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Cool Careers in Accounting Ep. 32 - Turning Experience into Freedom: Becoming a Fractional CFO with Britt Clark
215 Plays2 days ago
Thinking about leaving a traditional finance or accounting role? Britt Clark joins host Mike Potenza to explain how he went from earning his CPA a decade into his career to becoming a corporate controller to leading FP&A at Aflac—then making the leap into fractional CFO work. He breaks down how he landed his first clients, why relationships beat cold marketing, and how to set boundaries so the work doesn’t become a 60-hour grind again. Britt also shares practical ways he uses AI to speed up analysis and communication while keeping human judgment in the driver’s seat.
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Transcript
Introduction to Britt Clark
00:00:09
Speaker
Hey, everyone, it's Mike Potenza from Becker Accounting Podcasts, and we're back for another episode. And this week's guest is someone who is really interesting. He is an accountant and a CPA like most of us out there.
00:00:23
Speaker
But on top of it, he is a CFO as well. Now, not just your traditional CFO, but kind of a new spin on the c CFO role, so to speak. So we're gonna learn from him what he's doing right now. So I just want to thank Britt Clark for being our guest today. Britt, thank you so much for giving us your time.
00:00:44
Speaker
Hi, Mike. It's great to be here with you today. Well, we really appreciate you coming and sharing all the information about yourself and about ah your CFO position. I think the audience will find it really interesting.
Britt Clark's Background
00:00:57
Speaker
Now, your accent and my accent kind of sound a little different. I have a little Northeast heavy duty New York accent, but yours is not from the same area where I'm from. Where did you grow up?
00:01:10
Speaker
I grew up in the Southeast Alabama in a little town called Eufaula. um It labels itself the bass fishing capital of the world. um That's something you can Google if you're interested in, that kind of thing.
00:01:24
Speaker
But yeah, a small town boy from southeast Alabama. Live in the Auburn and Opelika area currently, not too far from where I was born. Excellent. Excellent. I have can honestly say i have never been to that neck of the woods, so going to have to come down there and visit you and see the different lifestyles. i would I would like to do that. Now, did you go to school in that area as well?
00:01:48
Speaker
Yes. um As far as high school, Ufala High School, ah as far as college, Troy University in Troy, Alabama, which has a fine finance and accounting program.
00:02:01
Speaker
They're a wonderful city. My dad went there. My daughter is currently a student there. Just a great school, great program. All right. Those apples are not falling far from the tree. Now, the hometown where you grew up in, like the high school, really, really tiny, would you say? Like what's the population? Any idea?
00:02:18
Speaker
but Yeah, yeah. I think my graduating class in high school, 155, think. yeah wonderful We will call that relatively small for sure.
00:02:30
Speaker
But then you go to Troy and I have heard of Troy University and i know I do know that they have an excellent accounting program there as well. So what drew you into accounting?
Why Choose Accounting?
00:02:40
Speaker
Did you major in accounting? What was the the reason why you went down that road?
00:02:46
Speaker
Well, I mean, I really didn't know what I wanted to do. um I tinkered with the idea of engineering. And I didn't think I was strong enough in advanced math. I didn't pay attention enough in school with that.
00:03:00
Speaker
But I've always liked math, thought I was good at it. And also thought about what would be a profession, no matter the economy, no matter if it's a big town, small town, people need that service.
00:03:16
Speaker
And I think that's held true in 30 years. I've never been unemployed. I'm happy to say. Fingers crossed it stays that way, right? But that was one of the reasons. And I just felt like it was a natural thing for me, too. enjoy business and entrepreneurship and learning the language of business. That was preached to me early on that accounting is the language of business.
00:03:40
Speaker
So these were kind of the the general things that got me in that area. And then once I got into it, I really enjoyed it and and still do to this day. I love that quote, accounting is the language of business. i I've always heard it's attributed to Warren Buffett. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's a great story nonetheless. So when you went to Troy, you majored in accounting.
00:04:03
Speaker
Then what'd you do when you graduated? Did you sit right away for the CPA exam? Did you work for a while? What was your path to the CPA?
Early Career at Powertel
00:04:12
Speaker
Well, I actually majored in corporate finance from undergrad and got an MBA in accounting.
00:04:19
Speaker
um My first job out of school was doing some reporting for a very small investment advisor service. um I would say that my my biggest role coming out of college was ah with a company called Powertel, which um T-Mobile, the southeastern footprint of T-Mobile is what was once Powertel.
00:04:42
Speaker
And I was the fixed asset accountant for Powertel. So it was my first jump into a professional job, I should say. um And it was great. A public company ended up um obviously being sold.
00:04:56
Speaker
But yeah, that was a great, I guess, entry-level job into accounting. It really kicked things off and got me really more interested in and learning more and and doing more in the and in the accounting arena.
00:05:08
Speaker
Great. So you go to PowerTel and you're working, you're learning all about accounting. Have you already passed a CPA exam at this point or is it something you do a little bit later on? How did that all tie into
Pursuing CPA for Growth
00:05:18
Speaker
it?
