April 28, 2025 • 30 mins
Join host Adam Larson in this engaging of the Count Me In, as he sits down with Deirdre Ryan, the Global Finance Transformation Leader at EY, for an insightful conversation on the evolving role of CFOs in the digital age. With over 30 years of experience advising financial executives, Deirdre shares the pivotal challenges CFOs face today—balancing short-term value with long-term investment, driving innovation while mitigating risk, and building future-ready finance teams. Discover Deirdre's expert insights on aligning digital strategies with business goals, leveraging data analytics, and retaining top talent in finance. Whether you're a finance professional or simply curious about the digital transformation in financial roles, this episode offers valuable perspectives you won't want to miss. Tune in for a refreshing and knowledgeable discussion that promises to leave you thinking about the future of finance.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Adam Larson (00:21):
Hello and welcome to Count Me In. I'm your host
Adam Larson. Today we're excitedto have Deirdre Ryan, Global
Finance Transformation Leader atjoining us. With over thirty
years of experience in advisingfinancial executives and CFOs,
Deirdre provides an in-depthlook in the evolving role of the
CFO in the digital age. In thisepisode, we discuss the key
challenges CFOs face today,balancing short term gains with
(00:44):
long term investments, drivinginnovation while mitigating
risk, building future readyskills.
Deirdre Serra's insights onaligning digital strategies with
business goals, managing costs,and utilizing data analytics to
stay ahead in a competitivemarket. Additionally, she offers
advice for retaining top talentand preparing for rapid
technological advancements. Thisepisode is full of practical
insights and strategies to helpyou navigate the ever changing
(01:06):
financial landscape. Let's divein with our conversation with
Deirdre Ryan. Well, Deirdre, I'mreally excited to have you on
the podcast today, and you'vebeen advising and consulting for
over thirty years with financialexecutives and CFOs.
I figured this is a greatquestion to get us started. What
(01:28):
are some of the specificchallenges you see emerging in
this digital age? You've seen itfrom before it became a real
true digital age to now it's inthis digital age. Is that? What
do you see as the CFO role iscontinuing to evolve?
Deirdre Ryan (01:41):
You know, it's interesting. We actually did a
survey at and we surveyed over athousand CFOs and finance
executives, and we asked themthat exact question. What are
the challenges that you'refacing? And it was really
interesting, Adam, because wefound there were basically three
major buckets, and I'm gonnajust give you a little bit on
(02:01):
each bucket. And each of thebuckets is a bit of a paradox as
well.
So the first one, CFOs, financeexecutives, they're really
trying to balance providingvalue today. So meeting sort of
short term earnings targets withalso investing for the long
term, right? Because a lot ofthese digital technologies, some
(02:25):
of them are expensive to put inplace. And so you've got to make
the right capital investments.So that's sort of the first
bucket is how do I basicallydrive value now, but but invest
for the long term?
What's the right balance? Sothat's sort of the first. The
second, you know, I rememberback to when this one hits home
(02:47):
for me personally, because Iactually was running a finance
function at one point. I haven'talways been on the other side of
the table. And I remember my CEOsaying to me, Deirdre, your
primary responsibility is toprotect and preserve the assets
of the organization.
Do that and get the numbersright. Close the books and get
(03:08):
the numbers right. And that isstill expectation of a CFO and
finance executives. They'regoing to mitigate risk and
they're going to get the numbersright. But by the same token,
they're being asked to driveinnovation.
Right? So be a role model aroundAI drive innovation. So again,
(03:28):
it's another sort of paradox,right? So mitigate risk, but
drive innovation. So, so that'sthe second challenge or
opportunity, right?
That they have. And the third isreally around the talent.
Everything is changing at suchan unbelievable pace and finance
(03:49):
organizations have to keep up,right? They need to build the
skills and capabilities for thefuture. But by the way, they
still need what you and I wouldconsider sort of a traditional
skill set, right?
So I still need my CPAs. I stillneed my smart MBAs that are
going to derive the so what frommy numbers. But by the same
token, I have to think aboutwhat are the skills I'm gonna
(04:11):
need three years from now, fiveyears from now, the digital
savvy skill set, the datascientist. And how do I build
those while still sort of doingeverything that I need to do in
a more traditional environment?So, you know, it's a question we
ask CFOs and this is what weheard.
And I have this discussion witha lot of CFOs and I said, does
(04:32):
this resonate? And every singletime you said spot on, right?
Those are the exact challenges.So.
Adam Larson (04:38):
Wow, we could probably dig into each one of
those challenges for an hour onthis.
Deirdre Ryan (04:43):
Could spend an hour on each, but
Adam Larson (04:45):
so what I'm really hearing is that, you know, our
CFOs are an integral part ofthings like the digital
transformation within anorganization. You know,
obviously they have to look at,can we afford it? Can we pay for
this? But then also does italign? And we have to like CFOs
are more and more having to beinvolved in the technology side
of things.
So how can how can those CFOsensure that, you know, that
(05:06):
they're making sure that thisthat these strategies align to
deliver long term for theorganization? Because you were
just saying that they're onlyhave to worry about the here and
now, but also worry about thefuture.
Deirdre Ryan (05:16):
Yeah. You know, it's a question we get a lot.
How do we align the digitalstrategy with the overall
business strategy is is really,I think, what you're what you're
trying to get at. So the firstthing is, do they understand
where the company's headed?Right?
And and my friends know that I'ma hockey player. So I love to
shamelessly plagiarize WayneGretzky and say, okay, when you
(05:38):
think of your company'sstrategy, where is the puck?
Right? You know, where do youwant that puck to be? And then
how do we skate to the puck?
Yeah. And so the digitalstrategy is a critical component
to that. And when we say digitalstrategy, I consider, you know,
from a finance perspective, it'sall of the automation, it's all
of sort of getting your coreERP, all of the digital
(06:01):
technologies around that AI, GenAI, all of that is part of your
digital strategy. It's, does thecompany know sort of where the
puck is? Are they skating to thepuck?
And is the CFO supporting thosedecisions with what she or he is
doing within their ownorganization? What is the
digital strategy supporting? Sofor example, two things we come
(06:22):
across frequently. One is, Hey,I have to significantly reduce
cost, right? I want to remaincompetitive and I've got to cut
cost.
And, you know, there are digitalstrategies that are just
targeting cost reduction, right?Then there are digital
strategies that are actuallyenabling new capabilities. And
(06:43):
so as companies enter into newproduct development or into
different areas that theyhaven't been in before,
sometimes those digitalstrategies have to enable that
right entrance into a new arenain effect.
Adam Larson (06:54):
So yeah,
Deirdre Ryan (06:55):
it's important to understand what are we trying to
achieve? What's the outcomewe're trying to drive so that we
can align our digital strategyto the outcome that we're trying
to drive forwards?
