Episode description

"The CFO-Accountant Relationship", host Rob Brown interviews guest Steve Rosvold, who shares his insights on the skills accountants need to develop to grow their firms. Rosvold emphasizes the importance of improving communication skills and developing insights beyond just financial statements. He believes accountants must become business advisors and compete with other companies by leveraging their unique insight into their clients' financial information.

Rosvold also discusses the role of the CFO and how it can be a stepping stone to the CEO role. He shares his four pillars of CFO success: accounting, finance, treasury, and leadership. Rosvold details the accounting pillar covering governance and internal controls, recording transactions, and reporting accurate and timely financial statements.

Overall, this episode is aimed at accountants looking to improve their skills and become more than just number crunchers. It provides valuable insights into the changing role of accountants in today's business landscape and how they can position themselves for success.

Key Takeaways

➤ Accountants must improve their communication skills and develop insights beyond financial statements to become successful business advisors.

➤ The CFO role is an exciting avenue for those interested in leading companies, and it's becoming a stepping stone to the CEO role.

➤ Rosvold's four pillars of CFO success include accounting, finance, treasury, and leadership. The accounting pillar covers governance and internal controls, recording transactions, and reporting accurate and timely financial statements.

➤ The partnership model can work well for public accountants and consulting companies today.

➤ Emotional intelligence and managing the customer experience are crucial skills that accountants need to develop to compete with larger firms like McKinsey and Boston Consulting.

➤ Attestations and audits will continue to be significant revenue streams for accountants, but they must also focus on becoming trusted business advisors to their clients.

Steve Rosvold is the Founder of CFO.University, a professional development platform for finance leaders built on the four pillars of CFO success: Accounting, Finance, Treasury, and Leadership. With 20 years of corporate finance leadership experience, he developed the ability to drive change, improve profitability, and ensure long-term financial health. Steve lives in Vancouver, WA, with his wife, and is an avid bicyclist who once pedaled 275 miles in one day. Learn more about CFO.University on their website.

◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢

The Accounting Influencers Podcast drops every Monday to accounting professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers across 150 countries in the accountancy, CPA and bookkeeping space. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, go to https://accountinginfluencers.com/events and book your place at the next gathering. Great to build your personal brand and make valuable industry connections.

◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢

You can watch this episode and more on our YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@accountinginfluencers

Join the Accounting Influencers community and get invitations to our international speed networking events to build your personal brand and network in the accounting, finance and tech world: https://www.linkedin.com/company/accountinginfluencers

For videos of all podcast interviews and bonus video content: