Elevate your career learnings with CFO Sarah Petty

1 Apr 2024

5 min read time

At a glance

My role: growth and complexity

This role, which I started in July 2023, is my first foray outside the “large corporate” world, and the job so far has been about much more than traditional financial reporting duties.

I have a team of 10, but we will need to add more team members as the business grows. Demand from our airline and hotel clients has grown substantially, as business and leisure travel have been increasing rapidly since the pandemic. This means Buzz has experienced dramatic growth.

One of the most complex aspects of my role is the work we do with overseas markets. I determine the tax implications, custom duties, pricing, currency exposure, credit checks and invoicing process for each new market.

For example, in the US, each state has its own sales tax rules, reporting and compliance regulations. The requirements can be complicated, so I also work with external advisers.

Planning and inventory management can be complicated. We mostly make products to order for our airline clients, but we hold inventory for our hotel clients for when they need to restock. For our larger hotel clients, we manage their accounts, but we also have an ecommerce store for smaller boutique or individual hotels to access.

Lasting legacy: Paving the way for future accountants

Hi, I'm Sarah Petty, chief financial officer of Buzz. Buzz is a product design company that creates luxury products in the travel industry. Things like airline amenities, anything on board like the blankets and pajamas, service wear as well as hotel amenities and skin care.

I look after the finance planning and IT functions. Anything from sitting in client meetings through to dealing with advisors overseas as we're looking to set up new markets, presenting financials to the management team or the board and coaching and development conversations with my team here.

Global experience and mindset

From my time working overseas and living in Singapore, I worked with a number of markets around Asia and Africa and there were two key things that I learnt from that that really opened my mind.

So number one was communication. I thought I was a pretty good communicator, but once I started working with a lot of people where English was their second, third, fourth, fifth language sometimes, it was really important to be absolutely crystal clear in communication and getting a message across.

And the second thing is understanding the nuances in each of the different markets. So what we do here in Australia isn't the way business is always done around the world.

So it was important to understand that there are other considerations, cultural, different customs in different countries and religion that comes into play when you're looking at doing business in other regions.

In demand accounting skills

I spend quite a bit of time talking with accounting students and one of the biggest concerns they have at the moment is AI and thinking that it may be taking over future job opportunities for them in the finance and accounting industry.

So I think for students it's important that they start to take an interest in things like AI and other technologies because employers will be looking for that skillset as they’re graduating.

The other thing I would say is that the accounting industry is changing with technology and a lot of the repetitive and transactional tasks are now being done by technology. And therefore it's important that students also learn key skills like communication, critical thinking and innovation and problem-solving because they're the skills that can't be replicated by AI. At least not at the moment.

Support for future leaders

I remember back when I was a junior in the role and there were a number of leaders and mentors that really helped to support me grow and understand the business and set my career path up for success.

Our more junior team members are the future leaders of our organisation, and so I see that it’s our role as leaders to really empower and support them on their career progression. That's one of the key legacies that we should be leaving behind.

Game changers: different perspectives

In Singapore in 2015, I became commercial financial manager at Kellogg Company, looking after emerging markets in Asia and Africa. I naively assumed that things would operate in much the same way as in Australia – I was wrong.

Cereal is less popular as a breakfast food in Asia, so the company focused on growing its snacks portfolio. In emerging markets, pricing, currency fluctuations and distribution channels can be challenging.

The Africa business was even more challenging, because I had no experience there at all. I would receive a call from the business manager in Africa asking for a pricing proposal, and I would have to research the country, its currency and its economic and political environment.

The role helped me to understand how different markets operated outside of Australia, which opened my mind to different ways of working. I became more agile and resourceful as a result.

Early in my career, I volunteered for Camp Quality, a charity that provides support for kids and families affected by cancer. I took a role on the camp leadership team. I was involved in planning, organising, delegating and communicating with volunteers and parents. It was my first taste of making a difference in leadership, and I loved it.

Job ads for manager roles often require leadership experience but, as a young person early in their career, how do you get this experience if no one will hire you without it?

My challenges: response to change

A benefit of working in a mid-sized private firm is that my role is quite fluid.

At Target, I followed the standard patterns for month-end closing, reporting, forecasting and budgeting. It was easier to plan for peaks and troughs in the workflow across the year than my current role.

As CFO at Buzz, it can be tough to plan, because our clients and suppliers are based in different time zones all over the world, so I may not know of emerging issues until the next morning.

With the travel industry continuing to ramp up, Buzz must keep up with the pace of change.

There have been a lot of new hires in the past year, which can make it challenging to build expertise and integrate and improve processes.

Striking a balance between supporting fast-paced business growth and maintaining the necessary governance can be challenging.

Due diligence, compliance checks and comprehensive financial analysis are essential, but we must also remain adaptable and agile to capitalise on new opportunities.

Hotels do not function the same way as airlines, so we cannot make the same assumptions. With airlines, most of the potential clients are known to us, but hotel clients come in all sizes, from large hotel chains to tiny Airbnbs, and they are based all over the world.

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Looking ahead: hiring for digital skills

Leaders in finance are grappling with the challenge of embracing digital transformation and new technologies. I have spoken with many accounting students who express concerns about technology replacing finance and accounting roles. However, I believe the opposite is true.

A lot of companies are not using technology as well as they could be, and there will be a greater demand for finance professionals with skills in emerging technologies who can bring new ideas for process improvements and automation.

As a CFO, I know I need to be more tech savvy. Automation and emerging technologies will be a large part of our roles in the future, and I need to know what skills to hire for.

Companies want their finance teams to analyse large datasets from numerous sources and provide quicker, more insightful reports for management and the board.

Today, there are many tools that can help to automate more transactional tasks, such as invoicing, payroll, accounts payable and accounts receivable.

Accountants and analysts are no longer just the number crunchers in the background. They are valuable business partners, and it is important that they also have skills in communication, critical thinking and innovation.

Lessons learned

Embrace the unexpected: Opportunities do not always align with your expectations or arrive at the most convenient times. Stay open to new possibilities. Some of my favourite roles were ones I was initially hesitant about.

Seek out knowledge: Keep looking for new insights and knowledge, regardless of your career stage. Be open to other perspectives and remember that it is OK to change your mind.

Build a “career board of directors”: A support network that includes mentors, sponsors, coaches, peers, and other people you trust is valuable. Each will bring their unique strengths to help guide your career.

Pay it forward: Investing your time in supporting junior team members and aspiring leaders is an investment in your own future. They represent the future leaders of our industry. Remember, we all started somewhere.