00:05:18
Speaker
No. Actually, I was 10 years into my career before I became a CPA. And I remember the the moment very well when I decided definitively that I was going to go for it.
00:05:33
Speaker
I'd always intended to, but things always kind of put it on the back burner. um My son was one years old. was laying in bed one night. I was like, well, know, I've got to a certain level.
00:05:47
Speaker
I'd like to do more. And I really know this is going to help me, you know, move faster. And so I made my moment up that night that I was going to do it. And then, of course, used Becker as my prep course, which we can get into that later. But um that was kind of the moment that I was like, yes, I am committed to this. It's time to do it. But again, I was 10 years into my career.
00:06:12
Speaker
And, you know some could say that you had that experience that when you go and study for the CPA exam, That's really valuable with connecting dots, right? And really relating things and then understanding what you're studying, not just memorizing things. You actually conceptually understand some of the things that you're studying.
00:06:29
Speaker
So I think for me, that worked out pretty good. Not the path for everyone, but that's how it worked out for me. Wow. So it's amazing what a newborn baby could do for a parent with respect to motivation, right You're like, oh, I have this baby I have to take care of. It's time for me to make sure that I get the CPA so I could propel my career. So I could definitely relate to that.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. ah And again, I think the timing was right. And, you know, the maturity level,
00:07:02
Speaker
ah where I was at in life, I think I was more prepared than I probably would have been earlier on. Again, everybody's different. ah But just in my case, I think it worked out really for the best.
00:07:14
Speaker
So you're still working. You decide that you want to study for the CPA exam. You have a newborn baby. I mean, all of that together, that's a lot, right? That is a tall order. Was it, did it take you a long time to do it? Or were you able to knock it out relatively quickly?
00:07:31
Speaker
Well, um, I'm a big time planner pretty much everything I do. And I was, my plan was I'm going to study for eight months and I'm going to pass this thing the first time I take it.
00:07:44
Speaker
Uh, so i was real serious about a plan and like after work every day, I would stay at work, stay at the office. People were gone. It was quiet. And I would study for a couple of hours.
00:07:55
Speaker
And the key to me was that consistency with doing chunks every day. um And again, with Becker, ah gosh, it was over 20 years ago. But I remember that it would ah guide you to the areas that you're weak in, and then you concentrate on more of that.
00:08:12
Speaker
But I was a madman. Even stuff that I was getting the answers right, I was doing it all over and over and over, just probably overkill. But again, i didn't want to take the test more than once.
00:08:27
Speaker
That's good. That is great to hear. And it worked for you. So we can't knock it. And then at that point you pass the CPA exams and do you change companies? You stay with your profession or what was your path after that?
Advancing to Corporate Controller
00:08:41
Speaker
Um, well, as soon as I got the passing scores in, um, and it was kind of circulating in my network, I was a, I think I was a commissions manager at that point life.
00:08:54
Speaker
Um, Within two months, um a company contacted me and I became corporate controller. So it's a pretty big jump from where I was at, you know, with responsibilities and also with income.
00:09:09
Speaker
But yeah, it was pretty fast. You know, once everything was said and done and I got those three letters, I mean, it it really took off pretty fast and has opened doors ever since.
00:09:21
Speaker
mean, it's probably the greatest decision I ever made in my career was was becoming a CPA. Well, that's ah that's definitely something we can relate to for sure.
00:09:32
Speaker
It does open a lot of doors and give you those opportunities you may not otherwise ever have. Plus, like you said, you know the language of business and you seem to work with it well at that point. So you go through this process, you're working, you have a child, you get your CPA, you get your new job.
00:09:49
Speaker
Did you stay at this job long or how long before you transition out of accounting into finance? um Well, funny story here. I was there about three years, and then one of the financial advisory firms were at that point in time recruiting CPAs thinking we would be good financial advisors.
00:10:13
Speaker
um Timing was horrible. 2008. So leave i leave my I was ah talked into leaving my ah my corporate controller job.
00:10:24
Speaker
And going into that line of business and um not long after I took the job, the last person anyone wanted to talk to in 2008 was a financial advisor from one of the big firms.
00:10:39
Speaker
So that lasted about a year. And um then one of my mentors that I'd stayed in contact with um sent me an email and said, would you be interested in an internal audit job?
00:10:55
Speaker
I was like, yes, please. So I made that change and went over it was a public company. It was great experience, you know, being over in general audit, getting all that Sorbanes-Oxley stuff, that, rapid you know, that that that all that experience in was just great for what was to come later, i should say.
00:11:14
Speaker
But yeah, I mean,
Transition to Finance at AFLAC
00:11:16
Speaker
it's just funny how things worked out. ah You know, you take a chance and roll the dice, but again, I fall back on, you know,
00:11:25
Speaker
the career path, accounting, finance, the the CPA, the doors that it opens for you. Not all of them may be a right fit for you, but sometimes you roll the dice and take a chance. I did.
00:11:37
Speaker
and i actually think I would have liked it had the timing been different, but the timing was pretty bad. So now um what is the company where you feel that you made the transition from accounting into the world of finance?
