hockey. I do enjoy that, but many people have been here. I probably have six or seven people on my team who have been here for 25 to 30 years, which is remarkable. I am bringing in some new people and that part is fun. The mentoring piece is a lot of fun, learning about them and where they want to go, and how I can help support that.”
5. Auto Remarketing Podcast
- Episode title: Automotive CFO-To-Go Kathi Kruse
- Air date: 7/8/2024
Kathi Kruse, who recently appeared on Auto Remarketing’s podcast at the 2024 NIADA Convention and Expo, discussed her experience working as a CFO for car dealerships in Southern California. According to Kruse, the talent shortage was something that was not only highly visible in her role but significantly impacting car dealerships and inspired her to create a CFO offering.
“My expertise is as a CFO. I spent most of my time as a CFO… I want to say two years ago, I saw a shortage in the talent pool of business managers, controllers and CFOs — and it’s the money of the dealership so it’s super important to manage well. And there’s just a lack of expertise and knowledge…I’m just seeing people not looking at their numbers. We’re coming into something we’ve already been in, but we’re coming into maybe a worsening regional environment where you’re really going to want to control expenses and maximize everything you can [while] minimizing your risk.”
6. The Accounting Podcast
- Episode title: Intuit’s Shift to AI Failed on Day One
- Air date: 7/16/2024
Blake Oliver and David Leary, hosts of Earmark’s Accounting Podcast, broke down Intuit’s layoffs in this episode. Leary, who worked for Intuit for over 20 years before joining Earmark, has a unique perspective on the company’s push for AI and its handling of the axing of 1,200 employees.
“I am of the highest opinion that this should be a nonstory. Every July at the end of their fiscal year, Intuit lays off people because all of the new budgets for the new year take place. This has happened for as long as I can remember going back to 1996 — every single year. I don’t want to belittle this by saying it’s a nonstory because these [things] are real. I’ve had friends and coworkers laid off year after year. I’ve lived this movie a couple of times.”
“Even the pivot to AI, how they’re doing that, I am kind of okay with that, because this is just a historical move as well. When Intuit moved from desktop to cloud, they laid off [hired and fired several hundred employees] so they could move the skills and capabilities of the team from old desktop software to cloud-based skills…it kind of made sense. They have to get rid of people that are not capable of bringing Intuit to the AI future.”
