Customer Stories
Balancing Act: How Stack Overflow Onboarded Its New Financial Controller — Remotely
If everything had gone to plan, Andrew Rankin’s introduction as Stack Overflow’s new Financial Controller would have been considerably more graceful.
As we all know, the universe had other plans.
Best-Laid Plans
Recently-promoted CFO Jerry Raphael had the whole process planned out. The systems the accounting department relies on — including FloQast — were easy to pick up. Meetings with HR and executives were booked. All that was left was for Andrew to walk into the company’s New York City headquarters and meet the team.
Then the shelter-in-place order was issued.
“I have to be honest: It’s hard to plan for something like this,” admitted Raphael. “I was very detailed when I was planning Andrew’s onboarding process, but when it became clear that it would have to happen remotely, things started to evolve — quickly. We were very deliberate in making sure that he’s completely connected, and that he feels welcomed and supported from day one.”
Changing on the Fly
Substituting Google Hangouts for in-person meetings, Andrew was able to hit the ground running. As he familiarized himself with the team and its systems, he said he was struck by FloQast’s ability to connect everything.
“I had no previous experience with FloQast before joining Stack Overflow, but one thing I recognized immediately was how beneficial it could be from a time management perspective,” said Andrew. “As the Financial Controller, it’s really important for me to gain a sound understanding of the business model, what some of the KPIs are in the model, how different internal teams interact, and how different systems integrate. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of information to absorb. So I think what’s been most helpful from FloQast is that it shortens the time that I have to spend coordinating where we are in the status of the month-end close. And that can then be focused on developing the team, executing on some of the projects we have in the pipeline, and things like that.”
Learning the Ropes — From Home
As he’s gained familiarity with his team’s operations, Andrew said that he’s confident FloQast will help him considerably in the financial controller position.
“I feel FloQast addresses the key things which myself — as a financial controller — would be interested in,” he said. “We need a robust list of procedures and control over the monthly close: We need that ability to link up with Sage Intacct so that we know that our balances, which we have in the GL, are coming across, and FloQast gives us confidence in that.”
Reflecting on his transition so far, Andrew spoke glowingly about FloQast’s impact on his transition.
“FloQast is just so intuitive and user friendly,” said Andrew. “To come into a new company and be presented with a full stack made for a seamless transition.
