Advice to CFOs: Be agile and adaptable in the face of rapid change

Chris Ortega is an upbeat person, as anyone who’s seen him present at a conference knows. But he also understands that, economically, times are tough, and he has advice for finance professionals to manage through the uncertainty.

Ortega also shares how his role at conferences has changed since he first began volunteering, why he likes coming back to AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE, and what he sees for the future of financial planning and analysis (FP&A).

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• Chris Ortega’s career progression from financial planning and analysis (FP&A) analyst to consultancy CEO.
• How the realm of FP&A and CFOs has changed in the past 18 months.
• Ortega’s advice for CFOs related to building up cash reserves.
• The value Ortega found in volunteering to be on the planning committee for a conference.
• His answer to the question, “In five years, what does FP&A look like?”

Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:

To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.

Transcript

Neil Amato: Welcome back to the Journal of Accountancy podcast. This is your host, Neil Amato. I’m recording with a guest who is at ENGAGE in Las Vegas. I am not at ENGAGE myself unfortunately, because I would like to talk to Chris Ortega in person, but we’re making do with a virtual interview. Chris is a repeat guest on the podcast and I’d like to welcome him back. Chris, thanks for taking time to join us.

Chris Ortega: Neil, always a pleasure, man. Thanks for having me. Looking forward to our conversation and thanks so much, brother.

Amato: It is good to have you back. Why don’t you first tell listeners your current role and company, I guess in your home base of Indianapolis?

Ortega: I’m Chris Ortega. I spent a little under two decades in accounting, finance, FP&A, and financial leadership, primarily transforming and scaling finance organizations in high-growth businesses. My current role right now is I’m leading a global fractional CFO and advisory service company called Fresh FP&A. Basically, what we do is we provide fractional CFO and advisory services to those high-growth businesses. Those high-growth businesses being software, technology, retail, e-commerce, and pharma companies, and renewable companies. I’m based in Indiana. I’m a Hoosier through and through, and our Hoosier basketball team is about to be on the map next year. We got some great recruits coming in. It’s going to be a great time in Hoosier basketball.

Amato: That is great. We got a basketball side trip, which I love because that’s part of my background as well, so thank you for that. About 18 months ago for this podcast, we talked about a new role that FP&A could play for organizations. That was one of the topics you spoke on in 2022. What about 2023? As we are near the midpoint of the year, what are the themes you’re talking about? What are the things you’re hearing and also wanting to talk about and learn about?

Ortega: I think a lot has changed in that 18 months since last time we talked, specifically in FP&A, but specifically for the office of the CFO as well, too. I think that’s really boil it down to three key themes that have really evolved and bubbled up over the last three years for what I call fresh CFOs. The first one is the continued uncertainty, challenge and adversity that a lot of businesses are seeing from the macro and micro economic levels. You see what happened this year with Silicon Valley Bank and some of the treasury situations here in the US.

I think that’s one major key theme right now, as CFOs continue to navigate through this uncertainty and challenge, that for me I think we’ll continue to see the rest of the year and for the foreseeable future. I think the second theme is just the prevalence of generative AI. We didn’t have a conversation 18 months ago about ChatGPT, about Bard, about all the great generative AI that we’re starting to see, not only in the finance organization, but in sales and marketing and client success in other functional areas of the organization. Generative AI is probably one of the biggest themes right now for CFOs, for finance and for FP&A professionals.

I think the third one is this evolution of FP&A continuing to be focused less about the planning and analysis traditionally what it was. Because of the uncertainty that we’re seeing, because of the rapid increase in technology, really the value of FP&A and the value that CFOs are starting to bring to organizations is really that financial partnership and advising. That’s that fresh FP&A, so to speak, of where I started my business and what we’re bringing in helping us to support our clients. I think to me those are the top three things that have changed is, continue uncertainty and challenge and adversity, the increase in generative AI across finance and many other disciplines, and this evolving value proposition that finance can bring to the organization. I think to me those are the top three.

Amato: Now, I know you’re an energetic guy, very positive guy. I think that’s easy to hear if people hear you talk. But the economy is not exactly something right now to be enthusiastic about. So what is your advice to fellow professionals who may be a little down about some of the financial pressures they may be facing?

Ortega: Listen, man, this is a difficult situation, what we’re in right now, because there’s so much uncertainty and there’s so much challenge in it. This isn’t 2008, 2009, which was not another great economic situation that we’re in. I think this one, there’s a lot of things that I’ve just seen from 2008, 2009 that are different versus now, is just the rapid evolution of things happening.

For example, we look at what happened with Silicon Valley Bank in the matter of days, and then the same thing that happened with First Republic. This rapid evolution, and I think for CFOs, the major thing right now is you need to make sure that you have at least 24 months of cash runway inside your business. You need to make sure that you’re as efficient across the business as possible. You need to make sure across not only finance, but in other functional areas of the organization, you’re able to adapt and have a lot of flexibility and move pretty quickly.