Adam Larson (07:05):
Well, know digital strategy, no new digital
undertaking is going to be free.There's going to be some sort of
an investment into that. So youas the CFO have to look at it
and say, Okay, does this alignwith the values that you're just
saying? Does it align with ourlong term strategy? But also,
can we afford it right now?
Is there something better? Andso how do you how do you balance
(07:26):
that conversation? Becauseobviously you want to drive the
company forward and there'sgoing to have to be some sort of
investment. But what if itdoesn't align cost wise?
Deirdre Ryan (07:34):
Yeah. You know, and it's so interesting. And a
lot of the times that discussionis around technologies that are
in place, they're getting veryclose to the end of life for the
support that's being deliveredby that provider, that software
provider. And so they're beingtold, oh, you have to go to the
next version. But sometimesgoing to the next version is
(07:58):
very expensive.
And, you know, there's a lot offactors that go into that, but
that's a conversation lots ofCFOs are having. Like, I'm being
told I need to go to this nextversion, but it's incredibly
costly. And do I take the chanceto not have the support I've had
historically for some period oftime? Because right now, we just
don't have the cash flow, forexample, to do that.
Adam Larson (08:20):
Mhmm.
Deirdre Ryan (08:22):
I personally think that one of the challenges CFOs
face around digital technologiesin general is understanding and
articulating upfront what's thevalue we're going to drive here.
Right. We're not just slammingin software for software sake.
Right. We have to be we're doingthat for a reason, right?
(08:43):
We're trying to drive value. Buta lot of companies get so caught
up in. I have to get to the nextversion of pick your favorite
ERP, And they don't spend enoughtime upfront understanding and
articulating the value thatthey're trying to drive. And
they also fall short on the backend of actually realizing even
(09:04):
if they have done a good jobaround the business case and
these are the metrics we'redriving towards, sometimes these
programs take so long that theyhave fatigue at the end and they
kind of forget, oh yeah, we weresupposed to hold Susie and Bobby
and Johnny accountable forrealizing this savings and this
value. And it doesn't alwayshappen that way.
Adam Larson (09:25):
So how how can you get to a point where you're able
to not let that happen to you iswhat I'm trying to say, what I'm
trying to ask.
Deirdre Ryan (09:33):
Yeah. So there's a there are a few things that when
I'm having this conversationwith CFOs and finance executives
that I believe are sort of tablestakes to execute these digital
strategies, these programs.Well, the first is have a really
clear vision, like we said,right? Where's the puck? How are
(09:54):
you skating to the puck?
Yeah. But when I say vision, Idon't mean a one sentence. This
is who we want to be. Right? Imean, what's your end state
architecture going to look like?
What does this technology orcapability? What's the impact on
your operating model? Right?Yeah. You know, it's a very
clear articulation of at the endof this, where are we going to
(10:18):
be and what are we going to looklike?
And we actually partnered withOxford, and we did a study with
Oxford, and we actually lookedat a thousand failed
transformations. And what wefound was companies and and
almost all of those had asignificant digital component.
What we found was companies thatreally clearly articulated that
(10:42):
vision upfront were over two anda half times more likely to
succeed. So super, superimportant. Have a vision, right,
which incorporates all thethings that I talked about, and
and really make sure everybodyunderstands what that vision is
and where you're headed.
That's that's what I you know,to me, that's number one. Have a
(11:04):
vision. Yeah. Number two, backto what we were saying about the
outcomes. You have to have apretty robust business case,
right?
So what are the what are thebenefits? What are the outcomes
we're trying to drive? And getalignment and agreement because
sometimes people do a high backof the envelope. All right. Look
at how much money we're going tosave.
(11:25):
And you haven't gotten the buyin of the other CxOs. Right. And
some of your counterparts. Sothat's the second thing. Have a
clear business case that's beenaligned amongst the CxOs.
And then and I know this sounds,you know, a little silly, but at
the end of the day, hold peopleaccountable for that business
case. Yeah. Because as I wassaying earlier, you know, a lot
(11:49):
of these digital programs takeyears, right? As you progress
and you get to the end of it,you know, even if you did a good
job of I've set the vision, I'vegot my business case, but then
you have fatigue after a while.And so at the end, the third
thing I always say is be veryclear who is accountable, right,
(12:10):
to realize those benefits or orto make sure that people are
adopting those new capabilities.
So those those in my mind arethe three things. Have a clear
vision, have a have a alignedbusiness case and hold people
accountable for driving towardsthose benefits.
Adam Larson (12:26):
Yeah. Well, and I can imagine if if these the
larger your organization is, theharder it is to make these types
of transitions. And when youstart one year and let's say
you're going to implement threeyears later, the technology may
have improved or changed andyou're like, is this still the
best technology? And that'sthat's probably an even even
(12:46):
crazier scenario that I'm surepeople run into, especially with
the pace that technology ischanging these days.
Deirdre Ryan (12:51):
Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. I'm actually doing a
presentation in June for asignificant number of CFOs, and
I was on a prep call for Andthat's months away. And I was on
a prep call and the client said,you know, we should start to
look about and think about thematerials and I'm doing some
demos and things.
And I jokingly said, except inJune, I'll be talking about
(13:13):
something totally different.
Adam Larson (13:15):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (13:16):
Right. And between now and then we'll have seen
such such advancement that it'sprobably best if we if we catch
up the week before and I canshow you what's the latest and
greatest.
Adam Larson (13:25):
I mean, that's really what it comes down to,
especially when you're trying toyou're addressing your needs.
But as things change, thoseneeds will. Will adjust and
you'll be like, Wait, I cansolve it this way instead of
that way.
Deirdre Ryan (13:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Adam Larson (13:39):
So, you know, so as an organization, you know, we
know that especially in thefinance and accounting team,
data and analytics is, you know,is the driving thing behind a
lot of the decisions that wemake, you know? So how important
are data analytics, especiallywhen you're going when you're
looking to do a digitaltransformation, you're looking
to improve things, but then yourealize, wait, my data is not in
(14:01):
the right place or it can it canexpose some things as well.
Deirdre Ryan (14:04):
Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. About a year ago, I
brought some of the people thatI thought were our best thought
leaders at in the finance spacetogether. And we said, hey,
let's let's really think aboutthe future of finance, right?
In very practical terms, what dowe think finance will look like
three years out, five years out?And how do we advise our clients
(14:27):
to help them gain or retain acompetitive advantage? And at
the end of the day, Adam,spoiler alert, it actually all
comes back to the data. And soour POV and obviously it's much
more detailed than this, but atthe end of the day, we think
finance is just going tocontinue to be a very data
(14:48):
centric function that's going tobe expected to drive significant
value.
