ACE | Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs

ACE | Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs is the largest exclusively small business focused CDFI in the state of Georgia, providing capital, coaching, and connections to underserved entrepreneurs.

Chief Financial Officer

Wharton Online

I led a session on "Navigating Change and Uncertainty with Confidence" for the  Wharton Online FP&A Certificate program in partnership with Wall Street Prep. 

For FP&A professionals, dealing with uncertainty is a certainty. They are often required to build models, make projections, and facilitate decisions despite limited data, guidance, and time, all amidst a volatile business landscape. My session leverages the Rumsfeld Matrix and proven techniques to help participants identify and address known and unknown factors, build resilience, and thrive through change and uncertainty.

Guest Faculty | Online Course Instructor

The Diary of a CFO Podcast

Whether you’re part of a finance team, aspiring to the C-suite, or just looking to get budgets approved faster, this podcast is for you.

In each edition, I share my reflections on various leadership topics, along with wisdom from other business leaders, to help you lead any organization with confidence. 

For topic and guest suggestions, as well as sponsorship requests, send an email to Ask@thediaryofacfo.com

Podcast Host

Low Income Investment Fund

The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) is a national nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), with $2 billion in assets under management. Our mission is to mobilize capital and partners to achieve opportunity, racial equity, and well-being for people and communities.

As VP of Finance and Accounting, I oversaw both the FP&A and Accounting functions at LIIF. It involved ensuring compliance and financial reporting for the parent company, three fully consolidated entities and 60+ New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) LLCs. I actively participated in Finance and Committee meetings, including the preparation of materials for the Board of Directors.

Key Accomplishments:
●	Was promoted within 3 months at the company
●	Successfully led annual financial audits, as well as our single audit and SEFA efforts, within a few months of being onboarded.
●	Established a regular cadence of monthly reporting and quarterly budget variance meetings across the organization.

Vice President, Finance and Corporate Controller

Responsible for leading overall financial accounting, financial reporting, tax, compliance, and accounting operations. Providing technical guidance on complex accounting standards, i.e., ASC 606 revenue recognition and ASC 842 lease accounting.

Vice President, Corporate Controller

ACM Chemistries, Inc.

ACM Chemistries is a chemical manufacturer of color and performance enhancing admixture products for machine-made concrete products.

Reporting to the President/Chief Executive Officer, I was a member of the Senior Leadership Team, providing leadership and financial expertise for company-wide strategic planning and execution.

Led all financial and fiscal responsibilities of the company, leading the budgeting process.

Including all aspects of accounting and finance activities, outside Finance & HR relationships with banks, insurance partners, 401k administrators and auditors.

Managed financial and cash flow planning to ensure availability of funds as needed, while monitoring compliance with debt covenants and financial control processes.

Implemented various process improvements and systems enhancements within my department to improve productivity and customer service to internal and external customers.

Vice President, Finance & Accounting

Boehringer Ingelheim

Boehringer Ingelheim is family-owned pharmaceutical manufacturing company headquartered in Germany revenue of $22B+in total sales – $8B+ in US – and over 52K employees worldwide.

In this role, I led  FP&A for four business units’ gross-to-net results, with $120M worth of marketing programs.

Key Accomplishments:
•	Reduced variance between actuals and accruals from 5% to less than 1% by implementing a cross-functional forecast process within the first year in the role.
•	Led several cross-functional team collaborations to develop a proactive process to reduce variances in the future.

Associate Director of Finance, Gross-to-Net FP&A, Livestock & Equine 

I led FP&A and had full P&L responsibility for two business units, including monthly forecasts, annual budgets and long term forecasts submissions to GBS. 

Key Accomplishments:
• Streamlined input of budgeted sales data by designing a TM1 template that enabled $1.8B of sales to be uploaded across five business divisions in a seamless, standardized way within the first 6 months in the role.
• Enhanced reporting packages sent to business units by adding new KPIs to monitor and  improve strategic initiatives.

Senior Finance Manager, Swine & Poultry Controlling/FP&A

Intralot

Intralot, Inc. is a software technology company that also manufactures lottery vending machines.