00:11:55
Speaker
That would definitely be when I went to work with AFLAC. um I was head of FP&A a there, and we actually installed the financial planning and analysis team while I was there.
00:12:11
Speaker
New CFO came me in and that was one of his big initiatives. So I was part of installing that team and it was so much fun. We had a great team of people.
00:12:22
Speaker
I always tell people, if you're going to work for a Fortune 500, AFLAC's the one. I mean, they treat you great. um Just so much good experience there in building that team, building the processes.
00:12:36
Speaker
ah Fred Crawford was a great mentor to me, this the then CFO at AFLAC. ah Great experience as far as learning the finance side of the house and how that works a little bit differently.
00:12:50
Speaker
than the accounting stuff. You know, there's a lot of overlap, of course, but having that prior controllership experience, um the internal audit experience, and even the advisory stuff, even though it was a brief time, you know, there's a lot of education and coaching that goes into that with clients.
00:13:09
Speaker
So that translates very well into a finance job like FP&A, where you're working with everyone on their budgets and their business plans. So that was great. And it's great to hear that Aflac is a great company to work for, but more importantly than that, they make great commercials, right? I love that Aflac doc. I don't know why, but I laugh every time I see one of those commercials. So did you stay long in Aflac? And before you launched into your current career, did you transition from many business different businesses or did you stay at Aflac a long time?
00:13:42
Speaker
I was at Aflac just shy of seven years. Um, So it was ah it was a pretty long run there. Again, two years into that's when we started building out that FP&A team. My first job there was ah ah vice president over expense management, which was basically budgeting, and then promoted into the vice president of FP&A role of two years in.
00:14:04
Speaker
um But yeah, I've stayed there for seven years. And then, like with a lot of jobs like that that are high pressure, after about six and a half years, I was thinking,
00:14:15
Speaker
I need to do something different. My kids are getting grown fast. I'd like to spend more time with them. And again, I loved AFLAC, not a knock on them at all, but it was time for a change for me.
00:14:28
Speaker
And leaving a job like that's very difficult. It's very difficult decision to make, but I made the decision and decided to step back and reevaluate what I want to do with the rest of my career.
00:14:44
Speaker
So I ended up teaching accounting in ah and a local community college for little shy of two years. Really enjoyed that. Really, really enjoyed it. Being able to share world examples with the students.
00:14:58
Speaker
And I found that every class had two or three students who really, really wanted to learn accounting and not just memorize things to get through the class, but really had a passion for it.
00:15:11
Speaker
And I kind of leaned into that. and I have people email me now that that I taught years ago, hey this is what I'm doing now and really appreciate the insight. And again, the real world kind of stuff. And I felt like that that was a good a good kind of way for me to step back, take a breath.
00:15:29
Speaker
And always joke that when you go teach stuff, you realize how much you know. i was like, gosh, i I know a little bit about this stuff. oh But I think it was really good for me. And then I made the decision i wanted to go work with smaller companies.
00:15:44
Speaker
So that kind of gets me more in line with where I'm at now in my career.
00:15:50
Speaker
So you're now teaching, you stay there for about two years, and then do you just jump into a career to work for yourself and start your own business, or do you have more still, more transitions from company to company?
00:16:04
Speaker
More transition. So when I made the decision that I wanted to go work for smaller companies where you're closer to the decision makers, they're They're not a bunch of committees you have to go through for decisions. That kind of environment was what I was looking for, where I could go in and make a real difference, helping get the books in order, the processes, the controls.
00:16:26
Speaker
So my next job was a controller job with a waste management company, a regional waste management company in the southeast, which was um an industry I had not worked in before, so a chance to learn, which was valuable.
00:16:40
Speaker
And that was a great experience for me. Enjoyed that very much, made some new connections, a whole new network of people versus the financial services industry and the telecommunications industries, which I'd worked in up to that point.
00:16:54
Speaker
Okay. So now and for any of these, have you ever elevated to the position of CFO at this point, or are you always like an assistant CFO or a controller? What's your role at this point?
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah. Again, the the the the biggest role I had probably in my career as the one at Aflac, VP of our financial planning and analysis. That was the closest because it reported to the office of the CFO.
00:17:17
Speaker
So it was a big part of that. um But I became CFO um the next job after the waste management industry job. There was an opportunity that I found out about from someone, again, in my network that um a site works construction company was looking for a new CFO.
00:17:41
Speaker
So I interviewed with that, loved the people, loved the company and their vision, and decided to make the leap into that role. And again, um it it was a like ah nice kind of dovetail there because when you work in waste management, you're dealing with a lot of things like equipment, like heavy machinery purchases, that kind of thing.
00:18:02
Speaker
and So it was kind of a natural transition to move into that that area. with you know civil construction, basically. ah So yeah, a nice again, a nice little transition, felt natural.
00:18:17
Speaker
Timing was good. So I made the move. All right, so now you hit the CFO level. You're working for this company. Again, you're happy. um What point do you say, you know, i think I've had enough working for someone else, for the corporation.
00:18:35
Speaker
I think it's time for me to go out there and do something on my own. What triggers that?