Adam Larson (14:52):
Right?
Deirdre Ryan (14:52):
And so data data is at the core. It's at the
core. And, you know, it'sinteresting. I've been telling
clients for a long time, cleanup your data, right? Yeah.
I mean, twenty years, right?This has been the mantra. Clean
your data, clean your data. AndI have CFOs say to me, alright,
you've telling me that forever.And my answer is yes, but now
(15:14):
you actually have to do it.
Now you actually have to do itbecause you can't leverage these
technologies unless you have theright data in place. Now you
don't have to do it all at once.And so I typically have a pretty
robust conversation about how dowe prioritize cleaning that data
and aggregating that data sothat, you know, you're you're
(15:37):
doing the analysis that'sactually going to differentiate
you from your competitors.
Adam Larson (15:42):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (15:42):
But 100%, it's it's paramount. It's it's I
think the most critical thingthat finance organizations can
do to prepare for what's comingand actually what's here now,
not even what's coming, what'shere now, and being able to
optimize the use of theseamazing technologies that are
now at our disposal.
Adam Larson (16:01):
Well, because if your data is in good shape, when
it's time to analyze and makeclear decisions, you become more
agile because you're confidentthe data that you have.
Deirdre Ryan (16:10):
100%. One hundred %.
Adam Larson (16:14):
So when I was asking you about challenges, the
third I believe the third thingyou said was about teams and
having your teams in good shapeand the people who are analyzing
that data for you as a CFO, thepeople who are doing the work,
are getting in in the nittygritty is your team. So, you
know, as you're talking todifferent CFOs, you know, how
are what are they doing to makesure that they keep in the
retain that top talent for theirteam to make sure that they're
(16:35):
in the best position?
Deirdre Ryan (16:37):
Yeah. So it's interesting because I think the
skill set that's required to besuccessful in the finance
function is really changingdramatically. We touched on that
a little bit. Right? You stillneed need your traditional CPAs
and MBAs, but you do need forpeople to come up the learning
curve and be very digitallysavvy and have to understand
(17:02):
these technologies.
So to your question, okay, so asthat's happening, a lot of the
folks in finance who did a tonof manual work, right? A lot of
that's been automated, right? Soa lot of the transaction
processing that historically,you know, ten, fifteen, twenty
years ago was a lot of manualeffort. You know, as companies
(17:23):
automate that and they try tobring that skill set up to your
point, right? You need toidentify who are the people that
are going to be able to come upthe learning curve and how do I
keep them?
Yeah. So there are a lot ofdifferent strategies around
that, but but one of the thingsthat I personally thinks think
works really well is there's alot that finance has to do. So
(17:48):
identify who those highperforming people are and put
them in charge of like the cool,sexy projects that you're
starting out on. So for example,I'll give you a specific
example. A lot of financefunctions are dipping their toe
in AI and Gen AI.
Right? Most have not implementeda robust program yet within
finance. And so identify thosehigh potential, right? Those
(18:12):
like eager, thoughtful peoplethat want to learn and put them
in charge of the POC around AIwithin within finance. So that's
one strategy.
Right? Give them strategicprojects of importance outside
of their day jobs. The secondthing that I've seen work really
well is a rotational program.Some companies have these,
others don't. I actually wentthrough one when I was starting
(18:35):
out my career.
And so if you find those hightalent people in finance, right,
rotate them in different roleswithin the business, within
finance, at the corporate level,and give them the opportunity to
have a broader perspective onthe company because it's going
to make them a much betterbusiness partner when they come
back into the financeorganization. So those are the
(18:58):
two things I've seen that Ithink work really well.
Adam Larson (19:01):
Yeah. Well, and if it's a smaller organization, a
lot of times people within thefinance team have to wear many
of the hats that you were justsaying, oh, you can go test that
out, but sometimes they have todo that all the time.
Deirdre Ryan (19:11):
True. That's absolutely true. I mean, I just,
I typically work with largerorganizations that are a bit
more siloed, but a %. Andactually that's a great learning
ground, right? If you're in asmaller company and you can play
multiple roles and have variedexperiences, I just think that
makes you a better professionallong term.
Adam Larson (19:31):
It really does. And those are some of the skills
that if you've been ingrained ina finance and accounting team,
you know, for your whole careerand never seen any other
aspects, it might be moredifficult to kind of try to
obtain some of these moredigital savvy things that are
coming your way. Are therestrategies that you've seen CFOs
to take trying up this upskilltheir teams in a better way?
Deirdre Ryan (19:52):
Well, I'll tell you what I did with my team
because as we advise clients,right? So we have to be ahead of
the curve.
Adam Larson (19:58):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (20:00):
So so we actually believe it or not, we have the
largest private LLM in theworld. Wow. So we've built what
we call and that allows thefolks that sit in my practice to
get their hands dirty. Right?Because how do you really come
up the curve with thesetechnologies?
You learn how to use them,right? And you play with them
(20:24):
and you try different thingsout. And I mean, one of the
first things that I learned whenwe introduced this tool was it's
all about how you ask thequestion, right? So it's about
how you're prompting the ad toanswer you. But these are things
if you haven't gotten your handsdirty, you don't know, right?
So we've done a couple ofthings, but one is we've allowed
(20:45):
our folks to get their handsdirty, to play around, to learn,
to come up the learning curve.And then the other thing that I
did was I brought in an externalcompany to do some really
intense training. And I thinkthat's important as well, right?
Because you can't it's verydifferent to read an article
than it is to actually write,execute prompts and leverage AI
(21:09):
to write, replace some manualeffort that you had. So you
gotta just test it out andlearn.
And then you can really start tothink about what is the art of
the possible here. Right? If youdon't know how the technologies
work, you can't even think aboutwhat does this mean for my
organization? How can I leveragethis to drive value and improve
(21:29):
what we're doing on a dailybasis?
Adam Larson (21:31):
Well, I think that's a big part of having a
diverse workforce of being ableto expose them to different
environments because, you know,you were brought up in one way,
I may have been brought up in adifferent way and you come
together and we see
Deirdre Ryan (21:42):
things from a different You're significantly
older than me, Adam. Yes,
Adam Larson (21:45):
I am. I am significantly older than you.
But because because of thatdiversity that we have, I would
see things from a differentlight than you have because of
the experiences I've had, youknow, and what you just
described, I think, is abeautiful way of bringing in
different voices into youratmosphere. Everybody can't have
the can't have walked the samepath because then you'll have
(22:06):
the same answers all the time.You need everybody's exposed to
different things.
So that way you can thinkoutside of the box that you put
yourself in, because a lot oftimes in corporate America, we
put ourselves in a box and wehave to do extreme things to
break out of that.