As Controller, I was responsible for accounting and finance functions, pertaining to financial reporting, FP&A, internal and external audits.

Key Accomplishments:
• Successfully led a team of five direct and 10 indirect reports and supervised all accounting and finance functions including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Tax, and Treasury.
• Built the FP&A function from the ground up and made the team scalable to support growth.

Corporate Controller

I was the liaison between the US accounting department and our parent company’s accounting team. I also coordinated month-end close and financial consolidations of the US entity and its subsidiaries.

Key Accomplishments:
• Reduced month-end close time nearly 50% – from 11 to 6 business days.
• Spearheaded the Cognos TM1 system implementation for FP&A, as well as other system upgrades.

Accounting Manager

Staff Accountant/Senior Accountant

Audit Assurance

Donald Skalr and Associates

Tax Associate

Your Finance Progression + Resilience Partner | Helping New Hires and Managers' Transitions in Finance Teams | VP of Finance | Keynote Speaker | 40 Under 40 CPA Practice Advisor

Most finance functions are built to report, not to lead. That creates blind spots for CEOs, delays decisions for boards, and leaves CFOs without a pipeline of ready successors.

I’ve spent 15 years leading finance teams and now serve as CFO. No matter the industry, the pattern is the same: strategy stays at the CFO and sometimes the FP&A level, while the rest of the finance team is stuck in transactions. And, that gap holds everyone back:

- Companies miss early signals,

- CFOs struggle to find successors,

- Financial reporting ends up unreliable or irrelevant for decisions,

- Talented people feel stuck doing work that doesn’t grow them or the business.

What boards and CEOs value isn’t another report. It’s finance leaders who can spot signals early, frame choices clearly, and influence outcomes. 

That’s the standard I’ve led teams by, and it’s what I now teach through Wharton Online, The Diary of a CFO podcast, speaking engagements, and the development programs I’ve created.

If you’re building a pipeline of finance leaders or aiming for the CFO seat yourself, let’s connect.

🌐WassiaKamon.start.page
📧Info@WassiaKamon.com

Finance doesn’t usually come with cowboy hats.
But when AR feels like the wild west, you gear up!

The truth is, accounts receivable hasn’t changed much in decades.
 
Businesses deliver goods and services, and then the chase begins: 
- missing info,
- late payments, 
- endless back and forth. 

It’s messy, manual, and it eats up valuable time.

My very first role in corporate accounting was 70% A/R
and I remember how I hated that part because of the endless back and forth I had with customers to get invoices approved for payment.

That’s why today’s launch of Lunos AI is exciting!!!

Backed by a $5M pre-seed round from General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures, they’re building AI agents to do the chasing and reconciling so finance teams can focus on the work that matters most.

See how Lunos can help your team close books faster → lunos.ai

It’s time to bring order to the wild west of AR.


#Lunos partner

Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA

Brand partnership • Award-winning CFO | Equipping finance leaders to be strategic partners CEOs & boards trust | Host of The Diary of a CFO Podcast | Wharton Online Guest Faculty

Most accounting teams don’t lack strategy.
They lack the space to think strategically.

Between month-end, reports, and ad-hoc requests,
There’s barely time left to zoom out and ask:

 “Are we helping the business make better decisions?”

That’s exactly what I’ll be discussing with Jennifer Warawa and Sue Maloney in our upcoming webinar on October 15th.

We’ll share practical ways to:

✅ Clear the reporting clutter that keeps teams stuck in the weeds

✅ Build systems that adapt when things change

✅ Tell data stories that influence decisions instead of just informing them.

If you’re ready to have more impact, this conversation will be worth your time.

🎙️ Join us live → https://lnkd.in/dFhYK-vK

Award-winning CFO | Equipping finance leaders to be strategic partners CEOs & boards trust | Host of The Diary of a CFO Podcast | Wharton Online Guest Faculty

This plastic knife saved my hairstyle!

I'm in DC for OFN41 and this morning I realized I left both my comb and brush back in Atlanta.

