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EP7: Amanda Roush, RSM: From Manual Close to Digital Teammate: Architecting the AI-Powered A-Team

The future of finance is building amore powerful team. What if your best people had digital teammates to handle the repetitive, manual work, freeing them to focus on strategy and insight? This week, we're joined by Amanda Roush, Director of Finance Transformation at RSM and a leader who has seen thisevolution from every angle. She started her career on the front lines of accounting, led major automation projects as a BlackLine customer, and now advises companies on their own transformation journeys as a key BlackLine partner. Amanda brings the concept of the "AI-Powered A-Team" to life, sharing insights on: * The real-world frustrations thatmake automation a strategic necessity. * What a "day in the life" with a digital teammate actually looks like for a process like the financial close. * Why the goal of AI is augmentation, not replacement, and how it elevates the role of the finance professional. * The practical steps to move from a manual past to an automated future.

EP6: Quest Playbook: From Centralized Accounting to a Center of Excellence

How do you turn a standard accounting team into a powerhouse of innovation for the entire business? This week, we're getting the playbook from Quest Diagnostics. Our guests are Michael Heeney, Controller, and Adam Dabbeekeh, Senior Manager of Centralized Accounting. They walk us through the incredible evolution of their team, from a cost-saving project to a strategic Center of Excellence. This is a masterclass in practical application, focusing on the why behind their choices, with lessons for any finance leader. In our conversation, we explore: -The business case for rethinking the purpose of a finance team. -Their "modernization equation" for combining different technologies. -The 'why' behind empowering people and moving them to higher-value work. - How to build a value proposition that gets buy-in from other teams.

EP5: The People-First CFO with Craig Richey, Americas CFO of Accenture

This week, host Emily Campbell, CMO at BlackLine, sits down with Craig Richey, the Americas Chief Financial Officer at Accenture. His career offers a powerful roadmap for any leader navigating the profound shifts in the finance profession. The core of our conversation is the journey of reinvention—how finance leaders can transform their teams from a traditional back-office function into a strategic, front-office architect of enterprise value. Craig argues that this transformation is not about technology alone, but is fundamentally centered on people, talent, and culture. In our conversation, we explore: * The key moments that define a modern CFO's journey. * What the "back-office to front-office" shift actually looks like in practice. * How to balance the demand for innovation and speed with the need for absolute control. * How AI is reshaping the future of finance and the talent required to lead it.

EP4: Tim Harford: The Automation Paradox & the Dangers of “Good Enough” AI

The better an automated system gets, the more it can degrade our skills and attention. Bestselling author and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford joins Emily Campbell to unpack this "Automation Paradox." We explore why a "good enough" AI with an engaged human might be safer than a state-of-the-art system with a complacent one, the danger of relying on "black box" algorithms, and how to build a finance culture that questions data instead of blindly trusting it.

EP3: Mo Gawdat on AI Twins: Trust, Control, and What Comes Next

Mo Gawdat explains “AI Twins” and why their rapid progress challenges expertise and control in finance. We explore how to partner with black-box models, protect trust and accountability, and prepare teams to collaborate with their digital colleagues. Hosted by Emily Campbell, with practical mental frameworks for leaders.