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I am at a point where I don't think there should be finance departments in tech companies. I also believe there shouldn't be siloed data departments for the rec
by Fordec 5y ago
I am at a point where I don't think there should be finance departments in tech companies. I also believe there shouldn't be siloed data departments for the record either. There should be teams, build around a cohesive product goal that solves customer needs. There should be someone who understands the money side of things embedded in that department doing analyses and making recommendations to the product manager, not direct to a CFO. Maybe half their job is regular market analysis work too if the role isn't that big. Those product managers should then have in their day to day functions a requirement to get that info to a CFO's hands (who is really just the executive teams internal finance person) to make their case for their product.
- andrewlgood 5y agoFor clarity, when you refer to finance, I think you mean Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A). I think you would agree that centralized Tax, Treasury, and Accounting functions are ok and should probably report to the CFO. With respect to FP&A, I have seen several firms that simply embed them within a product line or business unit. They need to submit forecasts to a central group, but their primary mission is to support the product or business line.
- Fordec 5y agoYeah basically but I've yet to work on a team (that I didn't build myself) where the FP&A is separated from Accounting/Tax and not a direct report to the CFO or CEO if the company is pre-CFO. Sometimes even seen Accounting/Tax as a direct report under HR with zero product connection. So I just hadn't come across that term before.