Starting a Fractional CFO Business
00:18:41
Speaker
Well, it's always been in the back of my mind. Ever since I was a teenager, i've I've always wanted to have my own gig.
00:18:50
Speaker
and and call my shots to the extent that one can. um But like many people, there's that fear of doing so, right?
00:19:01
Speaker
um Leaving that guaranteed income, right? The kids, um what's going to happen if I can't get clients? That kind of thing. So on for almost 30 years, I'll let that hold me back and I shouldn't have.
00:19:16
Speaker
But the other side of the coin is all the experience that I had gotten over the years, it really made me ready to make that move. And my kids are grown or think they're grown, sort of. Sometimes at the point in my life that I was getting calls from these fractional CFO firms. They were like, well, hey, we saw your um credentials on LinkedIn.
00:19:41
Speaker
We think you'd be perfect. And then I would go check out the person who called me, and I had more experience than they did. And I'm like, well, why would I do that? Why can't I just go start my own firm?
00:19:58
Speaker
So that was my thinking. It's been about two years ago that I started my my company. But yeah, that was kind of the thing. I was getting these calls and I was like, no.
00:20:09
Speaker
I keep reading a lot about this. And my wife was like, just do it already. I'm tired of you talking about starting a business. And you just talked about it for years. don't you just do it? And so...
00:20:21
Speaker
I had that support there, family was behind me, and I jumped right in 100%. ah hundred percent but that That is a big jump and it's a big risk when you have children to feed and bills to pay and you kind of say, I don't need that guaranteed salary anymore. I'm going to go make it myself.
00:20:40
Speaker
For those who are successful, it's great. But until you do, it's got to be very, very scary. So you now say, all right, my wife's behind me. I'm ready to do it. I'm going to jump in. I'm going to work for myself.
00:20:52
Speaker
And like you said, you need clients. So how do you go about getting your first client? Well, um, When you go and start looking at at this kind of work, fractional CFO work, ah most of the gurus will tell you that your first client is your now former employer.
Securing First Clients
00:21:12
Speaker
And that was the case for me. um I offered to work in a kind of a transitional role for them to go interview for their next CFO, which they agreed to.
00:21:26
Speaker
um I thought it would be maybe a three or four month gig. It turned into a year and a half gig for me because when the new CFO came in we had already been talking about changing accounting systems.
00:21:43
Speaker
And I also happen to have a lot of experience with implementing accounting systems. And so they decided to keep me on as a consultant for that as well.
00:21:54
Speaker
So helped them get through that implementation. And again, it was very helpful to me. it was very helpful for for them. um So it all worked out for the best for both parties. Everybody's still friends.
00:22:06
Speaker
you know It couldn't have been any better how it worked out for me with that first client. um The second client, I was also very lucky. The owner of that company that I was leaving called one of his friends and says, well, Brett started his own thing. You you really need him.
00:22:23
Speaker
And so two days later, I had my second client. So I was very fortunate, very, very lucky to have two clients right out of the gate. That is really good. And everyone who starts a business should be so fortunate.
00:22:39
Speaker
So you have these two clients. How long is ah an engagement with them? Is it something that usually you look at short term? It might be a month to month or a quarter or a year. Do you think it's multiple years? And how do you manage multiple clients yourself?
00:22:56
Speaker
Well, you know, looked into the to the churn rates when I was deciding, you know, if I really wanted to do this. And from the things that I've read and continue to check in on a year to a year and a half, and see the average kind of churn, um my first client was a year and a half. So right on the right on the button there with that one.
00:23:17
Speaker
My second client, we're two years in, they're still a client. um As far as like going out and trying to to to market to get clients, What I found is that your network is gold.
00:23:31
Speaker
And I always tell people, and I've mentored several people throughout my career, and I always tell people, start your network now. You know, stay in touch with people, build relationships, not just for the sake of having a network. i mean, really make friends and keep in touch with people.
00:23:50
Speaker
And that's very important. You never know where life's going to take you. um So I really leaned into that network. with people that maybe were working in the surety business, like the bonding, because I decided my niche was going to be construction, simple construction site works right out of the gate because it was more right. I would just left that full time CFO role.
00:24:14
Speaker
So I think it's very important that that you work on your network and, in you know, even if you don't want to be a fractional CFO, just in general and business and life, be good to people.
00:24:26
Speaker
Stay in touch with people, you know, and always try to do the right thing. And, you know, you reap the rewards from that, that you can't even imagine, you know, 10, 20. In my case, 30 years later, talking to people and them helping you get your next client.
00:24:44
Speaker
So you're working for your first client before you left full-time CFO role. You decide to leave, but they're your first client. So when you were working for them and you were on staff, right, you were the CFO, you're at a minimum working, I assume 40 hours a week, probably closer to 50 or 60 hours a week.
00:25:00
Speaker
When you step down now and then become their fractional CFO, what would you say? Is it a big difference in time or is it still about the same amount of time towards these clients? Yeah.
00:25:11
Speaker
Well, that's where you have to build in boundaries. And we talked about that, you know, when and I was making the agreement to to continue on it in a transition role, that I would not be able to work 40 hours a week.
00:25:27
Speaker
um Realistically, it was probably 20 hours a week, a lot, right? But considering I only had two clients at that point in time,
00:25:40
Speaker
It was something that I could manage and deal with. Again, every situation is going to be different for people who start this kind of business. You've got to improvise and overcome, as they say in the military.
00:25:52
Speaker
ah You've got to really be flexible. um That's one of the things I also say, you know, looking at moving from an accounting role to more of a CFO finance role. um A lot of things in accounting can be black and white, right?
00:26:08
Speaker
And I would argue there's a lot of gray areas. I've had those arguments with people. um And we're looking in the past. we're doing reporting and controls. were um That's important to a CFO as well.
00:26:22
Speaker
But you've got to shift that mindset to forward-looking things, cash flow management, risk management. um So those are the kinds of things like over the last, let's say, seven years of my career have really shifted for me.
00:26:38
Speaker
um Again, I've got that heavy controller experience, um which I love, but you've got to be able to step back and look at the big picture and more so when you get in that CFO seat and you're dealing with operations, you're dealing with marketing.
00:26:54
Speaker
HR reported to me too, which was a first in my career. So I learned a lot about HR in that that CFO role before jumping into the fractional space. But yeah, I mean, again,
00:27:06
Speaker
I just look back at my experience talking now, it's just, wow, i that that's a lot, but I'm getting old too. So really, I shouldn't be surprised. So Britt, how long have you actually been doing your fractional CFO business now?
Advice for Aspiring Fractional CFOs
00:27:23
Speaker
I've been doing it for about two years now. Okay, so you have about two years experience in it, you know building up the firm. Are there any big lessons learned that you've come across this or even any advice you can give to someone in the audience who may be thinking about doing something similar?
00:27:40
Speaker
Sure. One of the first things I did was search out books. There weren weren't very many at that one time. i think there's a lot more resources now, even two years later.
00:27:52
Speaker
But a book that I would highly recommend is a book called So You Want to Be a Fractional CFO by Tom Schultz. It's a great book.
00:28:03
Speaker
um He was kind of a pioneer in this whole thing. I've been doing it, think, over two decades, maybe three. um But um he has, like, case studies in there.
00:28:15
Speaker
um Are you ready kind of things, questions you may ask yourself. I think it's ah an outstanding resource for somebody thinking about this. Okay, so you have this book and you said, well, it might be now a couple years old, but it's definitely worth the read. It really gave you the guidance you needed.
00:28:33
Speaker
What else do you do to kind of stay current in the industry? You know, what are the latest trends? What are issues going on? Any other things that you do to make sure that, hey, I'm dialed in, I know what's happening?
00:28:45
Speaker
Sure. um Well, I have lot of friends in the banking industry, a lot of lunches with my banking friends, my friends in the Shruti world, then and then I've also built a network of other fractional CFOs that, you know, maybe once a month we'll get on a call and just talk about, you know, what are our current challenges, what are our opportunities, what's working, what's not working.
00:29:10
Speaker
And I go back to my earlier statement about networking and helping each other out, how important that is. um The world is changing so fast with like with everything that you you really have to have the discipline to do that, not get in a silo, because it's really easy to do. i mean, I work from home, which I love.
00:29:33
Speaker
But i mean, you can get where you're just a ah by yourself in that silo and and closed off from things until you have client meetings. That's not good for your mental health. That's not good for you to keep up with trends, and in my opinion.
00:29:48
Speaker
All right. Excellent. And you mentioned other resources you have, friends, banking industry, other related industries. What about mentors? Was there anyone out there that ever, you know, if you have a question or a doubt or you need a piece of advice, would you say that you leaned on any, if at all, mentors?
00:30:08
Speaker
Yes. I mean, just throughout my career, people who I've learned a lot from, that I trust very much and they know me very well. um If I have something that's really bothering me, and even if I know what the answer is and what I should do, sometimes I'll reach out to that person of persons and ask them their opinion on it and ah and go from there. i think it's really important to have that support system.
00:30:31
Speaker
um You don't need to reinvent the wheel. um People have probably been through a so a similar situation or a similar similar problem or our decision or opportunity.
00:30:43
Speaker
And why not go and ask those people? But yes, I have two or three people that I'm very close with that I often go to when I'm having a moment of doubt or really having a hard time pulling the trigger on something.
00:31:02
Speaker
Excellent. Okay. So you're now in the business for two years, businesses growing. Are you at the point where you've hired employees, assistants? Do you use independent contractors from your network?
00:31:15
Speaker
How do you scale the business? Okay. um My whole purpose in doing this was I don't want to build a big business.
00:31:26
Speaker
um A lot of people do. I'm very happy. being a solopreneur. That's what I wanted to do. um And there's a reason for that. I've been working 30 years.
00:31:39
Speaker
I want the flexibility to ramp it down over the next 10 years or so. And I think this is an excellent job to do that. So I'm a different animal when it comes to that kind of stuff.