Deirdre Ryan (22:19):
Yeah. Yeah. I think these technologies these
technologies are disruptingthat.
Adam Larson (22:26):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (22:27):
Right?
Adam Larson (22:27):
Big time.
Deirdre Ryan (22:29):
And I you know, you'll hear a lot and I'm sure
you have heard a lot ofdifferent perspectives on how
impactful these technologies aregoing to be. Yeah. But I'm
convinced. I'm convinced. Andand in the finance space in
particular.
Now, I do think there are sortof two buckets when I think
(22:49):
about it. And one bucket is youcan leverage these technologies
to drive productivity. Yeah. Andthat's that's fine. There's
nothing that's a good thing.
It's not a bad thing. But therehave been a lot of tools around
for a long time to driveproductivity. Right? If you
remember death by a thousandcuts, RPA, right there. Yeah.
There have been a lot of thingsout there. So that's not a bad
(23:10):
thing. And certainly we shouldlook to see how we can leverage
to do that, to driveproductivity. But I think the
game changer is around decisionmaking and insight because these
technologies can mine data theway humans couldn't before.
Right?
We we just don't have thecapacity to mine data the way
(23:32):
that AI can, and it is going tohave a significant impact on
mining that data, makingdecisions, and providing
insight. So and I've seen it,and I think it's a game changer.
Adam Larson (23:44):
It really is a game changer because between the AI
being able to analyze it in away that we've never seen
before, it allows us to bebetter decision makers because
I've heard of many people saythat AI is great, but you still
need some HI, some humanintelligence as well. Those two
together, we can make amazingdecisions. You can't just let
the AI make all the decisionsbecause there's elements that it
(24:04):
doesn't understand.
Deirdre Ryan (24:06):
Right. %. I mean, I think it does a phenomenal job
of mining that data and bringingthe insight, but then the
humans, right, the financeexecutives, the CFO, they have
to decide how am I gonna act onthat. Yeah. How am I gonna act
on that?
It's interesting because, youknow, over the past few months,
I've talked to a lot of CFOsabout AI. And as I said, I
(24:28):
really think the game changer isproviding that insight. But it's
interesting because if you ask aCFO, well, what's the analysis?
If you could do that, like, on adime, what's the analysis that
would give you a competitiveadvantage? And you'd be
surprised that not all CFOs cananswer that question because
(24:51):
they haven't had the ability tothink that way before.
Right? They're used to sort ofwaiting for the reporting, the
management reporting or waitingfor the insight. And the
question is, if you had theability, like instantaneously to
run a scenario or to run ananalysis, do you know which one
(25:13):
would give you a competitiveadvantage? It's a really
interesting conversation andit's it's the strategic
thinking, That that you weretalking about before. It's
coming up that curve andthinking much more
strategically.
Adam Larson (25:26):
Could you maybe generically share some of the
answer people have asked to thatanswer to that question? Because
I'm really curious at how theywould answer that. Like, are
there some common themes thatyou've seen when they've
answered that question?
Deirdre Ryan (25:37):
So I have been told by my person that I'm not
allowed to share client stories,but what I can tell you is that
it's very sector specific. Okay.Understandably, right? So if
you're a large pharma company,it might be X. If you're a
consumer products company, itmight be Y.
So the answer to that questionis very logically dependent upon
(26:01):
your sector or your industry.
Adam Larson (26:03):
Of course. Of course, that's it.
Deirdre Ryan (26:05):
But I I believe that the company that gets there
first, that leverages thesetools to drive that insight,
once they've identified what isthat, you know, what is that
silver bullet that's going togive us an advantage if we can
do this analysis quickly? Theyare going to have an advantage.
Adam Larson (26:23):
Yeah, they're going to have a huge advantage if they
can answer that question, beable to answer that question.
That way, when they see theanswer listed on their, you
know, whatever the response isfrom whatever their analysis
they're doing, they'd be like,this is the answer I've been
looking for. Let's go. And soare there questions that people
should ask themselves so thatthey can be ready to answer that
question? Because answeringasking that question, I don't
(26:44):
know if they can answer it rightaway, especially they don't
know.
What are some other questionsthey can ask themselves to be
ready?
Deirdre Ryan (26:49):
Yeah. I mean, it's interesting because even last
week, I spent a couple hourswith a CFO and he couldn't
answer the question. Yeah. Andhe said, You know what? As soon
as I get back to my office, I'mpulling my team together and we
need an answer to that, right?
We need to be able to articulatewhat do we need to do in a
(27:10):
really timely way from aninsight mining data that we
couldn't mine before to drivethat. So even if they can't
answer it on the spot, I thinkit is pushing CFOs and financing
sex and their teams to thinkmore strategically about the
analysis that they're doing. Andto your question earlier, that's
why the data is so critical,because sometimes the answer in
(27:34):
this happened with one of ourclients, they knew the answer,
but they weren't collecting thedata, right, to do that
analysis. Was a it was a veryspecific piece of operational
data and an external data, andsome external data that they
needed as well. And so theycould answer the question, Hey,
if I knew this and I could getthat answer quickly, wow, that
(27:56):
would really help me manage thebottom line.
And then when they took a stepback, they said, Well, the
problem is that we're notcollecting that data
consistently in a clean way, andwe need some external data
points as well. So it goes backto what we were talking about
before that that's why when Ilook, you know, a few years out
and most finance functions,knock on wood, right, have
(28:18):
leveraged these world classERPs, and they've automated a
lot of the transactionprocessing. What are they gonna,
you know, what are they gonna bedoing? They're gonna be trying
to drive that insight to gain acompetitive advantage, to drive
value. And so much of that isbased on how you're collecting,
aggregating and analyzing thedata.
Adam Larson (28:38):
Well, if your data is not in a good spot, it might
take you a couple of years toget it to a point where you can
answer your little questions andyou have to you have to be okay,
look, okay, This is part of ourplan now is getting to that
Exactly.
Deirdre Ryan (28:50):
And some of these things, you can't do them
overnight, right? And it'sinteresting because listen, feel
for CFOs. Their jobs haveevolved. You know, when I was
running a finance function, themost important thing I had to do
was get the books closed. Right?
Just just close the books, getthe numbers right. Now they have
so much on their plate. Right?They're expected to be the
(29:11):
strategic partner. They'reexpected to, like, be
implementing these technologies.
They're expected to be properlyallocating capital and dealing
with investor. I mean, there'sso much on their plate.
Adam Larson (29:22):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (29:22):
It it's hard. Right? But that's where, you
know, hopefully, we can help andwe can advise and we can bring
them up the curve and get themon the right path.
Adam Larson (29:31):
Definitely. Well, Deirdre, I am so excited that we
had this conversation. I justwanna thank you so much for
coming on the podcast
Deirdre Ryan (29:37):
you, Adam. It was really nice to to be with you,
and I hope you have a great day.
