I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jason Balk, CFO of Media Place Partners, on my podcast, recorded live at SuiteWorld. Jason took an unexpected path to become the CFO of a media company, starting his career managing accounts receivable for an ISP in the early days of the Internet.
In our conversation, Jason shared insights into how he leverages technology to grow his career and run an efficient finance team. Here are some of the key takeaways from the episode:
Automation Enables a Lean Accounting Team
With just Jason and a controller on his accounting team, automation has been crucial. Custom integrations unite data from NetSuite and various advertising platforms into a client dashboard. This allows Jason’s small but mighty team to have a single source of truth regarding their financial and operational data.
Early Adoption of the Cloud and NetSuite
In 2007, Media Place Partners was an early adopter of NetSuite, a cloud-based system. This decision proved to be a wise move as it provided more flexibility and accessibility. Being on the same financial platform also made any future M&A activities easier.
Angel Investing as a Rewarding Hobby
In his personal time, Jason is an angel investor in several startups. He talked about how investing in early-stage companies grew from his experience working for startups earlier in his career. It’s been a fulfilling activity that allows him to help young entrepreneurs while learning about new businesses.
Key Takeaway: Technology and Data Integration Empower a Small Accounting Team
Leveraging technology has allowed Jason to run the finances of a media company with a lean team. There’s a lesson here for every CFO in a time of scarce accounting and finance talent.
Listen to the episode to learn how you can use automations and integrations to provide the data your company needs to grow without adding headcount: https://earmarkontheroad.transistor.fm/episodes/suiteworld-4-leveraging-automation-to-do-more-with-less