00:31:51
Speaker
Now, going back to last, well, I guess my first year in business, um There was a person who has a fractional CFO firm who, you know, I decided to go work with him on a 1099 basis as a contractor under his label.
00:32:08
Speaker
um He wanted to hire me full time, but I was like, gosh, it took me 30 years to get the courage to start my own company. I just started it. I mean, I really appreciate you wanting me to work for you. Let's work something out. I'll be glad to go work from you and learn from you.
00:32:25
Speaker
And I can also help you out with with your client load. And you can label my work yours. don't care. So that was great. like I guess you could say that that was another mentor for me, that person.
00:32:36
Speaker
And that helped me out. But I did that for about eight months. And it was really getting to me that I didn't stick to my guns, that my whole thing was I wanted to have my own business, that the really I'm comfortable working alone.
00:32:53
Speaker
I'm not going to have 100 I don't want a hundred clients. It's impossible for me to service that. comments So I'm different in that way. I think there's a lot of people that are are similar with with wanting that kind of setup, but I hope I've answered your question on that.
00:33:10
Speaker
The only other part on that question was and when you're running this business right now, can you do it by yourself or do you have to have a staff? What would what would you advise other people that may want to do what you're doing?
00:33:23
Speaker
Well, Um, I did a lot of research again when I started this journey. And one of the things that was recommended was to hire a part-time assistant, which I did, remotely.
00:33:36
Speaker
And I just didn't have enough work for them to do. Um, I've leveraged AI for things that, that I was paying that person to do.
00:33:48
Speaker
And so I, I decided to move away from that. And, um, you know The number of clients that I have and the workload that I have and the way that I organize things, I've been able to manage that pretty well.
00:34:00
Speaker
Now, if I wanted to grow and take on more clients, I would definitely need to bring that person back in and ah to to help. But with technology as it is today, and if you're a fairly organized person and you don't take on more than you can handle, i think it's entirely possible to run the ship yourself. Now, you can't scale it.
00:34:23
Speaker
But um that's not my plan to scale. Sure. Understanding long-term objectives, right? If you don't want to grow that much, you and could do a lot of it yourself.
00:34:33
Speaker
And yeah, we all know how great AI is and all the other related technologies. So then on that point where you don't want to grow too much, want to scale too much, do you kind of pick and choose the clients and what services you provide? How does that work?
00:34:49
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Um, I mean, I'm not totally inflexible with you know a client's needs. you I've adapted somewhat, but um I have a certain way that I do things. And it goes back again to my AFLAC days with how we did things in FP&A with ah reporting, the analysis, and and and the planning and tracking and staying on target with with with your strategies and all the tactics that support those.
00:35:13
Speaker
um So I've built my practice pretty much on that. I have a certain way that I do things. Certain times of um the month that I like to meet with clients. um And by the way, I do my agreements month to month.
00:35:29
Speaker
And that's for both parties, right? Because people don't feel locked in. i don't feel locked in. um And if you get in a situation and two months in, you're miserable or it's just not a good fit.
00:35:46
Speaker
There's a graceful way to exit. So wanted to throw that in there. That's how I set things up. But I do have a standard, you know, few, you know, packages, depending on what the client's are looking for, what level of service they're looking for. And then we can tweak that a little to customize to what they need.
00:36:05
Speaker
But I think it's very important that you go in with a framework and have an open mind, but also stay true to what, you know, you're good at.
00:36:16
Speaker
what you want to do? And most importantly, is it going to really help this client? That kind of thing. So that's my mindset. I've got a framework, but not totally inflexible in three different price points on those.
00:36:30
Speaker
But I've been asked to do ad hoc work that sometimes I'll do that. So that's the the joy of being an entrepreneur who makes all the decisions for yourself. You can go off track it a little bit, you know, and test the orders in different areas, which I have somewhat.
00:36:47
Speaker
So when it comes to systems now, technology, programs, and you're dealing with multiple clients, do you have to be well-versed in many different software packages or things relatively uniform? Most clients are using the same package, or you steer them to a package?
00:37:03
Speaker
Talk to me about the technology part. Yeah. um Well, most of my clients did that are my target are going to be $3 million to $25 million in revenue.
00:37:15
Speaker
um So a lot of them are going to be on QuickBooks, right? Some are not, but a lot of them are. And anyone that's familiar with QuickBooks knows that it's moving to all online, which is nice.
00:37:30
Speaker
There's still some of the desktop holdouts, but that's nice. um Some of the other softwares that I deal with are are in the construction phase space. Space is Foundation. That's the name of the software.
00:37:42
Speaker
um Acumatica. All these are cloud-based. So the nice things about that is that you can get a login and have read-only and be able to pull reports and stuff like that. So um the whole cloud thing makes it a lot easier to do this work for sure.
00:38:00
Speaker
Well, yeah, I grew up in the QuickBooks environment and early on in my career and always use that desktop version. And when I saw that online version, I was like, oh, no, no, no, this is not for me. I have to get out of there. But you know maybe that's just me being the dinosaur that I am.
