Nicolai Rasmussen

There is a lot of turnover in the tax world. To be fair, it has always been like that. It’s part of the game. Believe it or not, this could be an important accelerator for transforming the tax function. Let me explain why. Tax careers are constantly in flux. Juniors and mediors from advisory move to in-house. Managers and directors hop to other multinationals to become Head of Tax one day. Tax leaders every now and then need to rotate to stay fresh and sharp. More and more we see in-house people going back in advisory. AI and next-gen tech are giving all of this an additional twist. Here is an interesting learning. Incoming heads of tax can be a massive accelerator for transforming the tax function. We know that tax budgets are under pressure. The unfortunate result of that is that teams need to size down, and outsourcing may be required. The result will be that teams need to do more with less. And yep, that will drive transformation. I hear you thinking, Stevi, duh, we all know that… 🙄🙄 But there is more… I regularly hear that heads of tax switch roles because they are done with the constant SG&A right-sizing that impacts the tax budget. The lack of resources. The undervaluation by the ExCo or the board of the tax function. So they look for new opportunities. And the market is full of tax opportunities. When the incoming tax leader is negotiating her role and salary pack, there is huge momentum to demand resources for transforming and future-proofing her function. Think about it. They say opportunity knocks but once… You will never have more leverage. So for all tax leaders with careers that are in flux: go for it! It makes perfect sense to show ambition when negotiating your contract. Your team will benefit from it. Your function will shine. And at least, you have a solid transformation line item in your budget to start with. The expectation is that it will only go down going forward… 

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Want to work as a CFO with a startup? Memorise this Founder's hiring checklist. Because they don’t care about how many audits you’ve closed. They care about whether you make their life easier. 1. Can you talk to investors? - Not with balance sheet notes. With a story. - Can you explain how the business makes money. - If you can’t, the founder still has to do it. 2. Do you know where the cash is, RIGHT NOW? - If the founder asks, How long before we run out? - Can you give an answer in 30 seconds? - Or do you ask for two weeks to reconcile? 3. Do you think like business or finance person? - Do you know why customers churn? - Do you understand what drives sales? - Do you connect numbers to real life? 4. Can you build for today, not for a giant corporate? - A startup doesn’t need 10 layers of approval. - It needs simple systems that work fast - And scales as revenue grows. Can you make things simple? If you can’t explain the problem without jargon, you’re not helping the founder. MNC habits dont always fit in startups. #Startup #Founders

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Stop thinking a CFO is just about “looking at reports.” Because the truth is, the best CFOs actually run core processes that drive growth and protect cash. I saw this firsthand with a client scaling from $1M to $5M in revenue.   On paper, the business looked healthy.   But without CFO oversight, three cracks appeared fast: → Hiring outpaced cash inflows → Pricing ignored true costs → Investors kept asking for forecasts that didn’t exist Once a CFO stepped in, everything shifted. Here are the core processes a CFO actually runs (and why they matter): 📌 Cash Flow Management – Making sure payroll, suppliers, and growth plans never outrun liquidity  📌 Budgeting & Forecasting – Turning assumptions into numbers so you can say “yes” or “no” with confidence  📌 Capital Allocation – Deciding where every dollar works hardest — new hires, marketing, debt repayment, or reserves  📌 Risk Management & Compliance – Protecting the business from financial, regulatory, and market risks  📌 Performance Tracking – Building KPIs that measure progress and signal red flags early Within 6 months, my client wasn’t just surviving growth.   They had visibility, investor confidence, and enough cash buffer to sleep at night. So, business owners, don’t reduce your CFO to “reporting.”   They’re the engine behind your financial decisions. #cfo  #processes  #businessgrowth 

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The CFO role is being rewritten by AI. Ten years ago, you could get by knowing Excel and delegating systems work. That era is gone. The future CFO can’t just be a financial steward. They must be a systems architect. They design workflows. They integrate technology. They use AI as leverage to move faster and see further. If you haven’t jumped on this train yet, you’re already behind. And it’s about to speed up. It isn’t about LinkedIn titles or certifications to add to your resume. It’s about survival. AI is removing grunt work from finance at a pace no one expected. That means if you’re not hands-on with the tools of today, you’ll soon face a re-education curve that makes today’s courses look like kindergarten compared to the masterclasses of tomorrow. CFOs who adopt now get leverage. CFOs who wait get left behind. AI is already transforming finance. And if you are a CFO, you will need to transform with it. #AI #FutureOfWork #CFO

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“We’ll never buy software like this.” I’ll never forget the discouraging conversation I had with a CFO five years ago. But this story has a happy ending: that firm is now a major customer of Standard Metrics! It turns out that internal change management is often the biggest blocker to adopting new software. Sometimes, gaining a customer is all about building a strong relationship, demonstrating where we can create value, and waiting for the right time for a firm to evolve their data strategy. It can be triggered by a new CFO, a frustrated GP, a dissatisfied LP, a portfolio review gone wrong, a glaring gap in internal data, a new product launch that hits on a critical pain point, and many other events. We’re still having these kinds of conversations five years in. A recent prospect we met had just transitioned from a role at data-obsessed firm (now a customer of ours) to a more traditional firm that had never adopted portfolio reporting software. He knew that his firm wasn’t ready yet, but the tides were changing and it would be better to get started making a case now rather than later. We were able to chat through how Standard Metrics reduces the portfolio reporting burden, explain how we’ve seen our platform used beyond the finance team, and help answer common objections the finance leader was facing internally. He’s not ready to buy, but we’re getting ready to support him through the change management process when the time is right. We’re playing the long game.

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