Coworking Tom Hood

Coworking is a weekly segment where we talk to CFOs and others in the finance space about their experiences, their companies, and the larger economy. Let us know if you are—or you know—a CFO we should interview.

Tom Hood is EVP of engagement and business growth for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), and CEO and founder of the Business Learning Institute.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How did you find yourself leading a finance industry-driven organization of finance industry leaders?

First off, it’s a lot of fun. It’s just been a blessing. I’m a CPA, by background with the CGMA. I spent the first 15–20 years in a role in business and industry. I started out with an architecture firm that went into highway construction. I was a CFO there, and then moved into the association world for the Maryland Association of CPAs and then got recruited by AICPA-CIMA two years ago to take on this role and connect with all of the major senior finance people in the Americas.

What’s that transition from industry to association been like for you?

It’s interesting because it’s not that different from what a CFO does. When I went from CFO to CEO, a lot of the [work stayed] the same. Understanding the numbers is probably the biggest advantage of moving into a nonprofit—especially being able to understand what the numbers ultimately mean—and then it’s about building the network so it’s fun.

So it seems that you’ve undergone a similar transition that many of your members have moving from the traditional back-office work of a CFO to the front-facing work of a 21st century CFO, or in your case, a CEO?

Yeah, I like to say that, as a CFO, anything that wasn’t sales or operations ultimately landed on the CFO’s plate, including things like community relations and citing asphalt plants, especially in neighborhoods where they were fighting us on those thing. It’s been that way for quite awhile and, in the current environment, it’s accelerated into a more strategic role leading to more CFOs being recruited into the CEO role.

Like, for instance, we’ve lost a couple of people that are on our future finance leadership advisory group to operational roles. They were recruited to the operational side of the business because of their financial knowledge. It’s an exciting time for CFOs because people are recognizing that experience and capability. We call CFOs the Chief Future Officer because that’s the next step and we argue that the windshield is way bigger than the rearview mirror.

Do you have concerns about filling the empty CFO role with the next generation?

We already have that problem, but I think that this will actually help recruit people into finance and accounting. If these young people know that an accounting or finance degree is a pathway to CEO, that’s pretty exciting. We’ve got some really prominent past CEOs that came out of the accounting background, like Rich Teerlink, who was the CEO of Harley Davidson, and Phil Knight, who was the former CEO of Nike.

Upskilling is a concern among CFOs and corporate finance departments. What skills does your membership feel are in need of refreshing?

Tech, for sure. Data analytics, such as PowerBI and Tableau, and understanding how to analyze the data. Even more important is storytelling; that’s the No. 1 that we always hear. The other one is strategic thinking especially since the CFO is now in this broader role of the business and now he or she needs to be really good at strategic thinking and understanding the whole as opposed to the nitty-gritty detail.

As CFOs become more people-facing, what are some suggestions that you have for building their own unique brand?

Most CPAs and CFOs think of social media like a snake. They like to look at it, but don’t want to touch it. My advice is for CFOs to learn and understand the power of social technologies. In particular, I probably think LinkedIn is the most safe and probably the most powerful from a business standpoint.

What’s some advice that you have for future CFOs?

Get and stay future ready, which means you must be aware, predictive, and adaptive of the accelerating trends and shifts from exponential technologies and workforce demographics for your role and companies. Secondly, keep your rate of learning (for you and your team) greater than the rate of change in the market and in your competition.—LR