What makes a top CFO? Tamsyn Parker talks with Tim Williams
The consummate CFO
Tim Williams says being able to see the big picture and think long-term is the key to being a successful chief financial officer. It is those skills which have helped him take out the award for Chief Financial Officer of the Year at the 2020 Deloitte Top 200 awards.
Williams has held the role of CFO for Mainfreight since 1996 and says thinking long term is critical for the business.
“We call ourselves a 100-year company. We don’t make short term decisions we make them for the long term.”
Williams says good communication is also vital. “In a business like ours you have got 260 branches and you have got to be able to communicate with them at all levels . . . not just a few technical people within the team of accountants. I think that is really quite key.”
Strong communication has been even more important this year with the challenges associated with Covid19. “We operate in 26 countries and each experience has been different. You have got the New Zealand experience which is in hindsight is pretty good. We have got European and American offices which are in tougher environments where our team have to work from home a lot more than we currently do.
“Just trying to understand how those different experiences, how we put it all together and see how it is going to operate and work — that is really key.”
Williams said it was good to see the systems the company already had in place enabled him to keep a finger on the pulse and make adjustments as and when needed as the country went through the various lockdown levels.
“That has been the biggest challenge this year but it has been an interesting challenge — you wouldn’t say you enjoy it, but it is stimulating, is a good way to describe it.”
Williams says his biggest success this year has been helping steer the business through the Covid-related challenges.
“It shows we have developed the culture and systems in Mainfreight to not just survive in times of crisis but to actually thrive which is a bit of a cliche I know. But in the past, we have had earthquakes, bushfires, the GFC and now Covid.
“Before Covid I thought I had seen most things. But this was a new one. It was really great to see systems — we do weekly profit reporting so we could really tell how things were trending very quickly in all those branches, in all those countries how things were changing and how we could make decisions with good information.”
It was not just the economics of the business and the sustainability but the safety of all the team that came into play. “We have come out the other side looking pretty good.”
Williams said the company had managed to increase its dividend as well as paying bonuses to staff and increase base salaries and retain staff.
“All those things have been great from a morale and culture perspective which is really how we operate this business — it’s not just to get that short-term profit. It’s to make sure we are going to keep getting better and better.”
Despite being in the role for some time there was plenty to keep him going. “I really still enjoy it tremendously.”
Deloitte Top 200 Judge and independent director Jonathan Mason said Williams had been CFO during a period when shareholder returns of over 20 per cent per year were the best in the New Zealand market.
“Tim has grown his CFO skills even as Mainfreight has become more complex in its geographic footprint. Tim is respected by his peers in the business, by equity analysts in the market, and by his CEO and board.”
Mason said Williams was the consummate CFO with a thorough understanding of the financial statements and value-creation drivers, and is the company expert on the economics of capital investments, acquisitions and expansion plans.
Finalist: Kirsty Godfrey-Billy, Xero
Kirsty Godfrey-Billy says being a good chief financial officer is no longer just about having the technical skills, but having the emotional intelligence to connect the business as a whole — and get it humming together.
Godfrey-Billy has only been CFO of Xero for just over two years but already her impact is seen as being significant.
A chartered accountant with 25 years’ experience in the finance and technology sectors, she joined Xero four and a half years ago from PwC.
She says the role of CFOs has changed a lot in the last two decades.
“It has moved from being very much a back-office function to being a real driver within the business of commercial outcomes, driving strategy and really helping the business grow and thrive.”
Godfrey-Billy said the only way CFOs could do that was by forming strong partnership relationships with the different parts of the business to maximise the value they provide.
“I think that emotional intelligence is incredibly important.”
She also believes in bringing her authentic self to the job. “You turn up literally as yourself and you are bringing your best to every situation.”
She was approached by Xero founder Rod Drury for a job with the firm after getting know him through the Hi-Tech awards which PwC sponsored.
Godfrey-Billy said networking was particularly important for building a career in a place like New Zealand which is small.
“Never ever burn a bridge — New Zealand is far too small.”
When Covid began to hit globally, Godfrey-Billy began coming up with a variety of different revenue scenarios for the business and looking at how it could match its cost base to those scenarios.
“Luckily we had a strong balance sheet going into it.”
She said within Xero they were also focused on looking after their customers and ensuring they could access government assistance in whatever region they operated in as well as making sure staff remained safe. “From the finance perspective it was really looking at the business and making sure we were able to drive the business through whatever it was going to turn out to be and make sure we were really ready to fly out the end of it.”
Godfrey-Billy said there was a huge opportunity in the market for cloud adoption out the back end of Covid. “If you want an example of why you should be on the cloud — it is pretty hard to beat a global pandemic. So we’re making sure we are in the best possible position in the product and technology space to really maximise that opportunity and create demand whenever Covid is finished.”
She says her biggest success this year has been Xero’s recently released half year results.
“It really shows the resiliency of our global subscriber base and the resilience of the small business economy which is ultimately the lifeblood of all economies around the globe.”
Judge Jonathan Mason said even though Godfrey-Billy’s tenure had been relatively short at Xero, her impact had been significant.
“Kirsty has been a major contributor within Xero on financial leadership, strategy, and process excellence.
“As a result, Kirsty has helped contribute to making Xero one of technology’s big success stories in Australasia, with leading market share in Australia and New Zealand and a rapidly growing position in the UK.”
Mason said Godfrey-Billy was respected in the market, with peers and the board in both New Zealand and Australia.
Finalist: Murray Annabell, Delegat Group
Murray Annabell is passionate about being a champion for excellence in his role as chief financial officer.
Annabell has been CFO at Delegat Group since 2012 and plays a critical leadership role in helping fund the global growth trajectory of the business.
He describes himself as very goal-orientated. “I am a very driven guy that loves always to take on a challenge when others put up roadblocks or tell me something is not possible.”
Like many others Annabell says this year has been tough because of Covid-19.
“For me, the hardest thing has been the inability to travel and connect with family, friends and colleagues.”
His role has previously involved visiting the company’s international offices and frequently interacting and collaborating with teams and advisors in several jurisdictions. “I have a daughter in London that I would see a couple of times a year and the separation is hard, and you realise when you lose your freedom or ease of travel how far away we are here in New Zealand.”
Annabell says his biggest success this year has been around personal development.
“It’s been a long journey to arrive at a good place of self-acceptance and a confidence and belief that I am OK. For over forty-five years I focused on putting others first.
“I had a strong drive for pleasing others in order to be accepted and was my harshest critic. My perfectionism and drive to be the best meant significant personal sacrifice of both time and family in the pursuit of my career.”
From a business sense his biggest success has been the recognition he has received in the last few years receiving two nominations for CFO of the year.
“It is very humbling to be nominated and I am incredibly proud. Delegat Group is without a doubt a New Zealand success story, becoming now the number one New Zealand wine exporter to the world.
“The journey I have had over the last 15 years has seen the company list on the NZX in 2006, significant compound annual sales growth and seeing how powerful brands can be when you get them right.
“It has been hard work but achieving seven successive years of record sales and profits has been extraordinary and the best is still to come.”
Judge Jonathan Mason said Murray had been a major contributor on the executive team in Delegat’s success both with its record of creating superior shareholder value and leading the NZ wine industry into key export markets including the USA and the UK.
“Murray is highly regarded in the NZ and international investment communities, within the board and executive team.
“Murray and the finance team he leads understands the business thoroughly and has created reports that allow Delegat’s to understand profitability trends so that decisions can be made with accurate, up-todate information.”