Meet one of our Assistant Controllers, Robert Aldridge! Robert has been a valuable part of Kranz Consulting since April 2022. His over 20 years of experience and passion for finance has allowed Kranz and our clients not only succeed, but thrive. Get to know him better below!
1. Hometown: Tauranga, New Zealand
2. Alma Mater: University of Christchurch, New Zealand
3. Favorite things to do outside of the office: I love to play in the mountains and water depending on the season, enjoy teaching my two children whatever activity we are doing at that moment. Exploring the PNW where I have recently moved.
4. How has your background impacted your experience as a consultant? Working for a variety of industries over the years, it gives you exposure to a variety of different industries, software and processes. You get to learn something new at each company and you can carry that forward to any new situation that may arise.
5. What’s a typical workday like for you? Emails, client Zoom calls, check in with my staff accountants and just get things done.
6. As part of a team that works 100% virtually, what technology or collaboration tools do you use to make your work life easier? Love a great project manager, Asana being the default choice right now.
7. What motivates you to wake up and go to work every day? I enjoy making clients lives easier by building out structure and a clear accounting process which can make everyone’s life more efficient.
8. What kind of work have you been doing? Recently cleaned up the financials and built out the accounting process for a cyber insurance startup.
9. Where do you see the benefits? Clean financials delivered timely and accurately
10. Linking data to finance and accounting, explain environments that have had lack of reporting infrastructure/inefficiencies and how have you brought organization and solutions-implementation. Everyone loves Bill.com but I have yet to see it implemented correctly. Once this is setup the right way, the overall AP process is the most efficient I have ever seen. The accounting software ecosystem has made huge development leaps over the last 10 years, with many apps connecting to QBO and other ERP software, which I think has improved the overall productivity of the department immensely. However new technology is not a set and forget type install, you still need someone knowledgeable to run the software and trouble shoot when issues arise. But there is no free lunch, thus I find it is becoming more and more important that your staff and new hires have the right technology training. Don’t be afraid of hiring someone without your exact technology skillset, a great accountant will learn it quickly.
11. What’s your process? It seems that any new business struggles with getting their accounting setup correctly for growth and everyday financial processes. Going into a new set of books, I think of it as like building a house. The correct foundation in place is essential and then you can build on top of that. You are just treading water otherwise and eventually pay more to get it fixed down the road. Hiring a skilled accountant in the beginning is the key!