Announcer (29:43):
This has been Count Me In, IMA's podcast, providing
you with the latest perspectivesof thought leaders from the
accounting and financeprofession. If you like what you
heard and you'd like to becounted in for more relevant
accounting and financeeducation, visit IMA's website
at www.imanet.org.
Hello and welcome to Count Me In. I'm your host
Adam Larson. Today we're excitedto have Deirdre Ryan, Global
Finance Transformation Leader atjoining us. With over thirty
years of experience in advisingfinancial executives and CFOs,
Deirdre provides an in-depthlook in the evolving role of the
CFO in the digital age. In thisepisode, we discuss the key
challenges CFOs face today,balancing short term gains with
(00:44):
long term investments, drivinginnovation while mitigating
risk, building future readyskills.
Deirdre Serra's insights onaligning digital strategies with
business goals, managing costs,and utilizing data analytics to
stay ahead in a competitivemarket. Additionally, she offers
advice for retaining top talentand preparing for rapid
technological advancements. Thisepisode is full of practical
insights and strategies to helpyou navigate the ever changing
(01:06):
financial landscape. Let's divein with our conversation with
Deirdre Ryan. Well, Deirdre, I'mreally excited to have you on
the podcast today, and you'vebeen advising and consulting for
over thirty years with financialexecutives and CFOs.
I figured this is a greatquestion to get us started. What
(01:28):
are some of the specificchallenges you see emerging in
this digital age? You've seen itfrom before it became a real
true digital age to now it's inthis digital age. Is that? What
do you see as the CFO role iscontinuing to evolve?
Deirdre Ryan (01:41):
You know, it's interesting. We actually did a
survey at and we surveyed over athousand CFOs and finance
executives, and we asked themthat exact question. What are
the challenges that you'refacing? And it was really
interesting, Adam, because wefound there were basically three
major buckets, and I'm gonnajust give you a little bit on
(02:01):
each bucket. And each of thebuckets is a bit of a paradox as
well.
So the first one, CFOs, financeexecutives, they're really
trying to balance providingvalue today. So meeting sort of
short term earnings targets withalso investing for the long
term, right? Because a lot ofthese digital technologies, some
(02:25):
of them are expensive to put inplace. And so you've got to make
the right capital investments.So that's sort of the first
bucket is how do I basicallydrive value now, but but invest
for the long term?
What's the right balance? Sothat's sort of the first. The
second, you know, I rememberback to when this one hits home
(02:47):
for me personally, because Iactually was running a finance
function at one point. I haven'talways been on the other side of
the table. And I remember my CEOsaying to me, Deirdre, your
primary responsibility is toprotect and preserve the assets
of the organization.
Do that and get the numbersright. Close the books and get
(03:08):
the numbers right. And that isstill expectation of a CFO and
finance executives. They'regoing to mitigate risk and
they're going to get the numbersright. But by the same token,
they're being asked to driveinnovation.
Right? So be a role model aroundAI drive innovation. So again,
(03:28):
it's another sort of paradox,right? So mitigate risk, but
drive innovation. So, so that'sthe second challenge or
opportunity, right?
That they have. And the third isreally around the talent.
Everything is changing at suchan unbelievable pace and finance
(03:49):
organizations have to keep up,right? They need to build the
skills and capabilities for thefuture. But by the way, they
still need what you and I wouldconsider sort of a traditional
skill set, right?
So I still need my CPAs. I stillneed my smart MBAs that are
going to derive the so what frommy numbers. But by the same
token, I have to think aboutwhat are the skills I'm gonna
(04:11):
need three years from now, fiveyears from now, the digital
savvy skill set, the datascientist. And how do I build
those while still sort of doingeverything that I need to do in
a more traditional environment?So, you know, it's a question we
ask CFOs and this is what weheard.
And I have this discussion witha lot of CFOs and I said, does
(04:32):
this resonate? And every singletime you said spot on, right?
Those are the exact challenges.So.
Adam Larson (04:38):
Wow, we could probably dig into each one of
those challenges for an hour onthis.
Deirdre Ryan (04:43):
Could spend an hour on each, but
Adam Larson (04:45):
so what I'm really hearing is that, you know, our
CFOs are an integral part ofthings like the digital
transformation within anorganization. You know,
obviously they have to look at,can we afford it? Can we pay for
this? But then also does italign? And we have to like CFOs
are more and more having to beinvolved in the technology side
of things.
So how can how can those CFOsensure that, you know, that
(05:06):
they're making sure that thisthat these strategies align to
deliver long term for theorganization? Because you were
just saying that they're onlyhave to worry about the here and
now, but also worry about thefuture.
Deirdre Ryan (05:16):
Yeah. You know, it's a question we get a lot.
How do we align the digitalstrategy with the overall
business strategy is is really,I think, what you're what you're
trying to get at. So the firstthing is, do they understand
where the company's headed?Right?
And and my friends know that I'ma hockey player. So I love to
shamelessly plagiarize WayneGretzky and say, okay, when you
(05:38):
think of your company'sstrategy, where is the puck?
Right? You know, where do youwant that puck to be? And then
how do we skate to the puck?
Yeah. And so the digitalstrategy is a critical component
to that. And when we say digitalstrategy, I consider, you know,
from a finance perspective, it'sall of the automation, it's all
of sort of getting your coreERP, all of the digital
(06:01):
technologies around that AI, GenAI, all of that is part of your
digital strategy. It's, does thecompany know sort of where the
puck is? Are they skating to thepuck?
And is the CFO supporting thosedecisions with what she or he is
doing within their ownorganization? What is the
digital strategy supporting? Sofor example, two things we come
(06:22):
across frequently. One is, Hey,I have to significantly reduce
cost, right? I want to remaincompetitive and I've got to cut
cost.
And, you know, there are digitalstrategies that are just
targeting cost reduction, right?Then there are digital
strategies that are actuallyenabling new capabilities. And
(06:43):
so as companies enter into newproduct development or into
different areas that theyhaven't been in before,
sometimes those digitalstrategies have to enable that
right entrance into a new arenain effect.
Adam Larson (06:54):
So yeah,
Deirdre Ryan (06:55):
it's important to understand what are we trying to
achieve? What's the outcomewe're trying to drive so that we
can align our digital strategyto the outcome that we're trying
to drive forwards?
Adam Larson (07:05):
Well, know digital strategy, no new digital
undertaking is going to be free.There's going to be some sort of
an investment into that. So youas the CFO have to look at it
and say, Okay, does this alignwith the values that you're just
saying? Does it align with ourlong term strategy? But also,
can we afford it right now?