I dumped everything out of my bag hoping one would magically appear. 

Nope.

Then I saw this knife I got the night before with a fruit cup from the grab-and-go shop downstairs… and in that moment, it looked like the perfect comb.

I used it, and somehow, it worked.

My edges were slick!

( Hopefully they’ll still be there when I wash my hair tonight 😅 )

There’s always something I forget when I travel, but this might be my most creative fix yet.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever had to improvise with on a trip?

The hardest part of being a finance leader isn’t making decisions.
It’s having the right information to make good ones.

For years, I used Google Alerts to stay on top of regulations, competitor moves, and market shifts.

I would get tons of emails every day.
Skim the headlines.
Click a few.
But forget most of it 🤦🏽‍♀️ 

Until the AI-verse brought Perplexity ai!!!

No shade on ChatGPT.

It's just that perplexity is better for scanning the web and telling me what actually matters for my business.

So a couple weeks ago, I went full-on experimenting.

And voilà!

My first guide on AI prompts, perfectly engineered for finance leaders who want to do more strategic work without adding more hours to their day.

Each prompt is at least a full page with the exact structure you need.

With suggestions on when to use Perplexity vs. ChatGPT/Claude.

You only need to fill in the blanks.

Info to access below ⤵️

10 AI Prompts for Finance Leaders | Copy, Paste, Customize

Tom Hood, CPA,CGMA,CITP wanted to join the FBI.
But life had other plans.

He ended up becoming a CFO and one of the most influential finance leaders in the world.

For the past 2 decades, he has created spaces where finance leaders can thrive, grow, and see what’s next before everyone else does.

Interesting story:

Tom and I first connected on LinkedIn, and that single conversation opened doors to new connections and opportunities that eventually led to my first CFO role.

In this episode, we talked about:

✅ How the CFO role keeps evolving faster than ever

✅ What it really means to “perform while you transform” 

✅ Why learning a little faster than change itself is now the ultimate advantage.


💬 If Tom has ever inspired or impacted your career too, let me know below.
I’d love to hear your story.

View newsletter: The Diary of a CFO Recap

Most CFOs are leading two transformations at once: One for their companies, and one for themselves! The role is evolving faster than ever, and finance

Open article: Why Every CFO Feels Stretched and What to Do About It, with Tom Hood by Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA • 2 min read

Why Every CFO Feels Stretched and What to Do About It, with Tom Hood

Legacy ERP systems take over a year to implement.

DualEntry goes live in 24 hours.

What makes it different is what’s built in from day one:

✅ Real-time dashboards
✅ AI-powered reconciliations for GL, AP, AR
✅ Multi-entity, multi-currency, multi-book accounting

I still remember when a “simple” system upgrade took me three months.
So, seeing a full ERP migration happen overnight is hard to wrap my head around.

DualEntry just raised $90M from the same investors behind OpenAI, Anthropic, Ramp, Stripe, and Affirm. 

It’s not just faster ERP. 

It’s a glimpse of how finance teams will work in the AI era.

#DualEntry Partner

A non-traditional path can be your advantage when you know how to use it.

Axile Talout, MBA 's background was in banking and PE.

Most people saw it as a gap.
He used it as his biggest edge as CFO:

- Banking gave him cash flow discipline.
- Private equity taught him value creation.

In this episode, we also talked about how:

✅ Clean data is credibility

✅ Hiring for what you are not should be a priority

✅ Finance should be the intelligence hub, and not the back office.

Here are the highlights of our conversation ⤵️

🎧 Listen now on Apple podcasts and Spotify.

This episode is brought to you by insightsoftware , which provides AI-powered financial reporting solutions that can save you from spreadsheet sludge 

Open article: Non-Traditional Pathways to the CFO Seat, with Axile Talout by Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA • 2 min read

Non-Traditional Pathways to the CFO Seat, with Axile Talout

Most finance teams have a tech tool that could run like a Rolls-Royce but use it like a golf cart.

That’s what Anna Sagan has seen again and again after 20 years in financial software.

- Implementation gets rushed.