00:38:15
Speaker
But let's say you take on one of these clients and they have these systems, whether it's QuickBooks or something else, and you're trying to make heads and tails of their finances and their financial statements.
00:38:26
Speaker
you ever come to a point where you're like, this is such a mess? I'm out of here. There's no way I can handle this. Well, I'm glad that you asked that question, because when you're dealing with um the the smaller companies that have grown to the point where they're wanting to scale,
00:38:44
Speaker
That's usually where I get the call. And I'm going to venture to say that over 95% of these clients' books need some major work.
00:38:58
Speaker
um So have a friend that I met that actually did some work for me back when I was CFO full-time that I stayed in touch with. And all she does is clean up work in bookkeeping.
00:39:12
Speaker
And she's a pro advisor. with QuickBooks. I think she's one of the top 100 the last couple of years, QuickBooks Pro Advisors. So she loves that kind of work.
00:39:24
Speaker
And so she's worked with me on several clients to come in there and do that cleanup work. Could I do it? Sure, I've done it to death in my career, career but do I want to do that?
00:39:35
Speaker
No, I'd really want to focus more on on the on the planning, the strategic planning, the cash flow management, you know, helping the client meet those kind of forward-looking goals.
00:39:46
Speaker
So I've partnered with someone and she has her own company and we work very well together. so that's another piece of it advice I would give people. um You know, focus on what you want to do Find partners in the other areas that you don't.
00:40:01
Speaker
And I don't do tax work. I've got partners that I refer to for that. And we work very well together. We'll get on a call with a client, work together. And it's just working very, very well for me.
00:40:14
Speaker
So Britt, the next question I have to ask you, and it's what people are just talking about all the time, and we were talking about it just a few minutes ago, right? AI, and how is it revolutionizing the industries that we work in?
Impact of AI in Finance
00:40:27
Speaker
Whether it's finance, being a CFO, FP&A, it is changing the way we operate.
00:40:33
Speaker
As a fractional CFO, what are you seeing in your world, and how is the AI affecting what you and people in your industry are doing? Well, the immediate thing I can say is that I no longer have to have my wife proofread my emails because my grammar is horrible.
00:40:52
Speaker
So there's that. ah But all jokes aside, it's been invaluable for me. um And first off, we have to embrace it. It's going to be around, you might as well learn about it.
00:41:05
Speaker
I have some friends that are still saying no to it, but I digress. But yes, for me in my monthly process, I have like certain analysis that I do for each client.
00:41:18
Speaker
And I have everything very structured depending on what the scope of work is for that client. So I build all of that out and then I do my analysis and then I load my spreadsheets into my model, my my chat GPT prompts and have my summaries produced for me that I can then go edit further.
00:41:40
Speaker
But it saves me time. Is AI speaking for me, for the client? No, I am not suggesting that because AI does hallucinate. We know that at this point.
00:41:51
Speaker
But what I am saying that it saves me time when I go and try to prepare my PowerPoint. If I want to summarize a vast amount of data and AI knows how I want that structured for my PowerPoint, it saves me so much time.
00:42:09
Speaker
um which is just really administrative work that it's doing for me. But I've grown to love it. Yeah. And again, you said it very well. We have to embrace it because if we do not embrace it, we will be left behind. And there's many different ways we can utilize it. And on the administrative side, hey, that just saves you hiring an assistant. And that's a lot of money in your pocket. So that makes a lot of sense.
00:42:33
Speaker
Now, you've been doing this for two years and you've been working for 30 years. So let's say you were in the industry for, you know, 25 to 28 years. You make, you take the risk on, you make the leap, you start your own business, you're running a fractional CFO, you have a bunch of clients.
00:42:50
Speaker
I'm going to have to venture a guess that you are happy and you would do it again. Would you say that's fairly accurate? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm much happier, um,
00:43:03
Speaker
If I want to take off and go down to Orlando, Florida, which just got back a couple days ago, ah it's easier to plan those trips with my wife. And again, the kids are are older and kind of doing their thing. Now they're in their 20s.
00:43:20
Speaker
So now we're kind of taking that time to go and travel. and And also when I'm traveling, I can do a lot of the work from the hotel room, right? Because most of it's remote. I do meet with clients in person.
00:43:32
Speaker
It's not all remote. but mostly so yes it's been a very very good thing for me as far as quality of life i very much enjoy the work that i do i enjoy helping my clients and seeing things get done that they want to get done meeting their objectives meeting their goals you know one of the first things i ask a new client is not what are your business goals what are your personal goals and then How is your business going to help you achieve those personal goals?
00:44:05
Speaker
Same with me. When I started my business, I said to myself, well what are my personal goals? What do I want as far as how to live my life over the next 10, 15 years?
Aligning Personal and Business Goals
00:44:18
Speaker
Because I'm the kind of person, not don't really see myself retiring. I want to always be doing something, but I want to have the ability to lever down or up depending on you know health, how I'm feeling, what's going on in life.
00:44:32
Speaker
And so I think that this this job really lends itself well to that flexibility and that quality of life. um Yes, just a great decision for me and my family.