Is there something better? Andso how do you how do you balance
(07:26):
that conversation? Becauseobviously you want to drive the
company forward and there'sgoing to have to be some sort of
investment. But what if itdoesn't align cost wise?
Deirdre Ryan (07:34):
Yeah. You know, and it's so interesting. And a
lot of the times that discussionis around technologies that are
in place, they're getting veryclose to the end of life for the
support that's being deliveredby that provider, that software
provider. And so they're beingtold, oh, you have to go to the
next version. But sometimesgoing to the next version is
(07:58):
very expensive.
And, you know, there's a lot offactors that go into that, but
that's a conversation lots ofCFOs are having. Like, I'm being
told I need to go to this nextversion, but it's incredibly
costly. And do I take the chanceto not have the support I've had
historically for some period oftime? Because right now, we just
don't have the cash flow, forexample, to do that.
Adam Larson (08:20):
Mhmm.
Deirdre Ryan (08:22):
I personally think that one of the challenges CFOs
face around digital technologiesin general is understanding and
articulating upfront what's thevalue we're going to drive here.
Right. We're not just slammingin software for software sake.
Right. We have to be we're doingthat for a reason, right?
(08:43):
We're trying to drive value. Buta lot of companies get so caught
up in. I have to get to the nextversion of pick your favorite
ERP, And they don't spend enoughtime upfront understanding and
articulating the value thatthey're trying to drive. And
they also fall short on the backend of actually realizing even
(09:04):
if they have done a good jobaround the business case and
these are the metrics we'redriving towards, sometimes these
programs take so long that theyhave fatigue at the end and they
kind of forget, oh yeah, we weresupposed to hold Susie and Bobby
and Johnny accountable forrealizing this savings and this
value. And it doesn't alwayshappen that way.
Adam Larson (09:25):
So how how can you get to a point where you're able
to not let that happen to you iswhat I'm trying to say, what I'm
trying to ask.
Deirdre Ryan (09:33):
Yeah. So there's a there are a few things that when
I'm having this conversationwith CFOs and finance executives
that I believe are sort of tablestakes to execute these digital
strategies, these programs.Well, the first is have a really
clear vision, like we said,right? Where's the puck? How are
(09:54):
you skating to the puck?
Yeah. But when I say vision, Idon't mean a one sentence. This
is who we want to be. Right? Imean, what's your end state
architecture going to look like?
What does this technology orcapability? What's the impact on
your operating model? Right?Yeah. You know, it's a very
clear articulation of at the endof this, where are we going to
(10:18):
be and what are we going to looklike?
And we actually partnered withOxford, and we did a study with
Oxford, and we actually lookedat a thousand failed
transformations. And what wefound was companies and and
almost all of those had asignificant digital component.
What we found was companies thatreally clearly articulated that
(10:42):
vision upfront were over two anda half times more likely to
succeed. So super, superimportant. Have a vision, right,
which incorporates all thethings that I talked about, and
and really make sure everybodyunderstands what that vision is
and where you're headed.
That's that's what I you know,to me, that's number one. Have a
(11:04):
vision. Yeah. Number two, backto what we were saying about the
outcomes. You have to have apretty robust business case,
right?
So what are the what are thebenefits? What are the outcomes
we're trying to drive? And getalignment and agreement because
sometimes people do a high backof the envelope. All right. Look
at how much money we're going tosave.
(11:25):
And you haven't gotten the buyin of the other CxOs. Right. And
some of your counterparts. Sothat's the second thing. Have a
clear business case that's beenaligned amongst the CxOs.
And then and I know this sounds,you know, a little silly, but at
the end of the day, hold peopleaccountable for that business
case. Yeah. Because as I wassaying earlier, you know, a lot
(11:49):
of these digital programs takeyears, right? As you progress
and you get to the end of it,you know, even if you did a good
job of I've set the vision, I'vegot my business case, but then
you have fatigue after a while.And so at the end, the third
thing I always say is be veryclear who is accountable, right,
(12:10):
to realize those benefits or orto make sure that people are
adopting those new capabilities.
So those those in my mind arethe three things. Have a clear
vision, have a have a alignedbusiness case and hold people
accountable for driving towardsthose benefits.
Adam Larson (12:26):
Yeah. Well, and I can imagine if if these the
larger your organization is, theharder it is to make these types
of transitions. And when youstart one year and let's say
you're going to implement threeyears later, the technology may
have improved or changed andyou're like, is this still the
best technology? And that'sthat's probably an even even
(12:46):
crazier scenario that I'm surepeople run into, especially with
the pace that technology ischanging these days.
Deirdre Ryan (12:51):
Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. I'm actually doing a
presentation in June for asignificant number of CFOs, and
I was on a prep call for Andthat's months away. And I was on
a prep call and the client said,you know, we should start to
look about and think about thematerials and I'm doing some
demos and things.
And I jokingly said, except inJune, I'll be talking about
(13:13):
something totally different.
Adam Larson (13:15):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (13:16):
Right. And between now and then we'll have seen
such such advancement that it'sprobably best if we if we catch
up the week before and I canshow you what's the latest and
greatest.
Adam Larson (13:25):
I mean, that's really what it comes down to,
especially when you're trying toyou're addressing your needs.
But as things change, thoseneeds will. Will adjust and
you'll be like, Wait, I cansolve it this way instead of
that way.
Deirdre Ryan (13:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Adam Larson (13:39):
So, you know, so as an organization, you know, we
know that especially in thefinance and accounting team,
data and analytics is, you know,is the driving thing behind a
lot of the decisions that wemake, you know? So how important
are data analytics, especiallywhen you're going when you're
looking to do a digitaltransformation, you're looking
to improve things, but then yourealize, wait, my data is not in
(14:01):
the right place or it can it canexpose some things as well.
Deirdre Ryan (14:04):
Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. About a year ago, I
brought some of the people thatI thought were our best thought
leaders at in the finance spacetogether. And we said, hey,
let's let's really think aboutthe future of finance, right?
In very practical terms, what dowe think finance will look like
three years out, five years out?And how do we advise our clients
(14:27):
to help them gain or retain acompetitive advantage? And at
the end of the day, Adam,spoiler alert, it actually all
comes back to the data. And soour POV and obviously it's much
more detailed than this, but atthe end of the day, we think
finance is just going tocontinue to be a very data
(14:48):
centric function that's going tobe expected to drive significant
value.
Adam Larson (14:52):
Right?
Deirdre Ryan (14:52):
And so data data is at the core. It's at the
core. And, you know, it'sinteresting. I've been telling
clients for a long time, cleanup your data, right? Yeah.
I mean, twenty years, right?This has been the mantra. Clean
your data, clean your data. AndI have CFOs say to me, alright,
you've telling me that forever.And my answer is yes, but now
(15:14):
you actually have to do it.