You need to be agile, you need to be making sure you’re building MVPs. You need to make sure that you’re posting the information and CFOs need to be able to put on another critical hat, which is bringing clarity for operations. That’s one of the most important things that CFOs need to be focused on right now. I think this economic situation that we’re in, it’s time to bunker down and make sure that you’re being as efficient, making sure you’re measuring what matters, and making sure that you have the cash runway to sustain at least the next 24 months.

Amato: Good points. Tell me, what do you like about coming to an event such as ENGAGE?

Ortega: I think for me, one of the great things about working with the AICPA is, I come back to my first story and I was sharing someone over this at lunch at ENGAGE. It was a CPA, a person that has their own CPA function, and I was telling him a little bit about myself and my career and he looked at me, he was like, there’s no way you’ve been in accounting, finance, CFO, and FP&A for almost two decades.

But I looked at the evolution of it. Coming in particularly from the FP&A conference and being at the FP&A conference and now that we’ve been in ENGAGE. I think there’s an appetite for no matter if you’re an accounting, if you’re in finance, if you’re CFO, if you’re a controller, if you’re thinking about moving from accounting to finance. You’re talking about over 4,000 attendees, a host of different topics, great way of networking. I’ve met some incredible people by being at ENGAGE for the last couple of years, and particularly talking about the controllers and CFO track and the corporate finance track.

This conference has an appetite. I sat in some of the economic updates, I sat in some of the accounting updates, I sat in some of the tax updates. If you are an accounting, finance, FP&A, CFO professional, and you’re looking for a conference, A, to network. You’re looking for a conference to bring in subject matter experts and people that have been there, done that. I think the third thing is you’re coming in trying to get a pulse of what are things doing? What are people doing? Well, what are some things I can learn? If I need to get a quick deep dive into ASC 606 or 842 or need to get a quick deep dive into cryptocurrency accounting or whatever the case may be, I think this is the conference to give you that comprehensive knowledge, networking, and insights that you need to make sure you’re a well-rounded finance professional.

Amato: Well, thank you for that, Chris. One thing when you talk about your experiences probably when you presented. I don’t know when you first presented, but let’s just say it was six, eight, 10 years ago. Who knows? But what I’d like to say is, how have you grown as a presenter over the years? What are the things that you do well now that maybe you had to learn?

Ortega: Neil, it’s beautiful, man, because I love how you said that, because I think this is my eighth year in working with the AICPA, specifically working on the FP&A, corporate finance, and CFO side of the shop. Literally, it has grown my career. I remember when I first came to my first FP&A conference, and I’ll share the story with everybody. I was at that stage of my career, I was a senior FP&A analyst. I was at a software company, and one of the things that my manager really supported was professional development and training.

I’m a strong believer that most of what you’re going to learn professionally, most of what you’re going to build is on the job. But I’ve found I was looking at conferences to go to and I’m like, man. I came across the AICPA FP&A conference. I came there when it was in Vegas in the Bellagio years and years ago. I connected with so many great people and I had the opportunity to reach out to the AICPA and said, look I’m passionate about this. I think there’s ways I could bring value, and I joined the committee.

Now I look at myself, I’ve gone from a senior FP&A. I was on the conference as I got into a director of finance role, still at the conference when I got into CFO-, VP-of-finance-level work at a software company, and now I’m still part of the journey and growing in my career where now I’m building and shaping my own fractional CFO and advisory service company called Fresh FP&A. I’ve gathered and gained so much, and I’ve always come to the conference with a different appetite and a different perspective, a different skill set, and things I want to bring and I think the conference has evolved as well, too.

There’s so many different tracks of so many disciplines that you need, so many great subject matter experts. I think not only that from an accounting and finance perspective, but there’s also been some great sessions I learned just about mental health and physical well-being and how are you dealing with talent? I think it’s comprehensive that also gives you insights and information even around some of those qualitative areas of focus that I think a lot of finance professionals don’t have. For me it’s really a blessing and I’m thankful and appreciative to the AICPA and being part of the planning committee and grow in my career and continue to learn and develop professionally along with the AICPA. It’s been quite the journey.

Amato: Chris, this has been great. It’s been fun to talk to you again. Again, I hate it can’t be in person, but we made the best of it. Thank you very much for being on the podcast. Look forward to having you back again.

Ortega: I got one last question. I love the rapid-fire questions. Neil, if you say, “Chris, you’re looking at a crystal ball. Five years from now, what does the CFO look like? What does FP&A look like?” There’s two major things. I think the first thing is, the more that we can leverage technology and get comfortable and confident with how we can leverage the use cases of generative AI to help upskill us to help provide better value to the business – huge. But I think it’s really a time right now in the office of the CFO to drive disruption. That is one thing I’m super passionate about. There’s been disruptions in the sales organizations. There’s been sales disruption in marketing, operations, you name it, in our counterparts inside the business. The CFO space is poised for disruption, and it’s our time to be leading and marshaling that new value, that new message, that new insight that we’re going to bring to the organization, and it’s time for the disruption of the fresh CFOs.

Amato: Thank you, Chris. Great to talk to you.

Ortega: Neil, thank you so much for your time, brother, and we’ve got to do this again. Next time it’s going to be in person.

Amato: Sounds like a plan. Thanks, Chris.