00:44:45
Speaker
Excellent to hear. And it's not like you would graduate college and you can say, oh, I'm going to be a fractional CFO, right? Because you had years, if not decades of experience that led you down this path and gave you the ability to do it.
00:44:58
Speaker
But I'm sure there are people listening that are, you know, have a lot of experience and maybe can do it, or maybe they even have a son or daughter that is in college trying to figure out what to do.
00:45:09
Speaker
Looking back, And straddling both worlds, accounting and finance, would you say that the accounting background and becoming the CPA really helped give you the ability to do this?
00:45:22
Speaker
Well, it certainly helped a lot. um Having that background and again, going back to what we talked about earlier, the language of business ah is accounting. um Being able to visualize things when you're talking about an income statement and a balance sheet and you're talking about transactions and you can actually visualize what's going on.
00:45:42
Speaker
I think that's a very important foundation. um So, yes, I'm a strong advocate for becoming a CPA. I still think there's a lot of value in that.
00:45:54
Speaker
I know there's talk now about you really don't need that and whatever. But, you know I'm biased, of course. I know I've had a good career. still get. clients now. I um i still tell people, I get, you know, young people asking me, should I go this route or not? And I'll ask them a few questions. And, you know, usually the answer is yes. i mean, it' it's definitely going to help you.
00:46:17
Speaker
um Going back to remembering when I was trying to decide what I wanted to major in and what I wanted to do. i was working in a retail store and this auditor came in, and he was a CPA and we had some small talk and I,
00:46:31
Speaker
was asking questions because I was interested. And he said, well, you should become a CPA if you're going to do this. He said, why not become the gold standard? Why not do that? He said, I don't understand why people wouldn't do that if you're going to be in accounting.
00:46:45
Speaker
Now, that's one person's perspective. I tend to agree with that. Why not go for the goals if you're going to work in accounting? And the CPA to me is that. Again, I'm biased. and People will argue with me, you know, but that's how I feel.
00:47:00
Speaker
Fair enough. Now, I'm just looking at my notes saying, hey, you know did i did I touch on all the points I wanted to with Brett? And I i jotted something down here. And I don't even know if I wrote it down right. So I'm going to ask you, how long did it take you from beginning to end to pass your c your four CPA exams?
00:47:21
Speaker
Oh, boy. Well, I was kind of a madman. um I decided to get Becker and study for eight months. And this is, you know, the exam, it just went to the new format, right? Where you could take the four sections at different times, right? And it had just changed. I forget the exact year, but it was close around then.
00:47:43
Speaker
um I had the crazy idea that I was going to study for eight months and then take all four parts over an eight-week period.
00:47:54
Speaker
And like every two weeks, I took another part. um And to Becker's credit, I did pass all four parts the first time. And i actually thought I failed some of them. It was so stressful.
00:48:08
Speaker
um And also achieved the highest score in the state of Alabama for the exam window. And I was shocked at that, honestly, but I put in a lot of work.
00:48:19
Speaker
Would I do it the same way if I had to do it again? ah probably wouldn't do the one exam every two weeks. ah But, you know, it was it was kind of a new format then. and that That was my mindset at that point in time. Go get it over with.
00:48:35
Speaker
That is pretty amazing. Eight months, but taking them every two weeks. I don't know how you did that, but more power to you, that's for sure. So listen, I cannot thank you enough for all this information that you shared with us, walking us through your career to try to help other people that might be wanting to do the same thing, but afraid to take that risk that, hey, it can work. You just need to have a plan and you need to have that network.
00:49:02
Speaker
So last thing before I let you go, Tell me, growing up in Alabama, are you one of those, you know, Roll Tide Alabama fans? Is that what you ah eat, sleep, and breathe?
00:49:15
Speaker
Pretty much, yes. But the funny thing is, you know, that I live over by Auburn, Alabama. no no So I can't talk much about the Crimson Tide when I'm out in public here. But I'm not an obnoxious Alabama fan. I'm fairly tame.
00:49:35
Speaker
But my father was a hardcore Alabama fan. So it started from birth. But yes, I love the Crimson Tide. Absolutely. Roll time. Excellent.
00:49:45
Speaker
Excellent. Excellent. And I remember the Auburn days. They've had some great teams. I was a big Bo Jackson fan, but you cannot knock um Alabama's success. That is for sure. Well, my friend, listen, thank you so much for your time and for all of this information. It was wonderful. And I'm sure a lot of our audience found the information you shared with them very useful. So hopefully our paths will cross again one day, but I cannot thank you enough for being our guest today.
00:50:14
Speaker
Well, thank you very much, Mike. It was a pleasure. Thanks again for listening to this podcast with Britt Clark and special thanks to Britt for joining me. Now, I do want to make sure that everyone is aware that you can earn CPE credit just for listening to this podcast.
00:50:30
Speaker
All you need to do is visit the link in the show notes to get your credit. And even better news, if you're a Prime CPE subscriber, you can get this CPE at no extra cost. Just log in to finalize your credits.
00:50:44
Speaker
Thanks again, everyone, for coming. And we hope to see you in a future episode of Becker Accounting Podcasts.