Now you actually have to do itbecause you can't leverage these
technologies unless you have theright data in place. Now you
don't have to do it all at once.And so I typically have a pretty
robust conversation about how dowe prioritize cleaning that data
and aggregating that data sothat, you know, you're you're
(15:37):
doing the analysis that'sactually going to differentiate
you from your competitors.
Adam Larson (15:42):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (15:42):
But 100%, it's it's paramount. It's it's I
think the most critical thingthat finance organizations can
do to prepare for what's comingand actually what's here now,
not even what's coming, what'shere now, and being able to
optimize the use of theseamazing technologies that are
now at our disposal.
Adam Larson (16:01):
Well, because if your data is in good shape, when
it's time to analyze and makeclear decisions, you become more
agile because you're confidentthe data that you have.
Deirdre Ryan (16:10):
100%. One hundred %.
Adam Larson (16:14):
So when I was asking you about challenges, the
third I believe the third thingyou said was about teams and
having your teams in good shapeand the people who are analyzing
that data for you as a CFO, thepeople who are doing the work,
are getting in in the nittygritty is your team. So, you
know, as you're talking todifferent CFOs, you know, how
are what are they doing to makesure that they keep in the
retain that top talent for theirteam to make sure that they're
(16:35):
in the best position?
Deirdre Ryan (16:37):
Yeah. So it's interesting because I think the
skill set that's required to besuccessful in the finance
function is really changingdramatically. We touched on that
a little bit. Right? You stillneed need your traditional CPAs
and MBAs, but you do need forpeople to come up the learning
curve and be very digitallysavvy and have to understand
(17:02):
these technologies.
So to your question, okay, so asthat's happening, a lot of the
folks in finance who did a tonof manual work, right? A lot of
that's been automated, right? Soa lot of the transaction
processing that historically,you know, ten, fifteen, twenty
years ago was a lot of manualeffort. You know, as companies
(17:23):
automate that and they try tobring that skill set up to your
point, right? You need toidentify who are the people that
are going to be able to come upthe learning curve and how do I
keep them?
Yeah. So there are a lot ofdifferent strategies around
that, but but one of the thingsthat I personally thinks think
works really well is there's alot that finance has to do. So
(17:48):
identify who those highperforming people are and put
them in charge of like the cool,sexy projects that you're
starting out on. So for example,I'll give you a specific
example. A lot of financefunctions are dipping their toe
in AI and Gen AI.
Right? Most have not implementeda robust program yet within
finance. And so identify thosehigh potential, right? Those
(18:12):
like eager, thoughtful peoplethat want to learn and put them
in charge of the POC around AIwithin within finance. So that's
one strategy.
Right? Give them strategicprojects of importance outside
of their day jobs. The secondthing that I've seen work really
well is a rotational program.Some companies have these,
others don't. I actually wentthrough one when I was starting
(18:35):
out my career.
And so if you find those hightalent people in finance, right,
rotate them in different roleswithin the business, within
finance, at the corporate level,and give them the opportunity to
have a broader perspective onthe company because it's going
to make them a much betterbusiness partner when they come
back into the financeorganization. So those are the
(18:58):
two things I've seen that Ithink work really well.
Adam Larson (19:01):
Yeah. Well, and if it's a smaller organization, a
lot of times people within thefinance team have to wear many
of the hats that you were justsaying, oh, you can go test that
out, but sometimes they have todo that all the time.
Deirdre Ryan (19:11):
True. That's absolutely true. I mean, I just,
I typically work with largerorganizations that are a bit
more siloed, but a %. Andactually that's a great learning
ground, right? If you're in asmaller company and you can play
multiple roles and have variedexperiences, I just think that
makes you a better professionallong term.
Adam Larson (19:31):
It really does. And those are some of the skills
that if you've been ingrained ina finance and accounting team,
you know, for your whole careerand never seen any other
aspects, it might be moredifficult to kind of try to
obtain some of these moredigital savvy things that are
coming your way. Are therestrategies that you've seen CFOs
to take trying up this upskilltheir teams in a better way?
Deirdre Ryan (19:52):
Well, I'll tell you what I did with my team
because as we advise clients,right? So we have to be ahead of
the curve.
Adam Larson (19:58):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (20:00):
So so we actually believe it or not, we have the
largest private LLM in theworld. Wow. So we've built what
we call and that allows thefolks that sit in my practice to
get their hands dirty. Right?Because how do you really come
up the curve with thesetechnologies?
You learn how to use them,right? And you play with them
(20:24):
and you try different thingsout. And I mean, one of the
first things that I learned whenwe introduced this tool was it's
all about how you ask thequestion, right? So it's about
how you're prompting the ad toanswer you. But these are things
if you haven't gotten your handsdirty, you don't know, right?
So we've done a couple ofthings, but one is we've allowed
(20:45):
our folks to get their handsdirty, to play around, to learn,
to come up the learning curve.And then the other thing that I
did was I brought in an externalcompany to do some really
intense training. And I thinkthat's important as well, right?
Because you can't it's verydifferent to read an article
than it is to actually write,execute prompts and leverage AI
(21:09):
to write, replace some manualeffort that you had. So you
gotta just test it out andlearn.
And then you can really start tothink about what is the art of
the possible here. Right? If youdon't know how the technologies
work, you can't even think aboutwhat does this mean for my
organization? How can I leveragethis to drive value and improve
(21:29):
what we're doing on a dailybasis?
Adam Larson (21:31):
Well, I think that's a big part of having a
diverse workforce of being ableto expose them to different
environments because, you know,you were brought up in one way,
I may have been brought up in adifferent way and you come
together and we see
Deirdre Ryan (21:42):
things from a different You're significantly
older than me, Adam. Yes,
Adam Larson (21:45):
I am. I am significantly older than you.
But because because of thatdiversity that we have, I would
see things from a differentlight than you have because of
the experiences I've had, youknow, and what you just
described, I think, is abeautiful way of bringing in
different voices into youratmosphere. Everybody can't have
the can't have walked the samepath because then you'll have
(22:06):
the same answers all the time.You need everybody's exposed to
different things.
So that way you can thinkoutside of the box that you put
yourself in, because a lot oftimes in corporate America, we
put ourselves in a box and wehave to do extreme things to
break out of that.
Deirdre Ryan (22:19):
Yeah. Yeah. I think these technologies these
technologies are disruptingthat.
Adam Larson (22:26):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (22:27):
Right?
Adam Larson (22:27):
Big time.
Deirdre Ryan (22:29):
And I you know, you'll hear a lot and I'm sure
you have heard a lot ofdifferent perspectives on how
impactful these technologies aregoing to be. Yeah. But I'm
convinced. I'm convinced. Andand in the finance space in
particular.
