FEI Podcast - Episodes Tagged with “Technology”

Evolution of the Finance Function: Leading Strategy, AI, and Transformation

Financial Executives International — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 05:30:00 -0400

In this episode of the FEI Podcast, Tom Alexander and Scott Peck of CrossCountry Consulting discuss findings from the Evolution of the Finance Function Report by Financial Education & Research Foundation (FERF).

The conversation explores how the role of finance is expanding beyond reporting to include strategy, transformation, and enterprise leadership. It also highlights key challenges, including low confidence in AI, gaps in governance, and the need for stronger collaboration between finance and IT.

Listeners will gain practical insights on how to build transformation capability, start with focused AI use cases, and position finance teams for long-term success in a rapidly changing environment.

Special Guests: Scott Peck and Tom Alexander.

Finance and accounting needs tech acceptance and change champions with Gartner’s Mallory Barg Bulman

Financial Executives International — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 11:00:00 -0500

With new technologies coming online, it seems almost daily, finance and accounting leaders have been perpetually frustrated by tech’s return on investment and their impact on seemingly intractable issues of financial errors.
But a new report issued by research and consulting firm Gartner says there may be a path for financial leaders to successfully adopt and implement new technologie by focusing internally on the concept of technology acceptance.
In this episode of the podcast we speak with Gartner’s Mallory Barg Bulman about increasing technology acceptance and creating peer-driven “change champions.”

Special Guest: Mallory Barg Bulman.

The old IPO playbook will not work in the new market with Oracle NetSuite’s Ranga Bodla and Sam Levy

Financial Executives International — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 07:00:00 -0500

Anyone that has worked on an IPO knows the amount of preparation, diligence and detail needed for a successful move into the public markets. But a combination of economic headwinds and a spac induced hangover have meant the pipeline cut to a slow drip.

2024 is looking more promising, and that means financial executives tasked with preparing for the transition have already begun planning the work do be done.

In this episode of the FEI Weekly podcast we speak with Oracle NetSuite’s Ranga Bodla and Sam Levy to discuss the outlook for IPOs in 2024 and the tools financial executives will need to be prepared.

Special Guests: Ranga Bodla and Sam Levy.

Leveraging automation in the close and taking the mystery out of tech in accounting with FinOptimal’s Jesse Rubenfeld and Tom Zehentner

Financial Executives International — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0500

Translating new technology into the sometimes slow to change world of accounting and finance takes a fair amount of passion to overcome established practices and generation skepticism. Jesse Rubenfeld and Tom Zehentner of FinOptimal are an example of a new crop of entrepreneurs trying to move the industry in the right direction.
In this episode of the podcast Tom and Jesse discuss their passion for automation, their love hate relationship with Quickbooks and how to have a startup mindset in accounting.
As you will hear, we began the conversation after a few technology missteps of our own.

Special Guests: Jesse Rubenfeld and Tom Zehentner.

Episode 103: Generative AI and Finance: Opportunities and Challenges

Financial Executives International — Wed, 17 May 2023 07:30:00 -0400

At it's core, generative AI has the potential to bring transformative impact to business and society, comparable to the paradigm shift brought about by cloud technology. Yet despite interest from executives to want to implement Generative AI, a recent survey showed that many CFOs still face significant barriers when introducing AI within their workflow.

On this episode of the Financial Executives Podcast, we sit down with Sanjay Sehgal Head of Markets for KPMG Advisory Services to get an understanding of what finance executives need to consider when implementing generative AI.

Special Guest: Sanjay Sehgal.

Getting Finance In Sync

Financial Executives International — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 08:00:00 -0400

Financial professionals are currenlty dealing with a lot of unknowns in this economic environment, whether that is revenue, budgeting or even staffing. This can lead to a lot of static in your numbers and a lot of confusion for anyone trying to rely on those numbers.
In this sponsored episode of the Financial Executive Podcast we speak with Christopher Geers, Director at Huron Consulting Group, about the role that digitization in finance can play in getting you work in synchrony.

Special Guest: Christopher Geers.

