BlackLine Techniques is an enterprise software program firm that develops cloud-based options for the finance operate. Patrick Villanova took over as CFO in March after almost 10 years on the Nasdaq-listed firm. He was beforehand lead audit senior supervisor at PwC.
World Finance: What has been the most important problem in your first six months as CFO?
Patrick Villanova: I had an extended preparation at BlackLine, however nothing totally prepares you for being within the highlight. The most important shift has been delivering the message myself. I already had a strong deal with on inner communication, and since taking on Monetary Planning over a 12 months in the past, I understood budgeting and forecasting.
However beginning [as CFO on] March 1, investor relations grew to become a key focus: partaking with analysts, stakeholders, and the Board of Administrators way more ceaselessly. And, after all, I work way more carefully with our CEOs [Therese Tucker and Owen Ryan]. I’ve all the time had an amazing relationship with them, however now we speak way more typically. That’s been the most important change in my position.
GF: How did you be taught to inform BlackLine’s story?
Villanova: One of many hardest, however most important, expertise as CFO is storytelling: taking advanced information and distilling it into a transparent, impactful message. It’s a ability I’m consistently refining. I’ve been studying from seasoned CFOs, studying up on finest practices, and even rethinking how I take advantage of instruments like PowerPoint to make the message extra digestible and significant.
GF: What’s the most rewarding a part of your position?
Villanova: I’ve all the time felt a part of BlackLine’s success, however now I’ve my finger on the change. Monetary choices in the end cease with me, and that accountability—main an organization with a shiny future—is humbling and rewarding. There’s extra stress now: public talking, making ultimate calls, and being the one who others look to for course. However with that stress comes belief, and that belief is a privilege. I’m on this position as a result of I’ve earned it, and I remind myself of that when the load of the job units in.
GF: How troublesome is it to say no?
Villanova: It comes again to storytelling and messaging. I discover myself saying no extra typically, nevertheless it’s necessary to elucidate why. Folks could not all the time agree, however understanding your perspective builds belief and brings them into your thought course of: key features of management on this position.
GF: How is AI going to vary your job?
Villanova: AI is a subject I’ve been captivated with lengthy earlier than entering into this position; I see it because the third main technological shift in finance and accounting. First got here the PC and Excel period within the Nineteen Eighties. Then got here cloud automation shortly after the flip of the century, which BlackLine helped pioneer. AI is the following leap, bringing deeper automation and fewer human intervention.
AI is already offering predictive monetary insights and forecasts. It’s like including a fifth particular person to the finance, planning, and evaluation staff who works quicker and cheaper. In accounting, it’s nonetheless early-stage, dealing with easy, rule-based duties like reserving entries and performing reconciliations. However because it learns from extra information and the way accountants make choices, its influence will develop.
Adoption will take time, particularly in accounting, the place accuracy have to be absolute; 95% correct is 100% improper in our world. As soon as AI proves constant and dependable, will probably be exponentially extra transformative than Excel as soon as it proves itself as dependable within the business.
GF: What do you counsel to somebody who’s searching for a CFO position?
Villanova: You’ll want extra than simply robust accounting and finance fundamentals and management expertise; these are desk stakes. The actual differentiators can be information and AI experience. As automation takes over conventional duties like forecasting and modeling, the CFO position will demand a deep understanding of the underlying know-how. In 10-15 years, the finance panorama will look utterly completely different, and people who aren’t fluent in information and AI will battle to maintain up.
GF: What retains you up at night time?
Villanova: What retains me up at night time is disruption: the breakthrough I don’t see coming. I spend a whole lot of time finding out AI, new applied sciences, and what smaller, agile firms are doing. I additionally fear in regards to the expertise we would lack when the following shift hits and all the time ask, What’s the following disruption, and are we prepared for it?
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