20 Years as CFO and Controller – Jenny Shares Her Best Lessons!

When a large retail company decides to replace its business system, the entire organization is put to the test. Which processes should carry over? Which should be scrapped and redesigned? And who makes sure the finance function doesn’t just survive the change, but comes out stronger? This is exactly the kind of project where Jenny, CFO consultant at Greenstep, is in her element.

A career built in retail

Jenny has spent her entire career in retail and describes the industry as a place where the pace, dynamism, and closeness to the products make the work especially enjoyable. Over the course of her career she has held roles as chief accountant, group controller, head controller, and CFO — including ten years at Kicks, the last five of them as CFO.

At Kicks, she was part of the digitalization of both the company and the entire industry, from physical stores to a well-developed e-commerce operation and an attractive omnichannel offering. Her experience broadened further through work in pure e-commerce companies, giving her insight into the challenges and opportunities that define today’s retail industry.

From permanent CFO role to interim CFO consultant

After many years as an employee at various retail companies, Jenny realized she wanted to grow by joining companies that truly needed help, and by being part of driving change and development. She also wanted to broaden her experience beyond traditional CFO tasks like reporting, year-end closing, and accounting, moving toward project work and company building, while getting to know more industries along the way.

“I like variety in my work — meeting different people and seeing different workplaces. As a consultant, I have greater opportunity for that,” says Jenny.

From 200 million to 5 billion in revenue

Jenny’s experience spans a wide range, from large companies with annual revenue of up to SEK 5 billion to smaller, entrepreneur-driven companies with revenue around SEK 200 million. Beyond retail and consumer products, she particularly enjoys working with family-owned and privately held companies, where she feels the business often serves a greater purpose.

What does the “right” finance function look like?

A recurring theme in Jenny’s work is the question of what a finance function should look like. Her answer is that there’s no universal recipe — the finance function instead needs to match the company’s culture, size, and ambitions, and company leadership must actively think through how financial management should support strategy and goals.

A common mistake she sees among fast-growing entrepreneurial companies is underestimating the role of the finance function in the growth journey. According to Jenny, establishing processes and routines for the finance function early on is a good recipe for growing profitably and in a controlled way.

Breadth makes the difference — how Greenstep works with CFO services

One thing Jenny highlights about working through Greenstep, compared to hiring an individual consultant or a traditional consulting firm, is access to broader expertise. Greenstep has in-house specialists in accounting, tech & systems, and payroll administration — expertise that CFO consultants can draw on continuously in their assignments.

“As a CFO consultant, it’s reassuring to know there’s always someone to ask, for example about a new regulatory area or system. We can also meet the client’s needs if they require additional services, by offering that breadth,” says Jenny.

Although Jenny herself hasn’t yet had an assignment where she’s worked cross-functionally within the same client, she knows that several of Greenstep’s clients already benefit from collaboration across service areas. In her own work, she has also turned to colleagues with questions on several occasions that have helped her in client work — something she describes as both enjoyable and a good way to develop her skills.

Jenny has also seen what happens when companies don’t think this through. She has encountered several entrepreneur-driven companies that hired an accounting firm and then assumed they no longer needed to dedicate any internal resources to financial management.

“Working with accounting firms works really well, but you need to be aware that it requires good communication, and that as a client you still need to make the financial decisions and stay one step ahead. I’ve also come across companies that haven’t prioritized administration at all, and that creates major problems as the company grows,” says Jenny.

Client case: navigating a major business system change

One of the assignments Jenny has worked on most is a large retail company facing a business system replacement. Thanks to her own experience implementing new business systems in the past, the match with the client was a natural one. Jenny came in as responsible for the Finance workstream in the overall project.

The work began with a feasibility study to define the company’s requirements and wishes for a new system, along with dialogue with potential vendors to evaluate how well their systems met those requirements.

“The challenge in such a large project is weighing all the different functions’ requirements against each other. You need to be able to see the details — retail is detail — but also have a helicopter view to see which system and which vendor is the best partner for the company’s future vision and strategy,” says Jenny.

In her work on the Finance workstream, Jenny has drawn on her previous experience from other roles, companies, and systems, to both challenge and understand the client’s unique needs.

In such a large project there’s a steering committee with decision-making authority for the whole project, but much of the knowledge about how the business actually operates day-to-day sits out in the organization. That’s why information exchange in both directions has been crucial for making the best possible decisions.

“Communication in a large project needs to be managed so that all information reaches the people who need it, at the right time and in both directions. That can mean timelines, deadlines for major decisions, but also communication forums, workshops, and knowledge sharing. I think it’s better to inform and communicate too much than too little — transparency is an important part of that,” says Jenny.

The feasibility study is now complete, and the next step is the extensive implementation work. A series of important decisions await on systems, processes, and ways of working, and Jenny is looking forward to guiding, challenging, and inspiring around how a future finance function can operate.

Advice for companies facing the same journey

Jenny’s clearest advice to companies considering a system change is to do the groundwork thoroughly.

“It’s just like repainting your home — sanding and filling the cracks is the most important part of getting a durable, desirable result. If you find out what a system needs to deliver and support the business with, and have a clear target picture, it becomes much easier to find the right system and partner for your unique company’s needs,” Jenny concludes.