Episode 83: Financial Services Facing the Unknown

Financial Executives International — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 22:00:00 -0400

Consecutive market shocks of a global pandemic, rising inflation, and a threatened recession continue to chip away at market confidence. Despite these traumas, the US financial services industry has never been more stable.

Special Guests: Giannine Cohoon and Tonya Hummers.

Episode 80: How to Modernize and Digitize Finance

Financial Executives International — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 08:00:00 -0400

The Financial Education & Research Foundation (FERF), in cooperation with Robert Half | Protiviti, will hold live, in-depth Q&A discussions with three leaders that will offer insight on how American banks are navigating these unprecedented and challenging times, and what their customers can expect as financial services reacts to an increasingly volatile world.

Whether it is paying for a parking spot with your phone or transferring cash across the globe, all aspects of banking and finance are being digitized. Citi’s Johnbull Okpra will discuss how these changes are impacting the industry from the unique position as one of globes largest banking institutions.

Special Guest: Johnbull Okpara.

A New World Needs a New Way to Close

Financial Executives International — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 00:00:00 -0400

A key responsibility for anyone in the finance function is closing the company books on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. And although to a layperson that may seem like a straightforward process, anyone with an accounting or finance background knows it’s anything but.

Filled with multiple stakeholders and dependencies, the financial close can be a complicated process for even a small organization. But that complexity can increase algorithmically with the size of the organization.

In this sponsored episode of the Financial Executive Podcast I speak with Nancy Wu, head of sales and support at SkyStem. SkyStem provides month-end close automation for enterprise-level accounting teams.

Nancy speaks about the increased use of automation in the financial close and how recent events, like the move to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, may have accelerated an already rapidly changing financial close process.

For more information on SkyStem please visit www.skystem.com.

Special Guest: Nancy Wu.

Episode 44: Big Data and Sustainability Reporting

Financial Executives International — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 17:00:00 -0400

One of the big challenges for companies, as well as investors, when it comes to ESG is wrangling the data points that are important to every stakeholder and a relevant to the issue of sustainability.

In this episode of the podcast we speak with Rebeca Minguela, Founder and CEO of Clarity AI. Clarity AI uses big data and machine learning to tracks a broad universe of companies to measure sustainability metrics. In January BlackRock purchased a minority stake in the company and plans to integrate Clarity AI into its investment analytics platform.

We discuss the importance of disclosures, the challenges to standardized ESG data and why there is no turning back when it comes to sustainability reporting.

Thanks to the episode's sponsor, Deloitte.

Special Guest: Rebeca Minguela.

Episode 39: Section 230 Reform And Back to The Dystopian Future

Financial Executives International — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 08:00:00 -0500

In this episode of the Financial Executive Podcast we speak with Eric Goldman, Professor of Law at Santa Clara University and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute.

Special Guest: Eric Goldman.

Episode 22: Where Is Technology Taking Auditing and Accounting?

Financial Executives International — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 15:15:00 -0400

Rapid advances in technology are quickly disrupting the auditing, accounting and financial reporting industry at a pace not seen in decades. As soon as one leap forward is adopted, such as cloud technology, another waits in the wings, such as blockchain.
The Financial Executives Research and Education Foundation is working on a report looking to help senior-level financial executives better understand how to consider and prioritize changes in financial technology.
As part of that effort we speak with Dr. Ryan Teeter, clinical assistant professor of accounting information systems at the University of Pittsburgh regarding his work on the area of technology changes in the financial reporting industry.

Special Guest: Ryan Teeter, Ph.D..

Episode 20: Inline XBRL, Explained

Financial Executives International — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 06:00:00 -0400

This summer the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a new rule that requires the use of “Inline XBRL” in the financial reporting process. Inline XBRL allows the user to embed data directly into a filing so that it is both human-readable and machine-readable.

In this episode of the Financial Executive Podcast we will speak with SEC and XBRL industry professionals regarding the impact of the new requirement, the benefits and challenges of implementation and how preparers can get ready for the transition.

Special Guests: Emily Huang, Mike Starr, and Mike Willis.