- Training ends too soon.

- And once the system goes live, everyone moves on, except the people still stuck exporting reports by hand.

So, in this episode of The Diary of a CFO Podcast, we talked about:

✅ Why so many companies underuse their finance systems

 ✅ How to tell if your team is getting real value from your tools

 ✅ Why Excel isn’t going anywhere

 ✅ How AI is changing the way we think about reporting

Here are the highlights of our conversation ⤵️

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Big thanks to insightsoftware for sponsoring this episode.

We have a webinar coming up next Wednesday at 1pm ET

Register here > https://lnkd.in/dFhYK-vK

Open article: Getting the Most Out of Your Tech Stack, with Anna Sagan by Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA • 2 min read

Getting the Most Out of Your Tech Stack, with Anna Sagan

Most CFOs will only see one or two big downturns in their careers.
Bona Allen has led through three decades of them.

From the savings and loan crisis, to 2008, to COVID.

And while his background is real estate and construction, the lessons apply to every finance leader:

✅ Smart CFOs prepare a Plan B when things look too good.

✅ Protect jobs and trust first, then fix the numbers.

✅ Crisis leadership starts with people. 

If you’ve ever wondered how to lead when the ground keeps shifting, this episode is for you.

Here are the highlights of our conversation ⤵️

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Big thanks to insightsoftware for sponsoring this episode.

We have a webinar coming up on 10/15 at 1pm.

Register here > https://lnkd.in/dFhYK-vK

Open article: Leading Through Market Cycles, with Real Estate and Construction CFO Bona Allen by Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA • 2 min read

Leading Through Market Cycles, with Real Estate and Construction CFO Bona Allen

Most finance leaders want their teams to be more strategic.

But strategy doesn’t happen just because you say the word “strategic” in a meeting.

It happens when people start thinking like executives,
and have the right tools to operate that way.

Join us this Wednesday for a live discussion on how to make that a reality for you and your team.

👉 https://lnkd.in/dFhYK-vK

Legacy ERP take months to implement.
DualEntry goes live within a day. 

Now backed with $90M to scale,
It's clear that the future of accounting isn't coming. 

It's here!!!

Today we’re out of stealth. 

DualEntry has raised a $90M Series A from Lightspeed, Khosla Ventures and GV (Google Ventures). This brings our total funding to $100M to date. 

18 months ago, we decided to build the ERP that makes sense for today. 

We did it because we lived through ERP pain ourselves. Getting a legacy system set up for our previous company took 9 months and cost $150k. When it was live, it was slow, rigid, and our finance team spent most of their time on manual reconciliation and data entry.

AI already changed the way teams in Sales, Engineering, and Legal work. With DualEntry, CFOs finally have the modern ERP they deserve.

In the last 18 months we’ve:
- shipped 350+ features
- processed $100B+ worth of journal entries with AI
- saved businesses 1000s of hours on implementation
- onboarded 1000s of users across all continents
- built the world’s most powerful migration engine for a 24-hour ERP implementation

Our customers range from high-growth startups to NYSE-listed companies. They close their books the same day, report in real time, and achieve more with leaner teams. 

Since switching to DualEntry, one of our customers can run $140M ARR with just 1 controller.

Huge thanks to Lightspeed, Khosla and Google Ventures for supporting our growth 🚀 Excited to keep building the ERP for the AI age. Well done team for chapter 1, we’re just getting started. 

Comment “free migration” and I’ll send over all you need to go live in 24 hours with NextDay Migration.

Press release → https://lnkd.in/eiucKv2w

Ravi Mhatre Sam Eisler Josh Machiz Ryan Connor, MBA, CPA Vinod Khosla Ethan Choi Shernaz Daver Ryno Blignaut Crystal Huang Contrary Eric Tarczynski Kyle Harrison Vesey Ventures Lindsay Fitzgerald Soma CapitalAneel Ranadive Nikhita Jaaswal Ludlow Ventures Jonathon Triest Brett deMarrais Will Oberndorf Will Robbins Picus Capital Outsiders Fund Austin McChord RTP Global

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