Now, I do think there are sortof two buckets when I think
(22:49):
about it. And one bucket is youcan leverage these technologies
to drive productivity. Yeah. Andthat's that's fine. There's
nothing that's a good thing.
It's not a bad thing. But therehave been a lot of tools around
for a long time to driveproductivity. Right? If you
remember death by a thousandcuts, RPA, right there. Yeah.
There have been a lot of thingsout there. So that's not a bad
(23:10):
thing. And certainly we shouldlook to see how we can leverage
to do that, to driveproductivity. But I think the
game changer is around decisionmaking and insight because these
technologies can mine data theway humans couldn't before.
Right?
We we just don't have thecapacity to mine data the way
(23:32):
that AI can, and it is going tohave a significant impact on
mining that data, makingdecisions, and providing
insight. So and I've seen it,and I think it's a game changer.
Adam Larson (23:44):
It really is a game changer because between the AI
being able to analyze it in away that we've never seen
before, it allows us to bebetter decision makers because
I've heard of many people saythat AI is great, but you still
need some HI, some humanintelligence as well. Those two
together, we can make amazingdecisions. You can't just let
the AI make all the decisionsbecause there's elements that it
(24:04):
doesn't understand.
Deirdre Ryan (24:06):
Right. %. I mean, I think it does a phenomenal job
of mining that data and bringingthe insight, but then the
humans, right, the financeexecutives, the CFO, they have
to decide how am I gonna act onthat. Yeah. How am I gonna act
on that?
It's interesting because, youknow, over the past few months,
I've talked to a lot of CFOsabout AI. And as I said, I
(24:28):
really think the game changer isproviding that insight. But it's
interesting because if you ask aCFO, well, what's the analysis?
If you could do that, like, on adime, what's the analysis that
would give you a competitiveadvantage? And you'd be
surprised that not all CFOs cananswer that question because
(24:51):
they haven't had the ability tothink that way before.
Right? They're used to sort ofwaiting for the reporting, the
management reporting or waitingfor the insight. And the
question is, if you had theability, like instantaneously to
run a scenario or to run ananalysis, do you know which one
(25:13):
would give you a competitiveadvantage? It's a really
interesting conversation andit's it's the strategic
thinking, That that you weretalking about before. It's
coming up that curve andthinking much more
strategically.
Adam Larson (25:26):
Could you maybe generically share some of the
answer people have asked to thatanswer to that question? Because
I'm really curious at how theywould answer that. Like, are
there some common themes thatyou've seen when they've
answered that question?
Deirdre Ryan (25:37):
So I have been told by my person that I'm not
allowed to share client stories,but what I can tell you is that
it's very sector specific. Okay.Understandably, right? So if
you're a large pharma company,it might be X. If you're a
consumer products company, itmight be Y.
So the answer to that questionis very logically dependent upon
(26:01):
your sector or your industry.
Adam Larson (26:03):
Of course. Of course, that's it.
Deirdre Ryan (26:05):
But I I believe that the company that gets there
first, that leverages thesetools to drive that insight,
once they've identified what isthat, you know, what is that
silver bullet that's going togive us an advantage if we can
do this analysis quickly? Theyare going to have an advantage.
Adam Larson (26:23):
Yeah, they're going to have a huge advantage if they
can answer that question, beable to answer that question.
That way, when they see theanswer listed on their, you
know, whatever the response isfrom whatever their analysis
they're doing, they'd be like,this is the answer I've been
looking for. Let's go. And soare there questions that people
should ask themselves so thatthey can be ready to answer that
question? Because answeringasking that question, I don't
(26:44):
know if they can answer it rightaway, especially they don't
know.
What are some other questionsthey can ask themselves to be
ready?
Deirdre Ryan (26:49):
Yeah. I mean, it's interesting because even last
week, I spent a couple hourswith a CFO and he couldn't
answer the question. Yeah. Andhe said, You know what? As soon
as I get back to my office, I'mpulling my team together and we
need an answer to that, right?
We need to be able to articulatewhat do we need to do in a
(27:10):
really timely way from aninsight mining data that we
couldn't mine before to drivethat. So even if they can't
answer it on the spot, I thinkit is pushing CFOs and financing
sex and their teams to thinkmore strategically about the
analysis that they're doing. Andto your question earlier, that's
why the data is so critical,because sometimes the answer in
(27:34):
this happened with one of ourclients, they knew the answer,
but they weren't collecting thedata, right, to do that
analysis. Was a it was a veryspecific piece of operational
data and an external data, andsome external data that they
needed as well. And so theycould answer the question, Hey,
if I knew this and I could getthat answer quickly, wow, that
(27:56):
would really help me manage thebottom line.
And then when they took a stepback, they said, Well, the
problem is that we're notcollecting that data
consistently in a clean way, andwe need some external data
points as well. So it goes backto what we were talking about
before that that's why when Ilook, you know, a few years out
and most finance functions,knock on wood, right, have
(28:18):
leveraged these world classERPs, and they've automated a
lot of the transactionprocessing. What are they gonna,
you know, what are they gonna bedoing? They're gonna be trying
to drive that insight to gain acompetitive advantage, to drive
value. And so much of that isbased on how you're collecting,
aggregating and analyzing thedata.
Adam Larson (28:38):
Well, if your data is not in a good spot, it might
take you a couple of years toget it to a point where you can
answer your little questions andyou have to you have to be okay,
look, okay, This is part of ourplan now is getting to that
Exactly.
Deirdre Ryan (28:50):
And some of these things, you can't do them
overnight, right? And it'sinteresting because listen, feel
for CFOs. Their jobs haveevolved. You know, when I was
running a finance function, themost important thing I had to do
was get the books closed. Right?
Just just close the books, getthe numbers right. Now they have
so much on their plate. Right?They're expected to be the
(29:11):
strategic partner. They'reexpected to, like, be
implementing these technologies.
They're expected to be properlyallocating capital and dealing
with investor. I mean, there'sso much on their plate.
Adam Larson (29:22):
Yeah.
Deirdre Ryan (29:22):
It it's hard. Right? But that's where, you
know, hopefully, we can help andwe can advise and we can bring
them up the curve and get themon the right path.
Adam Larson (29:31):
Definitely. Well, Deirdre, I am so excited that we
had this conversation. I justwanna thank you so much for
coming on the podcast
Deirdre Ryan (29:37):
you, Adam. It was really nice to to be with you,
and I hope you have a great day.
Announcer (29:43):
This has been Count Me In, IMA's podcast, providing
you with the latest perspectivesof thought leaders from the
accounting and financeprofession. If you like what you
heard and you'd like to becounted in for more relevant
accounting and financeeducation, visit IMA's website
at www.imanet.org.
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